Nature, wealth, and power : emerging best practice for revitalizing rural Africa

This experience has generated a set of principles detailed in this booklet as action steps that can guide investment in rural Africa. (1) Nature: improve information and knowledge management systems; promote local land use planning and appropriate resource tenure systems; foster innovation, social learning, and adaptive management; build capacity and invest in human resources; and promote cost-effective technical advisory and intermediary services. (2) Wealth: be strategic about the economics of natural resource management (NRM; strengthen markets and NRM market incentives; invest in rural organizations; create a framework for better NRM choices; and assure that local resource managers have secure access to NRM means and benefits. (3) Power: strengthen environmental procedural rights for rural people; improve rural input into public decisions and policy; redistribute natural resource authority and functions; transfer powers, rights, and responsibilities to representative and accountable authorities; explore a minimum environmental standards approach; and promote platforms that allow for continuous and inclusive consultations. Case studies of Namibia, Madagascar, and Mali illustrate the effectiveness of integrating all three dimensions and the various principles and actions recommended under each dimension.