Overview article: Practical tools for community conservation in southern Africa (PLA 55)

Article in: Participatory Learning and Action 55: Practical tools for community conservation in southern Africa. Guest editors: Brian Child and Brian Jones.

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Overview to special issue discussing a collection of lessons and innovative tools that have been developed by the facilitators of community-based natural resource management programmes in southern Africa. It is also an important resource for facilitators in other regions. These tools can be broadly divided into two categories: facilitator's tools and management tools. Facilitator's tools range from Theatre for Africa's role in policy development, to the CAMPFIRE game for improving training in financial management. The management tools have been developed to allow communities to manage wildlife in modern market economies. These tools range from the event book system developed in Namibia, to the quota setting methodologies developed in Zimbabwe.

Keywords: CBNRM, conservation, policy, poverty, marketing, tourism, quota setting, revenue distribution, monitoring, mapping, theatre, finance, training.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory learning and action approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board. See: www.planotes.org