GEOSOC

   An Assessment of the Role of Women and Their Access to Forest Resources – Case Study of Tunku and Kasila Community Forests. Introduction From the mid 1980s devolution and decentralization of natural resource management has become a popular policy among many developing countries. This change in policy is dictated by the recognition of the limits of government agencies in managing resources at the local level, which has resulted in massive degradation of natural resources due to climate change; consequently, disrupting local people’s livelihood systems. As a result, a consensus emerged that local communities should be involved in managing their resources. Hence, nearly every country in the world is currently experimenting with some form of community resource management by devolving some of their power to the community to use and manage the resources (Edmonds, 2002). ‘However, most current “decentralization” reforms are characterized by insufficient transfer of powers to l...