User-Oriented Natural Resource Management - Guiding Questions for Project Planning and Implementation

An almost immeasurable number of publications on participation and natural resource management in development cooperation is available. The intention of this paper is to develop a relatively simple but extendable structure for the design of user-oriented approaches that can be applied in natural resource management. “User orientation” in this context means that stakeholders are involved in the design, establishment, and operation of a natural resource management system.

Projects which might be interested in the approach presented here can, among other things, be found in the following fields:

• Erosion control
• Rangeland management
• Fishing
• Irrigation
• Watershed management
• Buffer zone management
• Communal forestry/reforestation