Engaging Simplifications: Community-Based Resource Management, Market Processes and State Agendas in Upland Southeast Asia

Abstract

In the struggle to secure resource rights for rural populations who gain their livelihoods from state-claimed lands, advocacy agendas highlight community interest in, and capacity for, sustainable resource management. In the uplands of Southeast Asia, the strategic simplifications of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) advocacy are being translated into legal frameworks and program initiatives which make rights conditional upon particular forms of social organization and livelihood, as well as conservation outcomes. When set in the context of agricultural intensification among both indigenous and migrant populations, and the desire of many upland dwellers to claim the benefits of a fuller citizenship, CBNRM offers a problematic basis for justice.