This book is a collection of papers presented at a workshop titled 'Listening to the people: social aspects of dryland management,' held in Nairobi, Kenya, 14-18 December 1993. The event was organized by the Desertification Control Programme Activity Centre of UNEP to develop a better understanding of community participation and bottom-up development. A primary goal of the workshop was to formulate recommendations of what needs to be done to achieve sustainable development in the drylands. A prerequisite for the success of any intervention affecting a local community is that the planners recognize the institutions, systems of indigenous knowledge and management structures that already exist. The papers and discussions of the workshop analyse the experiences of over three decades of attempts by governments, donor agencies and non-governmental organizations to promote economic development in the drylands of developing countries. Six sections of the book cover: (1) the social dimensions and concepts of desertification; (2) participatory approaches and methods related to development of the drylands; (3) social aspects of dryland management; (4) indigenous knowledge; (5) gender issues in natural resource management; and (6) the importance of government policies in dryland management. (CAB Abstracts)