Local organizations in natural resources management in the uplands of southeast Asia

Globally, a new paradigm is emerging of participatory management of upland watershed resources, but the architecture for successful, decentralized watershed governance is still in flux. In 2000, a collaborative study was begun to compare experiences of local organizations (LOs) for natural resource management (NRM) in the uplands of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand to help these organizations and supporting institutions to identify problems, opportunities and strategies for more effective action. The first phase of the study examined the policy context and institutional landscape for locally led NRM in the uplands, using secondary data, key informants and site visits in the three countries. Organizational histories and descriptions were collected for 21 diverse examples of LOs (each comprising from 1 to hundreds of community groups), 28 associations of LOs as well as several dozen NGOs and government programs supporting LOs working in upland NRM.