What's special about wildlife management in forests? Concepts and models of rights-based management, with recent evidence from West-Central Africa

Wildlife consumption is an integral part of the livelihood and trade patterns of many peoples in the developing world, and highly valued by them. Yet to date the dominant models of wildlife management in areas of high - and allegedly unsustainable - consumptive use have favoured the exclusion of the users from the resource and the denial of its local values. This gives little incentive to rural dwellers to manage wildlife sustainably. Innovative strategies are required to enhance the rights of the resource users and to increase their entitlements to appropriate the benefits of wildlife for themselves. There has been little success in devising these outside areas with high tourist potential, but experience in other natural resource sectors may provide useful pointers.