Local forest management : hope for the future in our struggle for survival.

The village of Drevdagen, situated in a remote area of Sweden near the Norwegian border had its forest user rights taken away from it by the government in the 1800s and now finds itself squeezed to death between a nature reserve to the south and production forest belonging to an international company to the north. This article describes how PRA has been used in current efforts to secure village management of the forest resources for nature and culture tourism.
A two week PRA method course was undertaken during which social, historical and economic information regarding the village was collected. Information from the PRA exercise was then displayed in the village school and used as a basis for discussing future management options with various stakeholders, including local and regional government and the main forest owners.