Rural development forestry in Scotland : the struggle to bring international principles and best practices to the last bastion of British colonial forestry.

Examines the failure of the state forestry agency (the Forestry Commission) to involve local rural communities in the management of its substantial forest land holdings in Scotland. This disregard for local people is in spite of the governments declared support for the UNCED Forest Principles and the article suggests that the FC would do well to learn from the governments overseas technical assistance programmes.
The experience of three Scottish NGO's to ensure the participation of local people at all stages of forestry planning and implementation through the use of PRA is outlined. This programme is revealed to have met with some opposition from the Foestry Commission but at the same time to have acted as a catalyst for recent changes in forest policy.