The move to local control of forests and wildlife is now well advanced. Over the last 10 to 15 years, community based approaches to natural resource management have received considerable policy, development and research attention in most southern African countries. New and emerging policies relating to conservation and land management therefore strongly articulate the need for the participation of local people in the management of natural resources, both within communal areas and on state owned land, and place much greater emphasis on issues of equity and benefit sharing. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) has become a 'catch all' for many different approaches and models for natural resource management, from joint or co-management initiatives with government on either state land or communal land, to private sector-community partnerships (with or without the state intervention), and finally to true common property arrangements on community-owned land.