The BAG focuses on the social criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, a topic that has been the subject of considerable controversy and uncertainty. It is designed for people interested in assessing sustainable forest management, but who do not have a high degree of expertise in social sciences. This manual describes six simple methods designed for use by biophysical scientists with a college education. These methods can also be used by assessors with higher levels of expertise in social sciences, but they are presented in a 'cookbook' format.

Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) is a decision-making tool developed for complex problems. In a situation where multiple criteria are involved confusion can arise if a logical, well-structured decision-making process is not followed. Another difficulty in decision-making is that reaching a general consensus in a multidisciplinary team can be very difficult to achieve. By using MCA members do not have to agree on the relative importance of the criteria or the rankings of the alternatives.

Many people want to improve the governance of forest areas, yet what is considered good governance is not necessarily self-evident or agreed upon by everyone. This study demonstrates the diversity of views held by communities and government officials in Malinau, Indonesian Borneo about what they consider to be good governance. Each group described how they thought decisions about forests should be made, including how to represent interests, allocate land rights, distribute cash benefits from forests, share information and manage forests.

This report refers to the follow-up activities in Mamberamo developed by CIFOR and CI in 2006. The new activities included additional socio-economic surveys in three villages. The accuracy of the participatory maps of the natural resources and important landscape features were improved using GPS ground checks. Participatory maps of territorial land claims and land use by clans were also drafted. Additional information was then collected on local biodiversity monitoring and control of the land and resources.

Desentralisasi kewenangan atas hutan di belahan dunia saat ini sedang berjalan cepat, disertai implikasi positif dan negatif bagi masyarakat dan hutan itu sendiri. Penelitian terbaru dari beberapa negara di Wilayah Asia-Pasifik dalam buku ini menyajikan pengalaman desentralisasi yang sangat kaya dan beragam, sehingga bisa menjadi pelajaran berharga bagi wilayah lain. Dimulai dengan tinjauan sejarah dan geografi, bab-bab selanjutnya dalam buku ini mengulas secara mendalam negara-negara di wilayah ini.