This publication originated at an international workshop held at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in New Haven, USA, April 15-17, 2004. It was published jointly, in Spanish and English, by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (Yale F&ES).

The collaborative or ‘co-management’ of natural resources – whether between states and local communities or amongst and within communities themselves – is a process of collective understanding and actions by local communities and other social actors. The process brings about negotiated agreements on management roles, rights and responsibilities, making explicit the conditions and institutions of sound decentralized governance. At heart, co-management is about sharing power.

Towards Food Sovereignty is an online book with linked video and audio files. The first three chapters, available here, begin to describe the ecological basis of food and agriculture, the social and environmental costs of modern food systems, and the policy reversals needed to democratize food systems.