Weaving a Network

This book outlines the key issues facing craftswomen in cooperatives and protected area managers, and proposes a plan for meeting their needs. My experience with a crafts cooperative situated on the edge of a protected forest in Rwanda is used to illustrate the concepts from the literature on protected areas management and coops. Chapter one sets the stage for the book; the second chapter describes the craftswomen's struggles. Chapter three discusses several programs designed to reduce conflicts between local people and park staff. The fourth chapter proposes and outlines the concept of a network to connect crafts cooperatives with park managers in a mutually beneficial relationship. The network has the potential to fill some of the remaining gaps in the efforts to minimize people - park conflicts. The final chapter, five, raises further areas for research and exploration. This book will be of interest and use to anybody concerned with the simultaneous protection of the natural world and local subsistence cultures.