Democratic decentralisation through a natural resource lens: an introduction / Anne M. Larson and Jesse C. Ribot -- Between micro-politics and administrative imperatives: decentralisation and the watershed mission in Madhya Pradesh, India / Amita Baviskar -- Decentralisation when land and resource rights are deeply contested: a case study of the Mkambati eco-tourism project on the Wild coast of South Africa / Ben Cousins and Thembela Kepe -- Formal decentralisation and the imperative of decentralisation 'from below': a case study of natural resource management in Nicaragua / Anne Larson -- Democratic decentralisation and traditional authority: dilemmas of land administration in rural South Africa / Lungisile Ntsebeza -- What lies behind decentralisation? forest, powers and actors in lowland Bolivia / Pablo Pacheco -- Closer to people and trees: will decentralisation work for the people and the forests of Indonesia? / Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo -- Decentralisation, rural livelihoods and pasture-land management in post-socialist Mongolia / Robin Mearns -- Decentralisation and accountability in forest management: a case from Yunnan, Southwest China / Jianchu Xu and Jesse C. Ribot -- The social and organisational roots of ecological uncertainties in Cameroon's forest management decentralisation model / Phil Reno Oyono -- User committees: a potentially damaging second wave of decentralisation? / James Manor -- Decentralising water resource management in Brazil / Christian Brannstrom -- Decentralising natural resource management: a recipe for sustainability and equity? / Wicky Meynen and Martin Doornbos.