“…A major criticism of development pla nning, and its associated processes such as impact assessment, and of many resource management initiatives has been that public involvement that gives affected groups power and a voice in decisions and recognizes the diversity within and among social groups at the local level, is typically very weak (Morse and Berger, 1992;Biswas and Agarwala, 1992;Artini, 1994;Smith and van der Wansem, 1995;Mitchell, 1997;Grenier, 1998). Examining livelihood strategies places a focus on the values and goals, choices, and activities which matter to local people, and provides one means for ensuring that local concerns are central to information gathering and analysis, thus contributing to better planning and decision making (Finsterbusch, 1995;Burdge and Vanclay, 1996). .…”