Changing forest management strategies in Sudan : a challenge for forestry educational systems

This study is an effort to understand the way various categories of social actors go about their interaction with the management of forest resources in Sudan. By providing an overview and description of the motives, perceptions, and management objectives and strategies of social actors, the study tries to contribute towards better understanding of the social, economic and cultural factors influencing the resource management. The specific objectives of this study include:(1) Investigation of how social actors interact with forest resources in an era of rapidly changing conditions.(2) Get a better understanding of how changes in management objectives and strategies are influencing and are influenced by knowledge processes.(3) Analyze present forestry education's curriculum.(4) Explore possibilities of incorporating what we learn during the course of this study to propose a model for development of curriculum for forestry education in Sudan.This dissertation is written on the basis of empirical data collected from various individuals, groups and institutions involved in forest resources management in Sudan. The field work for the study was carried out mainly in the Central region of Sudan. However, the author's own experiences and those of other officials who worked in other locations, made the scope of the study not limited to geographical boundaries of the region.For the data collection, a combination of methodological instruments such as discussions, semi-structured interviews and participant observation, were used iteratively. Besides, taking a social actor as a unit of analysis, the study has used a hybrid of the systems' and the actors' perspectives as the main analytical tool.The main findings of this study indicate that:First, whereas, a forest is the unit of concern for officials, it is the tree which draws villagers' attention more than the forest as such. However, in general social actors see trees and forests as sources and signs of life. Besides, various a