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needs including support for claims to land rights, decisions about land use and resource management, and resolution of conflicts. PRA methods can also strengthen organizations by providing opportunities for community members to meet and express their views on current and changing forest resource use.

Participatory methodologies share a common principle of valuing local knowledge and participation. They offer the potential for taking account of cultural understandings of the environment that might fall outside the external researcher's definition of what is relevant. They provide a common language in which local people and outsiders can communicate and put knowledge of local customary practices on an equal plane with the more formal constructs of scientific forest management.

Participatory methodologies can also take into account marginalized groups within local communities that might otherwise be excluded from decision making. The form and content of participatory research depends on the social context in which it is gathered or shared. Thus, for example, a PRA organized as a public event may not represent the views of women and other groups who do not have access to public forums. The need for fieldworkers to develop understanding and sensitivity toward the social context in which they are operating is an important part of training programs in participatory methods.