All communities with user areas adjacent to Kro Lah village sent repre-sentatives to join the process at all crucial steps. In turn, Kro Lah repre-sentatives attended meetings in all of the neighbouring villages in order to ensure understanding of the process and to resolve any outstanding disagreements about the extent of user areas between the neighbouring communities. After all negotiations were completed, elders and leaders from the neighbouring villages placed their thumbprints on the land use map to signify their support. Since recognition by the authorities is a crucial factor in ensuring land/resource security, relevant authorities and line departments were involved in the process at all steps (GTZ-MRC-SMRP 2001).