17

In 1995, the Malian government embarked on a reform to decentralise its natural resource management policies. A World Bank funded household energy project has set up hundreds of rural firewood markets around the largest cities in the country. Consisting of a demarcated area of natural woodland (for which a harvesting quota has been set), a local management body and a point of sale, the markets work with sale by coupons, differential taxation and checks at the entry to cities. The authors evaluate the rural market system in a municipality ( commune) on the Bamako-Segu trunk road. They highlight distinctive features that may be signs of a complete change in the balance of power and the relationship to territoriality in the villages under review.