| Abstract | Past experiences clearly show that conventional adoption of "top-down" approaches to conduct forest projects, and centralized management of forest resources in Yunnan of China, have brought the key issue of non-people's participation or passive way of local people' participation in forest management, and have negatively influenced successful implementation of some government-led forest projects and management of community forest in rural communities. People's participation in community-based forest management (CBFM) means active involvement of local people, groups in the whole management process including receiving information, identifying problems, planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and sharing benefit. Therefore, making change in moving from government-centralized forest management to more people-centered forest management approaches is vital for both governments and local communities to achieve effective and efficientcommunity forest management. This research looks at people's participation in implementation of Sino-German forestry project (SGFP) in Wuding County of China. The main objective of the research is to assess people's participation in process of SGFP, and explore a possible sequence of steps in planning and implementation of SGFP, as well as identify key factors influencing people's participation in order to suggest recommendation to improve people's participation in CBFM in Yunnan. Based on the main objective, the research gives rise to following key questions: what participation are we concerned in SGFP, whose participation are we concerned, and what are the key factors which determine people's participation, as well as how the participatory approach were used in SGFP and how it influenced people's participation in each step of planning and implementation of SGFP. To answer these questions, the research was conducted in three villages in Wuding county of Yunnna province with a total number of 66 household samples for primary data collection. This research analyzed the participatory approach used in planning and implementation of SGFP, and assessed people's participation in four main processes of problem identification, decision-making, implementation, and monitory and evaluation. The research then identified key factors influencing people's participation in SGFP. Main finding of the research showed that local people involved in the project in different ways and had different degrees of influences. Throughout the project cycle, local people participated in problem identification, decision-making and operation of the project, as well as monitoring and evaluation with contributing information, indigenous knowledge and experiences. During the process of SGFP, people have very strong influence in problem identification, operation process, and have strong influence in decision making, but the process of monitoring and evaluation showed non-participation of local people. The study revealed that people's participation in CBFM is depended mainly upon various factors. Apart from participatory approach as a key factor to create the appropriate environment for encouraging local people joining forest management, forest land tenure, economic incentive and various types of forest management are key factors to affect local people's participation in local condition. |