Chapter 11 Communities, Ecosystems, and Livelihoods Coordinating Lead Authors: Carl Folke, Christo Fabricius Lead Authors: Georgina Cundill, Lisen Schultz Contributing Authors: Cibele Queiroz, Yogesh Gokhale, Andre ´s Marı ´n, Esther Camac-Ramirez, Shivani Chandola, Mohamed Tawfic Ahmed, Bibhab Talukdar, Alejandro Argumedo, Fabricio Carbonell Torres Review Editors: Mario Giampietro, Thomas Wilbanks, Xu Jianchu Main Messages ............................................. 262 11.1 Introduction ........................................... 262 11.1.1 Rationale for Conducting Community-based Assessments 11.1.2 Theoretical Background 11.2 Methods ............................................. 265 11.2.1 Diversity within and among Assessments 11.2.2 Approaches and Methods 11.2.3 Contribution of the MA Framework to Community Assessments 11.3 Findings: Community Assessment Contributions ............... 270 11.3.1 Ecosystem Services and Local Livelihoods 11.3.2 Local Management of Ecosystems 11.3.3 Cross-scale Interactions and Social Networks 11.4 Implications for Policy-making ............................. 275 11.5 Conclusions .......................................... 276 REFERENCES .............................................. 276 BOXES 11.1 Two Methods of Community Engagement: Vilcanota and San Pedro de Atacama FIGURES 11.1 San Pedro de Atacama, Chile 11.2 Participatory Mapping Exercise at Macubeni Village, Eastern Cape, South Africa 11.3 Local People Working in the Agricultural Terraces of Sistelo, Portugal TABLES 11.1 A Typology of Community Participation and Knowledge Control: Selected Examples 261