The clans don't need us to tell them that selling their land rights to the logging companies was a bad idea. They hear lots of stories from other clans. Stories of logging company representatives asking elders to sign a piece of paper, without those elders understanding the significance of the documents. The elders accepted a small amount of money in return from their logging company friends - who often produced the documents after plying the men with alcohol. They really are shameless, these logging company reps.

No doubt you've read about another shameless act, when a logging company persuaded the Kuni tribe to let it build a small road through part of the forest. When the landowners succumbed to the company's proposal to log 40 metres alongside the road - to stop trees falling across the path of the road (!) - it logged for up to 20 kilometres on each side of the road instead.

Eco-forestry training involves teaching the local villagers the value of the wood in the forest. They are then taught how to log selectively, on a small scale. The Foundation for People and Development (FPCD) arranges the use of a portable sawmill, under a buy back scheme, so good quality timber can be milled from the logs. They also learn the importance of maintaining a healthy forest for future generations.

One of the mantras of the local NGO eco-forestry trainers here, is: "Timber can leave, but the forest must stay."

An important aspect of persuading the local village people that eco-forestry is better than selling their land rights to logging companies, is to reassure them that they will actually make a lot money over the long term by sustainable and selective logging. In fact, they will easily make more money than they would by just selling their rights to a logging company offering an up-front but grossly inadequate lump sum.

The selection of certain high value woods, such as rosewood (priced at US$700 on the international market) or eaglewood (which sells at about US$300), can provide a long-term, renewable income the clans can manage themselves, without the interference of middle men.

When I pictured the GFRS before I came here, I imagined that the local people would be very diffident and shy. I was very wrong. The local people are confident, proud and intelligent and they know what the logging companies are like.

I was lucky enough to have been born in a rich country, where an education is a given. A successful eco-forestry business can make the education of Lake Murray children a given, too.