We summarise the main issues related to Community-Based Natural Resource Management which were discussed at an International Workshop organized in Niamey, Niger, in March 2008. The objective of the workshop was to compare and contrast different development-oriented biodiversity conservation and natural resource management approaches as they exist across Africa. These approaches were explored following (1) the fundamentals of natural resource management in relation to local development and livelihoods and (2) the multi-functional nature of land use. The major topics subject to debate were the dichotomy between strictly protected areas and conservation areas including human activities; the importance of legitimate, people-centred conservation, as opposed to legal (drawn from the law) conservation; the key role of market instruments, participatory approaches, interdisciplinarity and local governance; and finally the strong relationships between agriculture and biodiversity conservation, especially at landscape level. We then provide a short summary of the 12 papers addressing the above topics and selected for the Special Issue of Biodiversity and Conservation on ''Natural Resource Management and Local Development'' (Vol 18, No 10, 2009).