INTRODUCTION : SETTING THE STAGE : THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION; S. Marysse & A.Ansoms PART I: MINERAL RESOURCES AND LIVELIHOODS OF SMALL-SCALE ACTORS Local actors versus global interests? Dynamics, trends and scales in the Congolese mining sector; S.Geenen 'If you control the railway , you command the wealth of a country': Chinese involvement in DRCongo; S.Marysse & S.Geenen Constraints, opportunities and hope: which future for gold miners and traders in Kamituga, South-Kivu?; S.Geenen Money and masculinity among artisanal miners in Katanga; J.Cuvelier The river of gold: The production and trade of gold from Mongbwalu, DRC; D.Fahey PART II: LAND (SCARCITY) AND LIVELIHOODS OF SMALL-SCALE PEASANTS A 'Green Revolution' for rural Rwanda: Is there a future for small-scale farming and pro-poor rural growth?; A.Ansoms Restricted access to land and its socio-economic consequences in rural southeastern Rwanda; M.Leegwater A land reform in Burundi Discussions in the capital, resignation in the countryside: Burundi's long-lasting debate for a land code reform; D.Kohlhagen Decentralised land management in South-Kivu, DRCongo: Reconciling custom, state and local livelihoods; I.Utshudi & A.Ansoms Land conflicts in ituri: a mortgage from the past hindering the future; J.Van Puijenbroek Struggle for land in Kinshasa (DRC): Governance of urban agricultural space; I.Wagemakers & O.M.Diki CONCLUSION: RECONCILING GLOBALIZATION WITH SMALL-SCALERS' LIVELIHOODS IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION; A.Ansoms & S.Marysse