Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:14:46.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Devolution of environment and resources governance: trends and future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2010

FIKRET BERKES
FIKRET BERKES*
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2Canada
*
*Correspondence: Dr Fikret Berkes Tel: +1 204 474 6731 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

How can the governance of environment and resources be devolved in a way that incorporates effective user participation and feedback learning? Approaches that use the idea of adaptive management or learning-by-doing, combined with co-management, are particularly promising. Using an interdisciplinary literature covering many types of resources, and a conceptual model with three phases (communicative action, self-organization and collective action), the paper identifies some of the major processes leading to adaptive co-management. These include deliberation, visioning, building social capital, trust and institutions, capacity-building through networks and partnerships, and action-reflection-action loops for social learning. Such adaptive co-management is not simply a theoretical possibility but something that has been documented in a number of forestry, fisheries, wildlife, protected area, and wetland cases from both developed and developing countries. However, the experience with the decentralization reforms of the 1990s is largely negative for a number of reasons. Effective devolution takes time, requiring a shift in focus from a static concept of management to a dynamic concept of governance shaped by interactions, feedback learning and adaptation over time. Sharing of governance responsibilities and an ability to learn from experience are among the emerging trends in environmental management.

Keywords

adaptive managementcommunity empowermentco-managementdecentralizationdevolutionfisheriesforestsgovernanceinstitutions
Type
THEMATIC ISSUE: Interdisciplinary Progress in Environmental Science & Management
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 37 , Issue 4: Thematic section. Interdisciplinary Progress in Environmental Science and Management , December 2010 , pp. 489 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agrawal, A. (2005) Environmentality. Technologies of Government and the Making of Subjects. Durham, NC, USA and London, UK: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Agrawal, A. & Ostrom, E. (2001) Collective action, property rights, and decentralization of resource use in India and Nepal. Politics and Society 29: 485–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armitage, D. (2008) Governance and the commons in a multi-level world. International Journal of the Commons 2: 7–32 [www document]. URL http://www.thecommonsjournal.orgCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armitage, D., Berkes, F. & Doubleday, N., eds (2007) Adaptive Co-Management: Collaboration, Learning, and Multi-Level Governance. Vancouver, BC, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Armitage, D., Marschke, M. & Plummer, R. (2008) Adaptive co-management and the paradox of learning. Global Environmental Change 18: 86–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bawa, K.S., Seidler, R. & Raven, P.H. (2004) Reconciling conservation paradigms. Conservation Biology 18: 859–860.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Béné, C. & Neiland, A.E. (2004) Empowerment reform, yes. . . but empowerment of whom? Fisheries decentralization reforms in developing countries: a critical assessment with specific reference to poverty reduction. Aquatic Resources, Culture and Development 1: 35–49.Google Scholar
Béné, C. & Neiland, A.E. (2006) From Participation to Governance. Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish Center and Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., ed. (1989) Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community-Based Sustainable Development. London, UK: Belhaven Press.Google Scholar
Berkes, F. (2007) Community-based conservation in a globalized world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 15188–15193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkes, F. (2009) Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning. Journal of Environmental Management 90: 1692–1702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berkes, F., Colding, J. & Folke, C., eds (2003) Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Building Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., Hughes, T.P., Steneck, R.S., Wilson, R.A., Bellwood, D.R., Crona, B., Folke, C., Gunderson, L.H., Leslie, H.M., Norberg, J., Nyström, M., Olsson, P., Österblom, H., Scheffer, M. & Worm, B. (2006) Globalization, roving bandits and marine resources. Science 311: 1557–1558.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borrini-Feyerabend, G., Pimbert, M., Farvar, M.T., Kothari, A. & Renard, Y. (2004) Sharing Power. Learning-by-doing in Co-management of Natural Resources throughout the World. Tehran, Iran: Cenesta, in cooperation with IIED and IUCN.Google Scholar
Bocking, S. (2004) Nature's Experts. Science, Politics and the Environment. New Brunswick, NJ, USA: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Bray, D.B., Merino-Pérez, L. & Barry, L. eds (2005) The Community Forests of Mexico: Managing for Sustainable Landscapes. Austin, TX, USA: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Brinkerhoff, J.M. (2002) Government-nonprofit partnership: a defining framework. Public Administration and Development 22: 19–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, K. (2002) Innovations for conservation and development. The Geographical Journal 168: 6–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brugere, C. (2006) Can integrated coastal management solve agriculture-fisheries-aquaculture conflicts at the land-water interface? In: Environment and Livelihoods in Tropical Coastal Zones, ed. Hoanh, C.T., Tuong, T.P., Gowing, J.W. & Hardy, B., pp. 258–273. Oxon, UK: CAB International.Google Scholar
Brunner, R., Steelman, T., Coe-Juell, L., Cromley, C., Edwards, C. & Tucker, D. (2005) Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy and Decision Making. New York, NY, USA: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Capistrano, D. & Colfer, C.J.P. (2005) Decentralization: issues, lessons and reflections. In: The Politics of Decentralization. Forests, People and Power, ed. Colfer, C.J.P. & Capistrano, D., pp. 296–313. London, UK: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Carlsson, L. & Berkes, F. (2005) Co-management: concepts and methodological implications. Journal of Environmental Management 75: 65–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castilla, J.C. & Defeo, O. (2001) Latin American benthic shellfisheries: emphasis on co-management and experimental practices. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 11: 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, R. (1983) Rural Development: Putting the Last First. London, UK: Longman.Google Scholar
Chapin, F.S. III, Kofinas, G.P. & Folke, C. eds (2009) Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship: Resilience-based Natural Resource Management in a Changing World. New York, NY, USA: Springer.Google Scholar
Chhatre, A. & Agrawal, A (2008) Forest commons and local enforcement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 13286–13291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, K.L. & Garcia, S.M., eds (2009) A Fishery Manager's Guidebook. Second Edition. Chichester, UK: FAO/Wiley-Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colfer, C.J.P. (2005) The Complex Forest: Communities, Uncertainty, and Adaptive Collaborative Management. Washington, DC, USA: Resources for the Future/CIFOR.Google Scholar
Colfer, C.J.P. & Capistrano, D. (2005) The Politics of Decentralization. Forests, People and Power. London, UK: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Davidson-Hunt, I.J. & O'Flaherty, R.M. (2007) Researchers, indigenous peoples and place-based learning communities. Society and Natural Resources 20: 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietz, T., Ostrom, E. & Stern, P. (2003) The struggle to govern the commons. Science 302: 1907–1912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabricius, C., Koch, E., Magome, H. & Turner, S., eds (2004) Rights, Resources and Rural Development: Community-based Natural Resource Management in Southern Africa. London, UK: Earthscan.Google Scholar
Folke, C., Hahn, T., Olsson, P. & Norberg, J. (2005) Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 30: 441–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, B.E. (2008) Skunkworks in the embers of the Cedar fire: enhancing resilience in the aftermath of disaster. Human Ecology 36: 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstein, B.E. (2009) Resilience to surprises through communicative planning. Ecology and Society 14 (2): 33 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art33/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. (2007) Seeking Sustainability in an Age of Complexity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, J. (1981) Theorie des Kommunikativen Handelns. Two volumes. Frankfurt, Germany: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Holling, C.S., ed. (1978) Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. London, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Holt, F.L. (2005) The catch-22 of conservation: indigenous peoples, biologists and cultural change. Human Ecology 33: 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jagger, P., Pender, J. & Gebremedhin, B. (2005) Trading off environmental sustainability for empowerment and income: woodlot devolution in northern Ethiopia. World Development 33: 1491–1510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jentoft, S. (2007) Limits to governability: institutional implications for fisheries and coastal governance. Marine Policy 31: 360–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jentoft, S. & McCay, B.J. (1995) User participation in fisheries management. Lessons drawn from international experiences. Marine Policy 19: 227–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kates, R.W., Clark, W.C., Corell, R., Hall, J.M., Jaeger, C.C., Lowe, I., McCarthy, J.J., Schellnhuber, H.J., Bolin, B., Dickson, N.M., Faucheux, S., Gallopin, G.C., Grübler, A., Huntley, B., Jäger, J., Jodha, N.S., Kasperson, R.E., Mabogunje, A., Matson, P., Mooney, H., Moore, B. III, O'Riordan, T. & Svedin, U. (2001) Sustainability science. Science 292: 641–642.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kooiman, J. (2003) Governing as Governance. London, UK: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kooiman, J., Bavinck, M., Jentoft, S. & Pulin, R., eds (2005) Fish for Life: Interactive Governance for Fisheries. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Larson, A.M. & Soto, F. (2008) Decentralization of natural resource governance regimes. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 33: 213–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, A., Paudel, K., Barnes, R. & Malla, Y. (2006) Adaptive value of participatory biodiversity monitoring in community forestry. Environmental Conservation 33: 325–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebel, L., Anderies, J.M., Campbell, M., Folke, C., Hatfield-Dodds, S., Hughes, T.P. & Wilson, J. (2006) Governance and the capacity to manage resilience in regional social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 11 (1): 19 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art19/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, D. (2001) The era of management is over. Ecosystems 4: 758–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maliao, R.J., Pomeroy, R.S. & Turingan, R.G. (2009) Performance of community-based coastal resource management (CBCRM) programs in the Philippines: a meta-analysis. Marine Policy 33: 818–825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manor, J. (1999) The Political Economy of Decentralization. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCay, B.J. & Acheson, J.M., eds. (1987) The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources. Tucson, AZ, USA: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
McCay, B.J. & Jentoft, S. (1996) From the bottom up: participatory issues in fisheries management. Society and Natural Resources 9: 237–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MEA (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being. General Synthesis. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Chicago, IL, USA: Island Press [www document]. URL http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Synthesis.aspxGoogle Scholar
Nagendra, H. (2007) Drivers of reforestation in human-dominated forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 15218–15223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Napier, V.R., Branch, G.M. & Harris, J.M. (2005) Evaluating conditions for successful co-management of subsistence fisheries in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Environmental Conservation 32: 165–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (1997) Evaluation of programs promoting participatory development and good governance: synthesis report. Paris, France: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Google Scholar
O'Brien, K., Hayward, B. & Berkes, F. (2009) Rethinking social contracts: building resilience in a changing climate. Ecology and Society 14 (2): 12 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art12/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsson, P. & Folke, C. (2001) Local ecological knowledge and institutional dynamics for ecosystem management: a study of Lake Racken watershed, Sweden. Ecosystems 4: 85–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsson, P., Folke, C. & Hahn, T. (2004) Social-ecological transformation for ecosystem management: the development of adaptive co-management of a wetland landscape in southern Sweden. Ecology and Society 9 (4): 2 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss4/art2/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2005) Understanding Institutional Diversity. Princeton, USA: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2007) A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 15181–15187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pahl-Wostl, C. (2009) A conceptual framework for analyzing adaptive capacity and multi-level learning processes in resource governance regimes. Global Environmental Change 19: 354–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pahl-Wostl, C. & Hare, H. (2004) Process of social learning in integrated resources management. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 14: 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pahl-Wostl, C., Craps, M., Dewulf, A., Mostert, E., Tabara, D. & Taillieu, T. (2007) Social learning and water resources management. Ecology and Society 12 (2): 5 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art5/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinkerton, E., ed. (1989) Co-operative Management of Local Fisheries. Vancouver, BC, USA: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Plummer, R. (2009) The adaptive co-management process: an initial synthesis of representative models and influential variables. Ecology and Society 14 (2): 24 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art24/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plummer, R. & FitzGibbon, J. (2004 a) Some observations on the terminology in co-operative environmental management. Journal of Environmental Management 70: 63–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plummer, R. & FitzGibbon, J. (2004 b) Co-management of natural resources: a proposed framework. Environmental Management 33: 876–885.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polunin, N.V.C., ed. (2008) Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, R.S. & Berkes, F. (1997) Two to tango: the role of government in fisheries co-management. Marine Policy 21: 465–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeroy, R.S., Garces, L., Pido, M. & Silvestre, G. (2010) Ecosystem-based fisheries management in small-scale tropical marine fisheries: emerging models of governance arrangements in the Philippines. Marine Policy 34: 298–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prabhu, R., McDougall, C. & Fisher, R. (2007) Adaptive collaborative management: a conceptual model. In: Adaptive Collaborative Management of Community Forests in Asia, ed. Fisher, R., Brabhu, R. & McDougall, C., pp. 16–49. Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research.Google Scholar
Pretty, J. & Ward, H. (2001) Social capital and the environment. World Development 29: 209–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ribot, J.C. (2002) Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources: Institutionalizing Popular Participation. Washington, DC, USA: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Ribot, J.C., Agrawal, A. & Larson, A.M. (2006) Recentralizing while decentralizing: how national governments reappropriate forest resources. World Development 34: 1864–1886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seixas, C.S. & Davy, B. (2008) Self-organization in integrated conservation and development initiatives. International Journal of the Commons 2: 99–125 [www document]. URL http://www.thecommonsjournal.orgCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, P. (2005) Deliberative methods for understanding environmental systems. BioScience 55: 976–982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, S., McCay, B.J. & Baba, O. (2006) The good, the bad, or the ugly? Advantages and challenges of Japanese costal fisheries management. Bulletin of Marine Science 78: 575–591.Google Scholar
WCED (1987) Our Common Future. World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford, UK and New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Walters, C. (1986) Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources. New York, NY, USA: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D.C., Nielson, J.R. & Degnbol, P., eds (2003) The Fisheries Co-management Experience. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, D.C., Ahmed, M., Siar, S.V. & Kanagaratnam, U. (2006) Cross-scale linkages and adaptive management: fisheries co-management in Asia. Marine Policy 30: 523–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, J. A. (2006) Matching social and ecological systems in complex ocean fisheries. Ecology and Society 11 (1): 9 [www document]. URL http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art9/CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, O.R., King, L.A. & Schroeder, H. (2008) Institutions and Environmental Change. Cambridge, MA, USA and London, UK: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar