Community-Based Natural Resource Management

Community-Based Natural Resource Management
Name	Community-Based Natural Resource Management
Type	Approach
Region	Global
Established	1980s–1990s
Related	Decentralization, Co-management, Participatory Conservation

Community-Based Natural Resource Management is an approach that devolves authority and responsibility for managing natural resources to local communities and customary institutions. It emerged alongside international initiatives and policies promoted by organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and United Nations Development Programme, and has been applied in contexts ranging from rangelands in the Sahel to forests in the Amazon Rainforest and fisheries off the coast of West Africa.

Introduction

Community-based natural resource initiatives developed in the late 20th century in response to debates sparked by events like the Brundtland Commission report and agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Early pilot programs were influenced by donors and conservationists associated with the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and researchers at institutions like Harvard University and University of Cambridge. Prominent field examples include projects in Namibia following independence reforms, community forestry reform in Nepal, and co-management schemes in Australia involving the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.

Principles and Objectives

Core objectives emphasize sustainable use, equitable benefit-sharing, and the protection of biodiversity recognized under instruments like the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention. Principles draw on rights frameworks exemplified by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and tenure reforms in countries such as Tanzania and Peru. The approach often combines local customary systems (e.g., institutions like the Oromo Gada or the Mestizo communities of the Andes) with statutory law reforms promoted by agencies like the International Union for Conservation of Nature and legal scholars from Yale University.

Governance and Institutional Arrangements

Governance arrangements range from legally devolved concessions, as seen in parts of Namibia and Botswana, to negotiated co-management agreements like those under the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Act and indigenous ranger programs linked to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Institutional designs frequently involve partnerships among local councils, customary authorities (e.g., the Gadaa system), nongovernmental organizations such as CARE International and Oxfam, and multilateral funds like the Global Environment Facility. In many cases national legislation—such as the Forestry Act in various jurisdictions or the Natural Resources Management Act—frames local authorities' powers and responsibilities.

Implementation Models and Practices

Models include community conservancies in Namibia, participatory forest management in Nepal and India under the Forest Rights Act, community-managed marine protected areas in Philippines municipalities influenced by the Rizal and Palawan examples, and joint forest management in Bangladesh and Tanzania. Practices incorporate mapping customary tenure (drawing on methods used in Canada with First Nations), establishing user committees modeled after examples from Kenya's devolution reforms, creating payment-for-ecosystem-services schemes linked to instruments like REDD+, and deploying monitoring protocols developed at institutions such as Wageningen University.

Socioeconomic and Cultural Impacts

Evidence from evaluations by the World Bank, International Institute for Environment and Development, and universities including Stanford University indicates mixed socioeconomic outcomes: some communities in Zambia, Mozambique, and Laos have secured livelihoods and cultural revitalization through tourism and sustainable harvesting, whereas others face elite capture similar to documented cases in Ghana and parts of Southeast Asia. Cultural impacts include reinforcing customary knowledge systems documented among groups like the Maasai and Adivasi peoples, and legal recognition has sometimes been advanced through litigation in courts such as the Supreme Court of India.

Environmental Outcomes and Effectiveness

Analyses in journals and reports from UNEP and the IUCN show variable conservation effectiveness: successful biodiversity gains are reported from community conservancies in Namibia and community forests in Nepal, while other sites in the Congo Basin and Amazon Rainforest illustrate limited impact where enforcement and market pressures persist. Outcomes often depend on linkages to markets (as seen with community-based ecotourism in Costa Rica), capacity-building by institutions like USAID and DFID, and integration with national protected-area systems such as those managed by the Parks Canada model or national agencies in Brazil.

Challenges and Criticisms

Critiques raised by scholars at Oxford University, London School of Economics, and activists from groups like Survival International highlight issues including elite capture, gender inequities, insufficient legal tenure security, and commodification of commons under neoliberal policies promoted by organizations like the International Monetary Fund. Practical challenges include financing, monitoring in remote regions like the Arctic or the Papua New Guinea highlands, and conflicts between customary law and statutory frameworks as litigated in courts such as the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Case Studies and Regional Examples

Representative case studies include the communal conservancy network in Namibia; participatory forest management in Nepal and the role of the Department of Forests; marine tenure and community reserves in the Philippines influenced by the Community-Based Coastal Resource Management movement; community-based wildlife management in Tanzania under the Wildlife Management Areas framework; and indigenous land titling in Bolivia supported by organizations such as Fundación Tierra. Comparative analyses draw on datasets and fieldwork associated with universities like University of Cape Town, University of California, Berkeley, and research centers including the CIFOR and IIED.

Category:Natural resource management