An Examination of Governance Arrangements at Kisakasaka Mangrove Reserve in Zanzibar

This study employs insights largely derived from critical reflections on the common pool resources (CPR) theory to examine the current governance arrangements in place to manage the mangrove forest at Kisakasaka, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Kisakasaka was used as a site for a community-based management pilot project of forest resources in Zanzibar. After some initial success in setting up a local management structure and regulating access to the mangrove for mainly charcoal production, there are now clear indications that forest conditions have deteriorated dramatically with concomitant ongoing resource use problems for local villagers who have relied heavily on forest resources as a source of cash income. Extra-local factors, such as urban population increases and associated market pressures for charcoal, are also conjectured to overlay and interact with the institutional problems at Kisakasaka. As a result, over concern about the deterioration in the condition of the mangrove forest, the responsible government authority decided not to renew the community-based governance arrangements after an initial five-year pilot period. While revealing the inadequacies of existing governance arrangements and of its relationship to deteriorating forest conditions at Kisakasaka, this study concludes by suggesting an approach to more fully understand forces driving local resource management and use.     

State interventions and natural resource management: A study on social interfaces in a riverine fisheries setting in Kerala, India

This article attempts to analyse the social interface between formal institutions and local fishing communities along the Pamba‐Achankovil River Basin in Kerala, India. It examines primarily the nature of the relationship between state agencies and traditional fishing communities in the context of (i) enforcing certain formal regulations of resource use and (ii) implementing resource enhancement programmes. The article also analyses the nature of social interfaces that emerge when local level formal organizations, such as cooperatives and gram panchayats, take up resource management or community welfare schemes on behalf of the traditional fisherfolk in the study region. Social interfaces can be understood in terms of social processes, such as cooperation, accommodation and conflicts between various actors involved in fisheries management. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork. Interview guides and focus group discussions were the primary tools of data collection. The findings show that the relationships between formal institutions and traditional riverine fishing communities lack mutual trust. Conflicts between fishing communities and state agencies emerge when the formal institutions threaten or contradict those elements of local culture that sustain livelihood needs. Conflicts and discontent with a particular formal institution can also lead to the modification or violation of coexisting institutional arrangements.     

Is the god of diamonds alone? The role of institutions in artisanal mining in forest landscapes,Congo Basin

This paper examines the institutional framework of artisanal mining in the forests of the Sangha Tri-National Landscape (TNS) in the Congo Basin. Artisanal miners in Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR) commonly make sacrifices to their god of diamonds, to improve fortunes. This study looks into ‘the other forces’; institutions that play a role in shaping the sector and its outcomes. These institutions comprise formal and informal institutions at a local, national, regional and international level. Although artisanal miners in TNS benefit by gaining cash income, this activity also carries risks as income is highly disparate and environmental impacts in this priority forest conservation area are expected to increase due to the growing competition over land use. It was concluded from a literature review, interviews and site visits that informal arrangements dominate the sector, especially in Cameroon, leading to poor relations between officials and miners and meaning that miners have few rights and no voice. The current institutional setup is inadequate to deal with current and anticipated social and environmental issues. Future interventions need to take into account the existing (local) types of organization, vulnerable groups, the interests of multiple actors and the fact that most miners are experienced but combine mining with other activities, such as agriculture, fishing and harvesting forest products. African initiatives concerning ASM offer opportunities to Cameroon and CAR to collaborate with other countries to combat similar issues. A regional integrated approach of both the forest and mining sector would be especially relevant for trans-boundary agreements, such as concerning the TNS, to reinforce positive outcomes for the landscape and the area's population.     

Climate adaptation management and institutional erosion: insights from a major Canadian port

This paper performs an institutional analysis of the adaptation to climate change by ports, through a case study of the port of Vancouver, Canada. While previous literature has demonstrated the value of informal institutions for filling gaps left by formal institutions, the role of failed informal institutions has received less attention. Our analysis reveals how, in the case of an unprecedented challenge like climate adaptation, relying on informal institutions with less agency can actually erode the strength of existing institutions in a form of negative institutional plasticity. In this case, emerging polycentric governance was unsuccessful, unable to construct clearly demarcated responsibilities due to impedance by the path dependence of the current federalist system. The latter works well for traditional infrastructure investments with a closed pool of stakeholders, but not for ports where multiple scales of embeddedness, both horizontally and vertically, produce a collective action problem with no mechanism for resolution.     

Protected area governance in Sweden: new modes of governance or business as usual?

This paper explores whether ambitions to open up the traditional Swedish model of top-down conservation methods to local influences are indicative of an actual transition in governance of Swedish national park policy (NPP), and examines whether such a shift entails an increase in local influence over local interests and needs. Methodologically, we analyse a combination of governance types and incorporate theoretical definitions of power and accountability. The establishment of new governance arrangements – where power is shared, interactions promoted and accountability is directed downwards – indicates that Sweden's NPP is undergoing a change in its mode of governance. This change also seems to include ceding some influence to local interests, and the possibility of combining conservation with the utilisation of certain natural resources. The results of our research also provide valuable insights into when the establishment of shared-governance arrangements are likely to succeed; in short, this seems more likely when there are established sectors sited in a robust legal framework and where strong international commitments potentially play a role. In conclusion, we contend that when seeking diversified governance arrangements it is not enough simply to take local practices and customs into consideration – they have to be strengthened.     

Reforms from the Ground Up: A Review of Community-Based Forest Management in Tropical Developing Countries

After an initial burst of enthusiasm in the 1990s, community-based forest management (CBFM) is increasingly being viewed with a critical eye. Evidence suggests that many programs have failed to promote their stated objectives of sustainability, efficiency, equity, democratic participation and poverty reduction. A large volume of academic literature now exists on CBFM, examining both the success and failure of such initiatives in a wide variety of countries. Through analysis of key themes, concepts and issues in CBFM, this article provides a review of CBFM initiatives in tropical developing countries for policymakers, practitioners and planners wishing to gain an understanding of this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary academic literature. The article identifies key institutions and incentives that appear to significantly affect the success or failure of CBFM initiatives. In particular, it reports that consideration of institutional and socioeconomic factors along with personal characteristics of key stakeholders such as beliefs, attitudes, financial resources and skills are important determinants of CBFM outcomes. However, local incentive structures also appear to be important. There is increasing recognition in the literature of the need to consider the conditions under which local politicians entrusted with carrying out CBFM initiatives will deem it worthwhile to invest their scarce time and resources on environmental governance.     

Institutional innovation in urban governance: The case of climate change adaptation

Urban governance systems need to be adaptive to deal with emerging uncertainties and pressures, including those related to climate change. Realising adaptive urban governance systems requires attention to institutions, and in particular, processes of institutional innovation. Interestingly, understanding of how institutional innovation and change occurs remains a key conceptual weakness in urban climate change governance. This paper explores how institutional innovation in urban climate change governance can be conceptualised and analysed. We develop a heuristic involving three levels: (1) “visible” changes in institutional arrangements, (2) changes in underlying “rules-in-use”, and (3) the relationship to broader “governance dilemmas”. We then explore the utility of this heuristic through an exploratory case study of urban water governance in Santiago, Chile. The approach presented opens up novel possibilities for studying institutional innovation and evaluating changes in governance systems. The paper contributes to debates on innovation and its effects in urban governance, particularly under climate change.     

Adaptation in Collaborative Governance Regimes

Adaptation and the adaptive capacity of human and environmental systems have been of central concern to natural and social science scholars, many of whom characterize and promote the need for collaborative cross-boundary systems that are seen as flexible and adaptive by definition. Researchers who study collaborative governance systems in the public administration, planning and policy literature have paid less attention to adaptive capacity specifically and institutional adaptation in general. This paper bridges the two literatures and finds four common dimensions of capacity, including structural arrangements, leadership, knowledge and learning, and resources. In this paper, we focus on institutional adaptation in the context of collaborative governance regimes and try to clarify and distinguish collaborative capacity from adaptive capacity and their contributions to adaptive action. We posit further that collaborative capacities generate associated adaptive capacities thereby enabling institutional adaptation within collaborative governance regimes. We develop these distinctions and linkages between collaborative and adaptive capacities with the help of an illustrative case study in watershed management within the National Estuary Program.     

A framework for assessing the accountability of local governance arrangements for adaptation to climate change

Accountability has hardly been studied in the governance of climate change adaptation. This paper develops a framework for assessing the accountability of interactive governance arrangements for local adaptation. This framework is based on five important accountability mechanisms: Clear responsibilities and mandates, Transparency, Political oversight, Citizen control and Checks and sanctions. For illustration purposes, the proposed framework is applied to the case of a Dutch local adaptation governance arrangement. The application shows that the five proposed mechanisms and their operationalizations offer a valid assessment of the accountability of such arrangements. It also raises some challenges, such as the tensions between accountability and flexibility, legitimacy and effectiveness; the potentially important roles of trust and of the political skills of central actor(s) in the arrangement in raising accountability, and the potential need to distinguish between arrangements for policy planning and for service delivery.     

Local governments in the driving seat? A comparative analysis of public and private responsibilities for adaptation to climate change in European and North-American cities

The division of responsibilities between public and private actors has become a key governance issue for adaptation to climate change in urban areas. This paper offers a systematic, comparative analysis of three empirical studies which analysed how and why responsibilities were divided between public and private actors for the governance of local urban climate adaptation. For 20 governance arrangements in European and North-American cities, the divisions of responsibilities and the underlying rationales of actors for those divisions were analysed and compared. Data were gathered through content analysis of over 100 policy documents, 97 in-depth interviews and 2 multi-stakeholder workshops. The comparative analysis reveals that local public authorities are the key actors, as they bear the majority of responsibilities for climate proofing their cities. In this stage of policy emergence, local authorities are clearly in the driving seat. It is envisaged that local public authorities need to more actively engage the different private actors such as citizens, civil society and businesses through governance networks along with the maturation of the policy field and the expected acceleration of climate impacts in the coming decades.     

Factors driving deforestation in common-pool resources in northern Mexico

The theory of collective action has been extensively used to explain the relationship between common-based property regimes and the conservation of natural resources. However, there are two key components of the theory that literature reports as puzzles in which no consensus exists about their effect on the performance of common-pool resources. These are group size and heterogeneity. This study analyzes the effects of these two key components on the effectiveness of community-based forestry, called ejidos, to protect their forest resources in northern Mexico. We used a multinomial logit model to determine the contribution of 16 explanatory variables to the dependent variable, a measure of success of ejidos defined by the presence of deforested, degraded, or forested conditions. The results show that corn yield, marginality, percent of forest area, total population, a forest value index, distance to markets, roads and towns, were all statistically significant in driving deforested conditions. Deforestation becomes more attractive for poor communities and as corn yield and distance to towns, roads, and markets decrease. In general, group size and heterogeneity had no significant effects on the presence of deforested conditions. Deforestation is driven by resource-specific characteristics, such as location and soil productivity, not by ejidos' attributes, such as total area or number of members. We argue that current institutional policies focusing on the structure of property right arrangements should be shifted (1) to provide better technology for land cultivation; (2) to reduce the marginality problem in poor communities; and (3) to strengthen local institutions.     

REDD+ in Africa: contexts and challenges

REDD+, a climate change mitigation mechanism that values carbon in tropical forests, is expected to provide Africa with a range of environmental and socio‐economic benefits. Drawing on a vast array of literature and personal experiences, this review analyzed particular features and challenges that REDD+ implementation has faced on the continent. The distinct contexts and major challenges regarding governance, finance and technical capacities are discussed, and mechanisms to fill these gaps are suggested. Radical land tenure reform and a perfect safeguard mechanism that transfers forest land and carbon to the communities are unlikely. REDD+ should rather look for systems that respect local institutional arrangements, and allow forest‐based communities to participate in decision‐making and benefit sharing, particularly benefits from emerging REDD+. Finances for REDD+ infrastructure and the results‐based payment are in short supply. While negotiating for potential external sources in the short term, Africa should generate domestic financial resources and look for additional payments for ecosystem services. Africa should also negotiate for forest monitoring capacity building, while strengthening local community forest monitoring. This review contributes to an improved understanding of the contexts and challenges to consider in the capacity and policy development for REDD+ implementation.     

Climate change adaptation at different levels of government: Characteristics and conditions of policy change

Climate change adaptation strategies that aim to minimize harm and maximize benefits related to climate change impacts have mushroomed at all levels of government in recent years. While many studies have explored barriers that stand in the way of their implementation, the factors determining their potential to mainstream adaptation into various sectors are less clear. In the present paper, we aim to address this gap for two international, six national, and six local adaptation strategies. Based on document analyses and 35 semi‐structured interviews, the 14 case studies also explore in how far the factors facilitating climate change adaptation are similar across levels of government or level‐specific. Although located at three different levels of government, we find that the 14 adaptation strategies analyzed here represent “one‐size‐fits‐all governance arrangements” that are characterized by voluntariness and a lack institutionalization. Since adaptation strategies are relatively weak coordination hubs that are unable to force adaptation onto sectoral policy agendas, they rely mainly on sectoral self‐interest in adapting to climate change, largely determined by problem pressure. We conclude that one‐size‐fits‐all governance arrangements are rarely adequate responses to complex challenges, such as climate change. Although climate change adaptation depends more on framework conditions such as problem pressure than on administrative or governance features, the findings presented here can help to understand under what circumstances adaptation is likely to make progress.     

Responding to climate change as a transformative stressor through metro-regional planning

This paper characterises climate change as a “transformative stressor”. It argues that institutional change will become increasingly necessary as institutions seek to reorientate governance frameworks to better manage the transformative stresses created by climate change in urban environments. Urban and metropolitan planning regimes are identified as central institutions in addressing this challenge. The operationalisation of climate adaptation is identified as a central tenet of a comprehensive urban response to the transformative stresses that climate change is predicted to create. Operationalisation refers to climate adaptation becoming incorporated, codified and implemented as a central tenet of urban planning governance. This paper has three purposes. First, it examines conceptual perspectives on the role of transformative stressors in compelling institutional change. Second, it establishes a conceptual approach that characterises climate change as a transformative stressor requiring institutional change within planning frameworks. Third, it reports emergent results and analysis from an empirical inquiry which examines how the metro-regional planning regime of Southeast Queensland has responded to climate change as a transformative stressor via institutional change and the operationalisation of climate adaptation.     

Informal Institutional Responses to Government Interventions: Lessons from Madhupur National Park,Bangladesh

Madhupur National Park is renowned for severe resource ownership conflicts between ethnic communities and government authorities in Bangladesh. In this study, we applied the Institutional Analysis and Development framework to identify: (i) past and present informal institutional structures within the ethnic Garo community for land resource management; (ii) the origin of the land ownership dispute; (iii) interaction mechanisms between formal and informal institutions; and (iv) change in land management authority and informal governance structures. We identify that the informal institutions of the traditional community have undergone radical change due to government interventions with implications for the regulation of land use, informal institutional functions, and joint-decision-making. Importantly, the government’s persistent denial of the role of existing informal institutions is widening the gap between government and community actors, and driving land ownership conflicts in a cyclic way with associated natural resource degradation.     

Why institutional reforms in forestry? Lessons from international experience

Profound changes have taken place, worldwide, during the last decade. These political, economic, and institutional changes have contributed to redefine the role of the state in all sectors, including natural resources. This article discusses traditional shortcomings of forest departments and new challenges they face arising from the changes in national policies and global concerns. Worldwide trends, such as civil service reforms, decentralization of government, increased local community involvement in resource management, and divestiture of state-owned enterprises impact the forestry sector, already faced with shrinking forest areas, decreased revenues, and government downsizing. To survive, forest departments need to form strategic partnerships with other stakeholders, get out of forest activities where they do not have a comparative advantage, and focus on core functions that governments do best. Examples are given from countries in Asia and the Pacific. Two country case studies are presented discussing Nepal's experience with Forest User Groups and New Zealand's experience with privatization of forestry.     

Collective Action in the Management of a Tropical Dry Forest Ecosystem: Effects of Mexico’s Property Rights Regime

Dilemmas of natural resources governance have been a central concern for scholars, policy makers, and users. Major debates occur over the implications of property rights for common resources management. After the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917), land was distributed mainly as ejidos conceived as a hereditary but unalienable collective form of property. In 1992, a new Agrarian Law was decreed that allows individual ownership by removing various restrictions over the transfer of land. Scholars have examined the reform mainly focusing on land-tenure changes and environmental fragmentation. This study examines how the new ownership regime is affecting collective decision-making in ejidos located in a tropical dry forest (TDF) ecosystem. Information on decision-making processes before and after the 1992 reform was gathered through 52 interviews conducted in four ejidos selected along a gradient including agricultural, cattle-raising, and TDF use. The new individualized land property system reduced collective action in ejidos but did not trigger it. Collective action responses to the 1992 reform were buffered by self-organization each ejido already had. Heterogeneous users who shared a short history and showed little understanding of TDF and low dependence on its resources seemed to explain why ejidos have not been able to share a sense of community that would shape the construction of institutions for the collective management of forest resources. However, when a resource is scarce and highly valuable such as water the same users showed capacities for undertaking costly co-operative activities.     

Dynamics of local governance in natural resource conservation in the Okavango Delta,Botswana

There has been a shift in natural resource management worldwide. This paper describes how modern institutions and policies influence management and shape access to and utilization of resources by rural communities in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. It is rooted in the framework of adaptive co‐governance within social‐ecological systems, and employs a critical literature review to analyse access to and use of natural resources in rural Botswana. Prior to the establishment of community‐based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Botswana in 1989, resource governance was dominated by strong traditional institutions that were responsible for natural resource management and decision‐making. Contemporary natural resource governance is characterized by a bureaucratic system that invariably undermines the role of traditional institutions in natural resource governance. Findings indicate that policies and regulatory instruments deny rural communities adequate access to and utilization of resources available within their immediate environment. In spite of an orientation towards an anthropocentric approach to natural resource management (as in the case of CBNRM), the current governance system continues to undermine the inclusion of local resource users as legitimate stakeholders in the decision‐making process.     

Institutional development for sustainable rangeland resource and ecosystem management in mountainous areas of northern Nepal

Rangelands represent one of the most important natural resources in mountainous regions of northern Nepal. However, a poor understanding of the social dimensions of rangeland use has limited their proper management and sustainable development, which represent major challenges for Nepal's resource managers. Institutional development is thought to be a viable solution to this problem and may ultimately lead to improved rangeland management in Nepal. Based on this hypothesis, a study was conduced in the Rasuwa district of northern Nepal to examine the effectiveness of institutional development at the local and national levels in mitigating the problems facing sustainable rangeland management by using an institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework. The information and data were mainly collected from different stakeholders, farmers, professionals and practitioners using a toolkit of participatory rural appraisal (PRA), workshops and literature review. It can be concluded from this case study that a number of institutional development efforts are needed to promote sustainable rangeland management in this region. First, local herders represent a repository of rich indigenous knowledge essential to sustaining sound rangeland management practices; hence, indigenous practices need to be integrated into modern technologies. Second, public services and technical support are currently unavailable or inaccessible to local herders; hence, research, development and extension interventions need to be initiated for marginalized pastoral communities. Third, rangeland institutions are incomplete and ill-organized, so institutional development of various organizations is necessary for promoting sustainable rangeland management. Fourth, the policies and governance necessary for promoting rangeland management are not well-designed; hence, governance reform and policy development need to be formulated through internal and external agencies and organizations.     

Conflict and collective action in Tonle Sap fisheries: adapting governance to support community livelihoods

This paper presents the results of action research conducted from 2009 to 2015 on the dynamics of resource conflict concerning fisheries and livelihoods in the Tonle Sap Lake, as well as the institutional context and strategies for institutional adaptation to address such conflicts equitably. Over the past 15 years, Cambodia has made significant advances in building the policy framework, regulations and institutions to support community‐based fisheries management and increase the sector's contribution to the rural economy. However, fundamental challenges of increased resource conflict and loss of livelihoods by the most vulnerable remain. Key sources of conflict include destructive and illegal fishing practices, clearing of flooded forests, competing uses of land and water, and overlapping resource claims. Addressing these challenges requires collective action by all key actors: local fishers, the private sector, civil society, development partners, and government from the local to the national level. We identify and elaborate upon four governance priorities: (1) clarify roles and responsibilities in fisheries management; (2) link civil society and government efforts in law enforcement; (3) strengthen partnerships for livelihoods development; and (4) integrate fisheries management into decentralised development planning.