Attempts to manage natural resources through collaboration rather than competition, by agreements rather than conflict, have become the touchstone for many who see these efforts as the harbinger of global sustainable development. The received wisdom suggests that participatory natural resource management projects work because traditional knowledge of the resources and existing social structures can be utilised to develop more effective strategies for resource use. Participation is a flexible and adaptable concept, which can reflect local circumstances and priorities. The contributors to this volume advise caution as well as optimism for projects conducted in this way. By drawing on the experience of NGOs, national governments and donor sectors as well as academic researchers this volume analyses the theory and practice of participatory natural resource management and demonstrates the value of constructive dialogue between all those involved.

With reference to India.

Over the past one hundred years in particular, there has been a steady process by which natural resources (such as ground-water, forests, fishing grounds and grazing land) have been increasingly managed by centralised institutions. Governments and other national agencies have argued that this promotes efficiency, equity, and other wide national goals. Recently this orthodoxy has been challenged by rising numbers of experiments that show how centralised management tends to fail. Global, national and local goals are more likely to be met, at lower cost and with other benefits (such as promoting better democratic institutions) by involving local populations in collaborative management agreements. This volume, based on detailed case studies from around the world, subjects some of these experiments to critical study, and suggests limits to the participative approach as well as ways it can be improved and made suitable for new contexts.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book examines the politics of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Namibia. CBNRM and similar forms of conservation across southern Africa have long been studied for their potential benefits as domestic policy tools to help improve sustainable development. However, they have often failed to achieve their stated goals. By assessing the initiation, design, implementation and outcomes of CBNRM, the book argues that communities are often unable to attain the degree of empowerment that these forms of resource governance promise. It also considers the impact of climate change on CBNRM programmes, and the responses of international actors involved in their governance. In doing so, the book demonstrates how the power imbalances that are built into the global political economy have ensured that those most marginalized in society are no better off as a result of this new form of resource governance. It will appeal to all those interested in CBNRM, conservation studies and environmental governance in Africa, as well political economy and international relations.