An analysis of institutions associated with wetlands use, access and management in communal areas of Zimbabwe: A case study of Zungwi vlei, Zvishavane

The physical, economic, and sociocultural displacement of local peoples from protected areas generates intense discussion among scholars and policy makers. To foster greater precision and clarity in these discussions, we used a conceptual framework from the political economy literature to examine different forms of human displacement from protected areas. Using marine protected areas (MPAs) to ground our analysis, we characterized the 5 types of property rights that are reallocated (lost, secured, and gained) through the establishment of protected areas. All forms of MPA "displacement" involve reallocation of property rights, but the specific types and bundles of rights lost, secured, and gained dramatically shape the magnitude, extent, and equity of MPA impacts--positive and negative--on governance, economic well-being, health, education, social capital, and culture. The impacts of reallocating rights to MPA resources vary within and among social groups, inducing changes in society, in patterns of resource use, and in the environment. To create more environmentally sustainable and socially just conservation practice, a critical next step in conservation social science research is to document and explain variation in the social impacts of protected areas.

This paper explores the role of customary governance in the sustainable management of natural resources within the Ngishyangba community of Upper Manang. The study is grounded in empirical research conducted in two phases, in 2014 and 2022, utilizing key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and observational methods to explore how traditional Mithewa system facilitate cooperation, resolve conflicts, and adapt to external pressures such as climate change, tourism, and state interventions. The study highlights intricate relationship between customary governance and social dynamics in the sustainable management of natural resources within this high-altitude region. The study explains the complex construct and interaction of Mithewa system, with the community and its surrounding, for the management of the natural resources and maintaining harmony in the society. In explaining the effective function of Mithewa, the study also highlights the concurrent worldview of Ngishyangba people, using ethno ecological framework. The framework unravels the Ngishyangba’s intrinsic relationship with their environment and how such interconnectivity is realized, through their worldview based on spirituality, traditional occupation, rituals and practices, and decision-making process. The Ngishyangba, Indigenous communities in Nepal exhibits robust and intricate connections with the land, forests, and other natural resources, spanning social, cultural, spiritual, religious, and economic dimensions. They have their own customary laws and practices in sustainable management of forest, agriculture, and pasture lands. These resources not only serve as the foundation of their livelihoods but are also deeply interwoven with their worldviews and ways of life. The Mithewa customary governance practices have been functioning effectively addressing socio-cultural conflicts, sustainable management of natural resources, and distribution. These governing bodies plays an integral role in sustaining traditional knowledge and customary practices in natural resource use and management. They also play an equally important role in maintaining the peace, unity and harmony within the community by addressing the grievances and conflicts arising in the community.

Institutional rearrangements in the north Luangwa ecosystem: Implications of a shift to community based natural resource management for equity in protected area governance

The concept of broader participation of stakeholders and more inclusive decision making has been increasingly recognized in many countries both at national and international level. Effective stakeholder engagement in a complex resource system is fundamental to ensure the successful implementation of policies at the ground level. Particularly when the multi-purpose values of the whole Lake Tana ecosystem are considered, there are multiple stakeholders with diverse interests in and power over natural resource use, management and governance. Therefore, a clear understanding of the potential roles and contributions of the many different stakeholders of the Lake Tana social-ecological system is a fundamental prerequisite for successful participatory natural resource management and governance. Stakeholder analysis is a basic tool for achieving this understanding. The overall objective of this chapter is therefore, to provide a preliminary description of stakeholders’ interest in and influence over natural resource use, management, governance and policy process in the Lake Tana sub-basin. It depicts the stakeholders’ landscape based on focus group discussions, key informant interviews and stakeholder identification and analysis workshop which was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of experts from different stakeholder groups (governmental, research, academic and NGOs). The results can help inform and assist policy makers in the development of sustainable natural resource management policy, taking into account the interest and influence of a wide range of stakeholders. The chapter begins with a brief introduction of the Lake Tana context. It then presents the concept of stakeholder and stakeholder engagement followed by the rationale for stakeholder identification and analysis.

In pre-colonial Africa, local communities lived in harmony with nature and used indigenous knowledge systems and traditional authorities to manage biodiversity. The introduction of European colonial regimes in Africa eroded the traditional institutional framework and capacity for sustainable natural resource management. The post-independence governments tended to perpetuate the status quo. This study analyzed the contemporary traditional governance systems for biodiversity management and assessed the effectiveness of traditional institutions and methods in protecting the ecosystem. Key informant interviews, questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions, and in-depth document interrogations corroborated and yielded valuable data that sustained the discourse. The study revealed that traditional governance systems in Zimbabwe have been significantly weakened by both colonial and post-independence governments that consolidated and centralized power. Traditional authority is marginalized in the governance of mainstream natural resources despite the fact that indigenes' culture imbues the conservation of natural resources. The study underscored the dire need for traditional authority to be restored and enhanced; the need for roles of traditional leaders and local people be clearly defined; the need for responsibilities and accountability of all actors to be emphasized; and the need for institutional capacities to be strengthened to ensure sustainable biodiversity management and livelihoods for the local communities.

Many constitutions of the world contain special provisions for indigenous communities, granting them particular rights and regulating their traditional political institutions and customary law. Building on rational theories of constitution-making, we employ a demand and supply framework to explain the constitutionalization of such provisions. To test our hypotheses, we code the presence of indigenous provisions in the current constitutions of 193 United Nations member states. We find full democracy and previous conflict to stimulate the inclusion of indigenous group rights but not of customary law and traditional institutions. Customary law and traditional institutions are more likely constitutionalized in countries with high ethnic fractionalization. Low levels of modernity affect particularly the constitutionalization of traditional political institutions, while low levels of development correlate with provisions on customary law. Former British colonies are more likely to constitutionalize customary law.

Rural local government reform measures adopted by the new Government of Zimbabwe at independence in 1980 were largely inspired by the state's modernization initiatives and the need to create a framework for expanded delivery of services to the peasant communities in order to redress the imbalances of colonial neglect. However, the reform measures also sought to undermine the authority of traditional institutions in judicial and land matters in the communal areas; firstly because of their perceived pre-independence role as functionaries of colonial oppression; secondly, because some elements within the new Government viewed traditional institutions as antithetical to their modernization project to transform rural society; and thirdly because other elements in the new Government perceived traditional institutions as centers of alternative authority to that of the formal state. The failure by the new Government to incorporate and co-opt traditional institutions into formal state institutions in the first two decades of independence lies at the heart of the confusion surrounding land administration in the communal areas after independence. This confusion at the local administrative levels was characterized by a lack of clarity on roles and functions between the traditional institutions of chief, headman and village head, and the elected leadership of village development committees (VIDCOs) and ward development committees (WADCOs) in land matters. It precipitated a crisis of communal leadership in the communal areas of Zimbabwe, whereby, on one hand, elected rural institutions had little real legitimacy according to traditional grassroots perspectives, while traditional leaders were not always acknowledged or respected by the formal state's modernization initiatives. However, in many areas of the country, chiefs, headmen and village-heads illegally reacquired some of their defunct authority over land and proceeded to clandestinely allocate land. This crisis of communal leadership manifested itself in many land dispute cases that occurred at district level throughout the country for more than two decades, where there was clear evidence of hostility between the new and the old land administration structures. Key words: Traditional leaders, communal areas, village development committees, ward development committees, district councils, Chiefs and Headmen Act.

This paper aimed at studying the effect of traditional knowledge system in sustainable development and management of natural resources in Meru community. The study was guided by the following questions: What is the role of indigenous system in the protection and conservation of natural resources in Meru community? What is the role of integrated environmental management frame work in the sustainable development and management of natural resources in Meru community? What is the relationship between participatory decision making, policy maker’s implementation and natural resources users in Meru community? The research was conducted in Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties and through purposeful sampling had two case studies from each county in Meru community. Data was collected using guided interviews and semi structured questions. The data was collected through a focus group discussion, documents and audio-visual materials. The study reviewed the literature to understand the effect of traditional knowledge system in sustainable development and management of natural resources in Meru community. Theoretical insights and empirical findings from the studies suggest that despite the generalized worldwide trend of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) erosion, substantial pockets of TEK persist in both developing and developed countries. The findings also reinforce previous hypotheses pointing at the importance of TEK systems as reservoirs of experiential knowledge that can provide important insights for the design of adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope with global environmental change in the management of natural resources. Recognition of endogenous management of Indigenous knowledge becomes an enhancing solution to the seemingly mega challenges of community development. Indigenous knowledge is a more secure foundation for sustainable solutions to challenges in developmental issues in communities and in Africa. Advanced technology in Indigenous knowledge (IK) usage and preservation empowers users to improve on pre-existing solutions to a problem, achieve a goal, and most of all improve on the standards of living. Keywords: Traditional knowledge System, development and management, Natural Resources, Meru community

Many of Indonesia's natural resources are degraded due to over-utilization. Examples are over-exploitation of fish stocks or non-timber forest resources. In many cases commons dilemmas' regularly occurring in open access situations are responsible for the difficulties in natural resource management. Commons dilemmas are characterized by an incongruity between resource appropriators and those burdened with the negative impacts of resource use. Not surprisingly, the 2010 targets for halting biodiversity loss were missed. Sustainable solutions are unlikely to be forthcoming without changes in the institutional setting of the problem. In order to govern open access natural resources more sustainably, measures to improve the effectiveness of traditional local institutions formal and informal are promoted. An empirical investigation on current natural resource management practice in Indonesia's Lore Lindu region in Central Sulawesi has confirmed the effectiveness of local institutions while state-induced rules and regulations have failed. From a natural resource management education perspective, well educated graduates as future educators, agricultural advisers or decision makers in the field of natural resource management are essential. With a profound background concerning commons dilemmas and possible solution strategies the graduates contribute to the sustainable utilization of natural resources which serve as livelihood for many rural poor and the preservation of biological diversity, respectively. However, agronomy and biology teacher students in Central Sulawesi have so far failed to recognize the commons dilemma characteristics of rattan over-exploitation. Results from a study on future Indonesian decision makers in the field of natural resources (n=882) also shows severe knowledge gaps. While there were certain improvements comparing 3rd and 7th semester students concerning ecological and socio-economic knowledge, improvements in institutional knowledge were lower or absent. These knowledge gaps are reflected in international educational agendas. Key documents of the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development' sometimes denote shortcomings relating to crucial knowledge on the socio-economic and institutional dimensions of biodiversity conservation and related resource use issues.

Over the last few decades there has been a dramatic increase in the productive use of natural resources in Australia, and a significant deterioration in the condition of natural resources. Recent approaches to improving natural resource management (NRM) aim to improve land use through voluntary schemes, economic incentives, and the un‐bundling of rights to land and resources. However, these initiatives are constrained by limitations in the amount of local and regional land and natural resources information. This paper argues that as land administration systems (LAS) further develop they provide improved tools and mechanisms that can assist the goals of NRM. Benefits will be achieved through better administration of property rights and restrictions, improved land and natural resources information, and improved land use management.

It is on a daily basis that modern humankind encounters a challenge to provide basic resources for living. Population growth leads to the emerging need to use natural resources (fresh water, oil, natural gas, coal, arable soil, etc.). The supplies and use of these resources are a persistent problem. As the process of urbanization intensifies, the awareness of the limitations of specific commercially overused resources rises. These processes are tightly connected with environment impairment and sustainable development. New technologies do increase productivity but the ratio of labor force and job positions decreases, raising an issue of future working population. Population and human resources have a multidimensional impact on economic growth of each country, which also includes continuous use of natural resources. A balanced population distribution is one of the crucial factors of functional sustainability of space, natural resource use, and social prosperity. It is in late 2020 that our planet marks the population of slightly less than eight billion and the figures will grow up to 10 billion in 2050. Changes in the structure and number of population affect many aspects of our lives. It is of an utmost pertinence to understand modern demographic processes in order to meet many challenges regarding natural resource use as these challenges are directly connected with fresh water shortage, hunger and underfeeding, climate change, diseases, economic growth, energetics shortage, clashes and wars. Even though natural resources play an important role, it is the human resources that matter the most. The specificity and exceptionality of human resources make them more relevant than other resources and they are extremely pertinent for the economic growth of any given area. Investing in human resources is more effective than investing in any other resource because of the ability of self-renewal and growth. In addition, human resources may employ all their mental, physical, and other available potentials. Hence, special attention should be paid to demographic processes and other changes taking place in regard to population. The fast scientific-technological revolution transformed the relation between demographic processes and natural resources, i.e. natural resource management. Centralization and the introduction of the so-called agribusiness market approach based on new economic models resulted in massive increase of productivity and efficiency in natural resource use, which successfully met the needs of the growing population but also led to wealth accumulation. Nevertheless, the same process caused the vast decrease and degradation of arable soil and forests, over-usage of natural resources, and irreversible destruction of habitats. Humankind gradually entered into a vicious circle of demographic growth, urbanization, increased food demands and requests for natural resources on one side and the increasing degradation of these resources on the other side. Unsustainability of natural resource management based solely on agribusiness market principles (supranational or global framework, accumulation of private property or corporate wealth) is becoming more evident. The Republic of Srpska is currently employed in the final phase of demographic transition, which is conditioned by poor economic growth and tertiarization, inadequate use of natural resources, and favorable transportation-geographical position, which has already initiated biological disturbances. Given the population density and distribution, the Republic of Srpska is an extremely homogeneous area with pronounced regional and interregional disparities. One such unbalanced spatial population distribution has negative effects on natural resource use and the total socio-economic growth. Most areas are affected by depopulation. The situation is most alarming in undersized and mountain settlements and areas along the entity borderline. The negative demographic conditions are further complicated by the negative migration balance so a large-scale depopulation becomes an emerging problem. Negative demographic features resulting from the current socio-economic situation, historical factors, and geopolitical issues from the 1990s are typical of the Republic of Srpska. All these determinants clearly indicate the unbalanced concentration and the decrease in the number of population. Early 21st century is demographically challenging for the Republic of Srpska as the number of population decreases and birth rates are negative. We may infer that demographic resources of the Republic of Srpska are humble and insufficient in regard to potential use of main natural resources (arable soil, forests, hydropotential, and mineral ore). The renewal of demographic resources depends on the constantly decreasing birth rates and, unfortunately, increasing mortality rates. If we add negative tendencies of intensive population aging and emigration, we may infer that the future use of natural resources shall be a great challenge to the economic growth of the Republic of Srpska. Hence, a question remains how to most optimally use natural and demographic resources in order to achieve a more balanced socio-economic growth in the Republic of Srpska.

Deforestation and soil degradation are serious sustainability challenges in many countries of Sub-Sahara Africa such as Ethiopia. Rapid socioeconomic change is a key underlying factor for the unsustainable use and management of natural resources. However, there is a number of well-established resource management systems and a wealth of local experience in maintaining and managing natural resources. This study explores the indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) practices for managing soil, forestland, grazing land, and farmland at the Gamo Highland of southwestern Ethiopia. Field observation, household surveys, focus groups discussions, and expert interviews were conducted to identify the different indigenous practices for managing natural resources in the area. Primary and secondary data were used to identify various relevant ILK practices such as terraces, intensive cultivation systems using drought tolerant species, soil management practices (e.g., manuring and fallowing), and a series of social norms and regulations to preserve sacred forest and manage grasslands. All these practices reflect the cumulative application of ILK over long periods of time, for the effective use and management of natural resources. However, the implementation of such ILK practices has been declining recently due to various factors such as land scarcity, labour shortages, shifts in rural livelihood options, and government policies. However, such indigenous management practices should be preserved and promoted through the integration of ILK with scientific approaches to ensure the design and implementation of socially acceptable resource management systems to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Gamo Highland.

ABSTRACTAfter many errant attempts, the first Copernican revolution finally placed planet earth in its correct astrophysical context. A second Copernican revolution is underway that places humanity in its appropriate environmental nexus. The future well‐being of humanity is inexorably linked to our understanding of the natural world and to its sustainable management. This science‐backed concept is profound, with great implications for agriculture and natural resources management and their related enterprises and institutions. Agriculture and managed renewable natural resources account for >90% of the nation's terrestrial ecosystems. The management and stewardship of these vast ecosystems along with the ecological goods and services derived therefrom are huge and noble responsibilities. They need to be proclaimed more forcefully. Natural resources management and ecosystem stewardship must be ecology‐based, including the human dimensions of ecosystem manipulation and natural resource use. Until economic systems recognize the value of environmental investments and marketability of ecological services, adoption of sustainable ecosystem management will be short‐circuited by rational economic decision‐making under current economic systems and personal values on the part of those responsible for managing these lands. A variety of forces are driving sustainable ecosystem management, including science, environmental monitoring, valuation of nature's services, consumer demands, education, and others.

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.

The shift in forestry policy towards resource management and access rights from state control to local community control has been a welcome step towards sustainable forest management in Namibia. The policy acknowledges the direct dependence on natural environmental resources by the proportional majority of the population that live in the rural areas of Namibia. This study was aimed at performing gender analysis by identifying relationships of various groups to natural resources. The study further assessed the influence these relationships have on control, access and use of forest resources, as well as on natural resource management and the implications thereof on various forest management efforts in the country. Data were collected from seven community forest institutions in Namibia and analysed using the Harvard Gender Analytical Framework. The findings show a gendered differentiated knowledge, control and access to forest resources and unequal participation in leadership and governance. Furthermore, the results suggest that unequal power relations among minority and vulnerable groups affect access to and control of forest resources. This study proposes participation of both men and women in the management, protection, access and utilisation of forest resources, as this will contribute to sustainable forest management and economic development of all members of society.