Social integration, participation, and community resource management

Abstract

This paper studies the relevance of individual social integration and participation for cooperation during a partly successful environmental program that we implemented in several traditional fishing communities in Brazil. The findings show that fishermen who are more integrated into the social network of their community, and fishermen who participated in the development of this environmental program, cooperate more during this program. We also find that perceptions about the necessity of the program play an important role for cooperation. These results provide empirical evidence for the role of social integration, participation, and perceptions for community resource management.