The implementation of environment and natural resources policy in africa: Blending regulatory enforcement with community participation

Abstract

This article examines recent African experience in environment and natural resources (ENR) policy implementation. The article identifies and analyzes trends in policy and program strategies that have led to an increasingly important role for grassroots participation in policy implementation. It delineates the benefits of this expanded grassroots role and traces the elements of new interorganizational approaches to participatory implementation. The argument is made that there is a mismatch between the current ENR policy agenda and the strategies designed to implement that agenda, and the organizations assigned implementation responsibility. The article concludes with a look at the key challenges to managing ENR implementation.