Abstract
The co-management concept has been echoed in scientific literature for over two decades. Emphasis has been tailored towards an understanding of structural and functional issues linked to its application and the outcomes thereof. However, a crucial aspect which still begs for scientific and policy edification, concerns the motivational drivers of actors’ participation in co-management arrangements. Studies contend that actors are motivated to participate in co-management based on their perceived benefits (e.g., income). Conclusions from these lines of argument further raise a theoretical quagmire, requiring further grounding, with regards to context-specific (de)motivators of users’ participation in co-management. The case of Nepal is pertinent. Although Nepal has a rich community-based forest management history, scientific investigations have virtually ignored the motivational drivers of participation in the co-management of natural resources (forests). Against this background, this paper seeks to explore the following: (i) the decision-making and monitoring structure of rules regulating the co-management of forests, (ii) the implications of this system on users’ motivation to participate, and (iii) the motivational drivers of users’ participation in co-management. To achieve this, five focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews were conducted in five villages (Kunjo, Titi, Parshyang, Cchayo, and Taglung) within the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA). We further employed narratives, framework, and thematic analyses to discuss the decision-making structure and motivational aspects of co-management. The results point to the following conclusions: (1) Despite the rather top-down decision-making setting, users remain motivated to participate in co-management. (2) Interestingly, the motivation by actors to participate is not largely driven by users’ perceived benefits. The results present another twist, a deviation from the previously understood rationale, which should be factored into co-management theory development. However, the paper equally makes a succinct request for further studies, including quantitative investigations, to ground this assertion.
Highlights
Key decisions, policies and management plans are developed and agreed upon by the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC)/Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP). This is done by considering inputs from the Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs) with regards to the lessons learnt in the implementation of management plans and in coordinating sub-committees and forest users during the process
The second segment (b) links the CAMC and the sub-committees. This segment shows a break in the counter flow of information between the women sub-committee and the CAMC, suggesting a timid role played by women in the whole governance ladder
While the forest management sub-committee prevails on the general users with regards to the decisions coming from above, this is not the case with the women sub-committee members who themselves experience a break in the upward flow of their views to the ACAP through the CAMC
Summary
Forests 2019, 10, 512 assumed a leviathan approach, in which state agencies forced down their conservation agenda on local people [1,2,3,4]. This state-driven management approach failed in several contexts to address the goals of preserving biodiversity and the related social complexities in the tropics [5], leading to negative repercussions on the socio-ecological dynamics of conservation sites [6,7,8,9]. Fringe communities adjacent to conservation areas suffered physical displacement, crop raiding, and livestock loss. This precipitated anti-conservation activities such as poaching, logging, and agricultural encroachment [10]
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