Co-management Approach Research Articles

Can Forest Management Units facilitate adaptive comanagement reform in Indonesia?

A multi-jurisdictional governance system, polycentric power regimes, and overlapping rights complicate policy responses for addressing forest governance problems in Indonesia. Confronting issues that have existed for centuries as part of Indonesia's socio-cultural and political reality cannot easily be solved at the macro-scale. However, we argue that they can be tackled at the micro-scale. Adaptive co-management could offer a means of finding collaborative solutions to these problems, and we believe this approach will be effective when the problems are defined locally in a specific area with a limited number of stakeholders. This paper examines the capacity of Forest Management Units (FMUs), as the lowest level operational structure of forest management in Indonesia, to facilitate reform for adaptive co-management approaches. We examined this through an analytical framework derived from the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation approach. This paper identifies the importance of stakeholders' acceptance to enable FMUs to coordinate adaptive co-management.

Drivers, Opportunities, and Challenges for Integrated Resource Co-management and Sustainable Development in Galapagos

The Galapagos archipelago represents an insular system with finite natural resources, a growing population, and an economy heavily weighted on tourism that leaves it vulnerable to shocks, such as the Covid-19 crisis. This work proposes an alternative scenario developed through creating intersections between water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and adaptive co-management (ACM) approaches to resource management. This framework allows the identification of novel synergies that are applied to the analysis of Galapagos as case study. Within this approach, qualitative analysis is applied to data collected via a set of interviews with local stakeholders (including community, business, third sector, and government actors) to evaluate (i) how a deeper understanding of community perceptions and needs can help to identify pathways toward more sustainable development in line with conservation goals, (ii) what governance frameworks should be implemented to promote community-based resource management and resilience, and (iii) what role education and capacitation can play in supporting alternative forms of economic activity. The research suggests that the implementation of an integrated WEF-ACM framework for resource management in Galapagos could promote resilience by opening a space for deliberation and conflict resolution between legitimate stakeholders, thus supporting more effective and balanced participative governance. The current Covid-19 crisis has led to the emergence of alternative forms of community collaboration that demonstrate the potential for a more economically diverse and more sustainable future. By placing different sources of knowledge on a level platform in such a framework, greater community ownership of resource management and conservation goals could be achieved. The incorporation of an ACM approach within the management of WEF resources would also allow Galapagueños to determine their own vision of a future sustainable socio-ecosystem, based on optimising system outcomes by co-identifying the trade-offs and synergies between the interrelated resource sectors, but requires a transformation in institutional culture.

State-owned minerals, village-owned land: How a shared property rights framework helped formalize artisanal diamond miners in Côte d’Ivoire between 1986 and 2016

Since 1985, Côte d’Ivoire has employed a unique government/village co-management approach for diamonds produced in its artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. Parastatal mining company Société pour le Développement Minier en Côte d’Ivoire (SODEMI) signs agreements with villages organized as cooperatives inside its industrial research permits. The agreements empower communities to monitor mining and take 12% of sales proceeds for local development, while allowing the parastatal to define where mining occurs, away from primary deposits destined for semi-industrial development. This paper draws upon five years of fieldwork and observations from The Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development II (PRADD II) project in Côte d’Ivoire that between 2013 and 2018 helped revive these cooperatives after the country's 2002–2011 political crisis. Between 2014 and 2016, the system resulted in the formalization of most mine sites and the majority of diamonds registered at the mine level as part of the chain of custody. However, the system was also challenged by local communities who contested access rules around kimberlitic deposits. Taking a land tenure lens to ASM formalization, the paper uses the Ivoirian model of hybrid governance of its diamond sector to illustrate the importance of an adaptable and structured relationship between state and customary mineral rights holders in order to promote local development and reduce illegality and conflict.

Governance of protected areas: an institutional analysis of conservation, community livelihood, and tourism outcomes

Protected areas are managed for multiple, often competing, goals including biodiversity conservation, community livelihoods, and tourism. However, there is a lack of clear evidence on which governance approaches are more effective in governing protected areas to achieve these goals. This paper sheds light on the effectiveness of different protected area governance approaches using Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. The research was conducted in three protected areas of Nepal: Chitwan National Park, the Annapurna Conservation Area, and the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, which represent state-community, NGO, and community-managed protected areas, respectively. Data were collected through interviews, supplemented by published and unpublished documents, and field observations. Results revealed that the outcomes vary across the protected areas primarily because of their governance approaches and local contexts. Due to rigid monocentric and simple polycentric approaches, the PAs failed to adapt to the changing social-ecological systems. Based on the findings, a multi-layered polycentric adaptive co-management approach has been proposed. The study also developed a multi-goal IAD model to assess PA governance. Additional theoretical, methodological, and managerial implications with respect to protected areas governance are also discussed.

Evidence that watershed nutrient management practices effectively reduce estrogens in environmental waters

We evaluate the impacts of different nutrient management strategies on the potential for co-managing estrogens and nutrients in environmental waters of the Potomac watershed of the Chesapeake Bay. These potential co-management approaches represent agricultural and urban runoff, wastewater treatment plant effluent, and combined sewer overflow replacements. Twelve estrogenic compounds and their metabolites were analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Estrogenic activity (E2Eq) was measured by in vitro bioassay. We detected estrone E1 (0.05–6.97 ng L−1) and estriol E3 (below detection-8.13 ng L−1) and one conjugated estrogen (estrone-3-sulfate E1-3S; below detection-8.13 ng L−1). E1 was widely distributed and positively correlated with E2Eq, water temperature, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Among nonpoint sources, E2Eq, and concentrations of E1, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) decreased by 51–61%, 77–82%, 62–64%, 4–16% in restored urban and agricultural streams with best management practices (BMPs) relative to unrestored streams without BMPs. In a wastewater treatment plant (Blue Plains WWTP), >94% of E1, E1-3S, E3, E2Eq and TDN were removed while SRP increased by 305% during nitrification/denitrification as a part of advanced wastewater treatment. Consequently, E1 and TDN concentrations in WWTP effluents were comparable or even lower than those observed in the receiving stream or river waters, and the effects of wastewater discharges on downstream E1 and TDN concentrations were minor. Highest E2Eq value and concentrations of E1, E3, and TDN were detected in combined sewer overflow (CSO). This study suggests that WWTP upgrades with biological nutrient removal, CSO management, and certain agricultural and urban BMPs for nutrient controls have the potential to remove estrogens from point and nonpoint sources along with other contaminants in streams and rivers.

A governance analysis of Soufriere Marine Management Area, Saint Lucia: Previously effective but increasingly challenged by driving forces

This paper employs the Marine Protected Area Governance (MPAG) analysis framework to explore the effectiveness of governance of Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA), Saint Lucia in fulfilling its objectives. The SMMA has been established for 22 years and although initially heralded as a success at resolving user conflicts and conserving biodiversity, drivers and conflicts in the area have since changed, and there are concerns that the self-sufficient SMMA has not adapted to these changes. Contemporary driving forces include a growing tourism industry and climate change. The SMMA is struggling to tackle these issues due to poor law enforcement, a weak legal system and a lack of political will. Although the SMMA on paper adopts a co-management governance approach, results from the analysis suggest the government remains highly influential. Financial constraint is also a huge challenge for the SMMA and, unable to provide benefits to the community, socioeconomic objectives are being undermined. The future focus should be on improving the financial situation by raising funds through ensuring all user fees are being collected. An equal ratio of government members to non-government stakeholders on the Board would help to re-engage the co-management approach, aiding the SMMA in again achieving its conservation objectives.

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR MANGROVE FOREST OF PELITA JAYA BAY AND KOTANIA BAY, WESTERN SERAM, INDONESIA

The coastal area of Pelita Jaya Bay and Kotania Bay is a semi enclose estuary area having three typical most productive ecosystems i.e. mangrove, seagrasses, and coral reefs with the mangrove ecosystem being the dominant one making this area a productive in fish resources. Local community neighboring this area used mangrove ecosystem for many different purposes, some of it threatening the sustainability oh the ecosystem. The objective of this study was to analyze mangrove forest sustainability and to propose sustainable mangrove forest management. Rapfish analysis was used to analyze mangrove sustainability status. A sustainable management strategy was developed using a conceptual model framework combined with the DPSIR approach. The two most sensitive attributes affecting mangrove sustainability from Leverage analysis were used as the State component from DPSIR. The result shows that overall mangrove forest sustainability was 60% and was considered fair sustain with the ecological dimension having the highest sustainable scale (85.35%) and considered sustain, whilst institutional dimension having the lowest sustainable scale (29.10%) and considered unsustain. The sustainable mangrove management strategy proposed consists of workshops, training, vocational education concerning EAM, as well as replanting degraded mangrove forests, monitoring, surveying, and controlling. The management strategy should be conducted based on a co-management approach.
 
 Keywords: Mangrove forest, local community, sustainability, conceptual model framework, Kotania Bay

When female leaders believe that men make better leaders: Empowerment in community-based water management in rural Namibia

Decentralization of water management in Namibia follows a community-based co-management approach, emphasizing the inclusion of women in local leadership. Building on a random sample of 32 water point chairpersons, 17 female and 15 male, and 384 villagers in rural northern Namibia, we document that women are equally represented as chairpersons and that they are significantly more educated and younger than their male counterparts. However, most of the female leaders come from the family of the traditional leader. We then show that opinions about the role of a leader (such as the belief that ‘men make better leaders’ or ‘it is sometimes acceptable to take a bribe’) do not differ between male and female leaders. However, their opinions differ significantly from those of the average villager. Thus, our assessment reveals that although men and women are equally represented in numbers, it has not necessarily led to the adoption of new ideas about and conceptions of leadership and gender roles in practice so far. We discuss how some aspects of the democratic blueprint are accepted while others are rejected, adapted, or transformed to fit local specificities. • Decentralization of water management in Namibia shows that women are equally represented. • Female leaders are more educated and younger than their male counterparts. • Most female leaders are related to the traditional leaders – reinforcing existing power structures. • It has not led to the adoption of new ideas and values of leadership so far.

Participatory governance in Lake Victoria (Kenya) fisheries: whose voices are heard?

Co-management is advocated as a means to improve human equity and the ecological sustainability of common-pool resources. The promotion of co-management of fisheries often assumes the participation of resource users in decision-making ensures more ecologically sustainable outcomes than top–down management approaches while improving livelihoods and food security. However, in fisheries co-management approaches, participation is often poorly defined and measured by co-management proponents. For resource users, it may not be clear what their participation in co-management entails, and what such participation might involve or achieve. For the fisheries of Lake Victoria (Kenya), the introduction of co-management established Beach Management Units (BMUs) on a model of participatory decision-making. Unsurprisingly, given global experiences of institutions for resource users’ participation in co-management, the structures established across Lake Victoria (Kenya) have not resulted in effective participation of fisher folk. We examine why this is so. Specifically, we examine the influence of institutions on fisher folks’ participation in co-management, using critical institutionalism to explain how participation of resource users is shaped by the relation between formal government institutions and informal social norms. We take four BMUs as case studies to investigate how historical administrative structures shape the development of co-management, how power relationships within co-management are negotiated at the local beach level and the fisher folks’ understanding of their participation in co-management. We document how informal institutions undermine and replace formal institutions at the local beach level, while formal institutions suppress and ignore informal ones at the national and regional levels. From this, we argue power sharing between the government and fisher folk is key for fisher folk participation in fisheries co-management, capable of addressing both social and ecological challenges facing fisheries management.

Assessing the Impacts of Co-Management on Protected Area Landscape under Socio-Imagery Lens: Evidence from Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Bangladesh Forest Department had undertaken co-management of protected area (PA) initiatives for halting the rapid rate of forest degradation and deforestation in the country. However, only few research has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of co-management. In this study, drawing empirical data from two co-managed PA, namely, Bariyadhala National Park (BDNP) and Hazarikhil Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS), we investigated the impacts of co-management on spatio-temporal patterns of land use and land cover change, forest fragmentation, and local peoples’ perception on how co-management approach was underpinning these changes in the studied PA landscape. Results showed that forest cover (4800 ha gain) and forest patches (26 patch gain) had increased in two studied PA while agricultural practices and resources extractions from forest had decreased during the study period. The increase in forest coverage might be attributed to the reforestation program (3253.81 ha) undertaken under the co-management project. More than 90% of respondents admitted that various activities on co-management such as awareness creation, restriction on hunting, and forest products collection have had positive impacts on biodiversity conservation. The findings of this research would be useful to formulate future course of actions regarding forest PA co-management in Bangladesh, and elsewhere.

Sustaining Community-Scale Sanitation Services: Co-management by Local Government and Low-Income Communities in Indonesia

Ensuring sustainability of sanitation infrastructure assets and services over the long-term is crucial for achieving safe sanitation for all. Co-management is an emerging approach that balances state and citizen responsibility for services, with applicability to community-scale (or decentralised) sanitation systems in a city-wide context. In Indonesia more than 30,000 of these systems are typically managed solely by communities, however due to challenges in technical, social and financial aspects, commonly fall to disrepair. This paper presents qualitative research comprising document review, interviews and co-design workshops with local government and community management groups that developed a model for co-management of community-scale systems. The co-management model articulated four minimum responsibilities for local government: monitoring and corrective action; provision of technical and institutional support to community groups; formalisation of fee collection; and funding of large costs for rehabilitation and expansion. This model was developed and tested in two case study locations, and through this process, was deemed appropriate, acceptable and feasible for both local government and community management groups. Related changes to Indonesia’s national program guidelines were also identified to clearly articulate local government’s role. The agreed co-management approach aligns with the human right to sanitation by supporting local governments fulfil their legal mandate for services, promotes professionalised sustainable management arrangements, ensuring community-scale systems can contribute effectively to future citywide solutions.

Participatory monitoring of small-scale coastal fisheries in South America: use of fishers’ knowledge and factors affecting participation

Participatory approaches to fisheries management are gaining increasing support from researchers, non-governmental organizations, and governments in Latin America, and different forms of participatory monitoring have been implemented over the last few decades. Among several advantages, these initiatives allow incorporation of fishers’ knowledge on ecology, fishing practices, social aspects, markets, regulations, into different stages of management. In this paper, we analyze key features of participatory monitoring programs in small-scale coastal fisheries in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay) through a literature review complemented by expert opinion. Our review considered the fisheries and variables monitored; objectives, duration, institutional context of the monitoring programs; and factors that affect the extent of fishers’ participation and the incorporation of fishers’ knowledge. We found 14 case studies described in the literature, most of which correspond to benthic fisheries. Most cases focused on ecological and/or catch and effort variables; few initiatives included social variables. Initiatives were mainly driven by researchers in partnership with fishers and other stakeholders under formal or informal institutional arrangements. Institutional arrangements were largely responsible for the effectiveness of participation. In most cases, fishers’ participation in monitoring was fostered as a component of a broader participatory co-management approach. Despite the challenges, participatory monitoring approaches are gaining traction in South America, receiving significant support from researchers in most cases, and from nongovernmental organizations in some cases. Increased governmental support for implementing and sustaining long-lasting participatory monitoring programs would strengthen monitoring initiatives that emerge locally.

Local Planning Practice towards Resilience: Insights from the Adaptive Co-Management and Design of a Mediterranean Wetland

Although widely, as well as recently explored, the concept of urban resilience still poses important issues in terms of its operationalization. For this reason, best practices that show how the resilience concept has been turned into planning practice are much needed. This article presents and discusses the case study of the Charca de Suárez Nature Concerted Reserve, an urban wetland situated along the Andalusian coast (Spain), to contribute to filling the gap on the operationalization of urban resilience at the local planning level. In the Charca, an adaptive co-management and design approach has been successfully put into practice to foster local urban resilience. Starting from some recent key studies on planning and management policies for urban resilience, we propose a framework to read, understand and evaluate the Charca experience, and more generally, resilience-based projects. The analysis highlighted the following crucial key aspects for urban resilience in the Charca case study: A collaborative governance model; and the building of community-capitals. The Charca de Suárez Nature Concerted Reserve can actually be acknowledged as an innovative planning practice, a source of inspiration for visions and experiments oriented to urban resilience.

Sustainable Inland and Coastal Fisheries: Key Lessons Drawn from Community-based Fisheries Management in Bangladesh

Aim: To build an appropriate basis for inland and coastal fisheries co-management through the involvement of key government agencies, fishers, traders and relevant stakeholders.
 Study Design: Literature review of the community-based fisheries management projects in Bangladesh during 1995-2017 and examine fisher’s perceptions of co-management approaches from an inclusive cross-section of fishing households.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study sites are located in six riverine districts in Bangladesh, namely Bhola, Chandpur and Laxmipur within fish sanctuary areas and Barisal, Pirojpur and Jhalokathi outside fish sanctuary areas.
 Methodology: The study included community-based fisheries management project’s knowledge in different inland and coastal habitat types in Bangladesh. The study comprised on lessons learned from field activities, workshops on fisheries co-management with the public, NGOs, experts, civil society, fisher’s organizations, traders and related stakeholders, and reviews of several reports on other community-based fisheries management initiatives in Bangladesh. The study also examined stakeholder perceptions of co-management approaches from a cross-section of 1200 fishing households in 24 fishing villages.
 Results: Results indicated that performance of community-based fisheries management in Bangladesh varied widely to improve natural fish production, fish abundance and biodiversity and, with the nature of the community involved. These include the development capabilities of user groups through formation of village level Conservation Groups and fish landing center-based organizations, and capabilities of the key government agencies and law enforcing agencies for enhancing compliance.
 Conclusions: This paper proposes a co-management arrangement for fishery management along the fish sanctuary areas of the Padma-Meghna River systems in Bangladesh. These findings provided the scientific basis of community managed fisheries management and its applications.

Future of Thailand's captive elephants

Removal from natural habitat and commodification as private property compromise elephants’ broader societal value. Although we support Baker & Winkler’s (2020) plea for a new community-based rewilding conservation model focused on mahout culture, we recommend an expanded co-management approach to complement and enhance the regional elephant conservation strategy with additional local community stakeholders and the potential to extend across international borders into suitable elephant habitat. Holistic co-management approaches improve human wellbeing and social cohesion, as well as elephant wellbeing, thereby better securing long-term survival of Asian elephants, environmental justice, and overall sustainability.

Understanding Social-Ecological Challenges of a Small-Scale Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) Fishery in Bangladesh.

Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) have been playing a crucial role in meeting the basic needs of millions of people around the world. Despite this, the sustainability of global fisheries is a growing concern, and the factors enabling or constraining the sustainable management of small-scale fisheries remain poorly understood. Hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha) is the single most valuable species harvested in Bangladesh waters, serves nutrition, income, and employment to the large population. This study analyzed the state and challenges of hilsa fishery in the Gangetic River systems (Padma and Meghna Rivers) by using two frameworks, namely the social-ecological systems (SES) and drivers-pressure-state-impact-responses (DPSIR) frameworks. Primary data for this analysis were collected by in-depth interviews (n = 130) and focus group discussions (n = 8) with various stakeholders in the hilsa fisheries. The perspectives explored here have been both critical and constructive, including the identification of problems and suggestions for improving the management of this particular social-ecological system. Hilsa fisheries, however, have come under severe threat since 2003 because of population growth, overfishing, pollution, climate change, the disruption of migration routes due to siltation, etc. All these have caused reduced catches and less stable incomes for fishers. This, in turn, has led to poverty, malnutrition, social tensions, stakeholder conflicts, and debt cycles amongst more impoverished fishing communities. These problems have been compounded by improved fishing technology amongst larger-scale ventures, the use of illegal fishing gears, and the non-compliance of government fishery management programs. Recommendations include the promotion of community-supported fisheries, the enhancement of stakeholder’s social resilience, the introduction of co-management approach, an increase in incentives and formal financial supports, and possible community-managed sustainable ecotourism including hilsa fishing-based tourism.

Climate change and community fisheries in the arctic: A case study from Pangnirtung, Canada

Coastal fishery systems in the Arctic are undergoing rapid change. This paper examines the ways in which Inuit fishers experience and respond to such change, using a case study from Pangnirtung, Canada. The work is based on over two years of fieldwork, during which semi-structured interviews (n = 62), focus group discussions (n = 6, 31 participants) and key informant interviews (n = 25) were conducted. The changes that most Inuit fishers experience are: changes in sea-ice conditions, Inuit people themselves, the landscape and the seascape, fish-related changes, and changes in weather conditions, markets and fish selling prices. Inuit fishers respond to change individually as well as collectively. Fishers’ responses were examined using the characteristics of a resilience-based conceptual framework focusing on place, human agency, collective action and collaboration, institutions, indigenous and local knowledge systems, and learning. Based on results, this paper identified three community-level adaptive strategies, which are diversification, technology use and fisheries governance that employs a co-management approach. Further, this work recognised four place-specific attributes that can shape community adaptations, which are Inuit worldviews, Inuit-owned institutions, a culture of sharing and collaborating, and indigenous and local knowledge systems. An examination of the ways in which Inuit fishers experience and respond to change is essential to better understand adaptations to climate change. This study delivers new insights to communities, scientists, and policymakers to work together to foster community adaptation.

A governance analysis of two marine protected areas in the Pacific Region of Guatemala: The Multiple Use Area of Monterrico and the Private Reserve La Chorrera-Manchón Guamuchal

This paper presents an analysis of key elements contributing towards current and future prospects for governance in two MPAs in the Pacific Region of Guatemala. The paper follows the Marine Protected Area Governance (MPAG) empirical framework through the use of economic, interpretative, knowledge, legal and participative incentives that assess the effectiveness of governance. The first MPA is the Multiple Use Area of Monterrico that is governed through a co-management approach by the Centre of Conservation Studies of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala (CECON-USAC), whilst the second is Guatemala's only privately-owned marine protected area, La Chorrera-Manchón Guamuchal Reserve. The results highlight that the differences in the way they are governed have significantly shaped the effectiveness of governance. In the case of Monterrico, the limited state capacity and cross-jurisdictional coordination among stakeholders has resulted in weak economic and legal incentives, where efforts have failed to develop the necessary participatory approach to management. As a result, environmental degradation and increasing urban development is apparent, which have proven difficult to manage by the park management authority. Conversely, La Chorrera-Manchón Guamuchal has developed a governance approach based on local community involvement, which has proven successful for conservation and management initiatives for the reserve. Management is characterized by strong leadership, which has proven to be the underlying difference in both MPAs. However, the fate of the reserve is uncertain, as there is no long-term planning for success. Future prospects for effective governance are recommended, where efforts should primarily foster state involvement and political will.

Challenges to reconcile conservation and exploitation of the threatened Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758) in Santo André lagoon (Portugal)

The adoption of the EC Regulation 1100/2007 for the recovery of the European eel required EU member states to implement and periodically report on their Eel Management Plans (EMPs) with the goal of achieving at least 40% of the silver eel escapement relative to the best estimate of escapement that would have existed if no anthropogenic influences had impacted the stock. The specific measures to achieve such a goal have spurred a harsh debate among the different stakeholders with the need to mediate among multiple conflicting interests. In this investigation the study of the dynamics of the eel fishery in the Santo André Lagoon, a small-scale fishery in the southwest of Portugal, is presented. Through the description of the management structure, the analysis of 40 years of catch and effort data, and the analysis of socio-economic data, the existing enforcement and the way forward is discussed. Day-to-day logbooks of catch and effort data from five professional fishermen, for two fishing seasons (that is, 2011/2012 and 2016/2017), and surveys to the community, were used to independently estimate total harvest and income of the eel fishery in Santo André Lagoon, and the perception of the fishermen toward regulation and management. The results showed that both catch per unit effort and fishing yield increased during the study period and now ranges between 68 and 169 kg/ha, with eel fishing making a significant fraction of the fishermen's revenue. Although the existing regulation does not satisfy the fishing community, their disagreement decreased during the studied period. The analysis of the fisheries management in the lagoon and its impact on eel harvesting and, on the stock, revealed opportunities to adjust the set of regulations enforced at the national level under the Portuguese EMP to the specific context of the Santo André Lagoon. Specifically, a co-management approach would promote legitimacy and contribute to a better acceptance of the regulations by the fishing community.

Indigenous nation building for environmental futures: Murrundi flows through Ngarrindjeri country

ABSTRACTIn 2015, the Ngarrindjeri Nation in concert with the South Australian government won the Australian Riverprize for best practice in water management, after leading the development of a co-management approach to the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) region during the Australian Millennium drought crisis. The purpose of this article is to explain why the prize-winning advances in water management in this region are an outcome of a strategic political process of Indigenous Nation (re)building, pursued by Ngarrindjeri leaders with the ongoing support of a formal research program focussed on Aboriginal governance. The primary insight revealed by the research is that Indigenous contributions to successful environmental management are not best conceived in terms of the protection of ‘cultural flows’ – as is suggested by much of the literature in the field – but instead should be understood primarily in political terms. Like other Indigenous Nations, Ngarrindjeri consider they have an inherent and sovereign right to enjoy, use and protect the flow of water through their Country. Ngarrindjeri have effectively articulated their sovereign Aboriginal environmental rights and have successfully negotiated these rights with the South Australian state by producing targeted legal and political innovations that enable shared authority in the co-development of natural resource management policy. The article argues that Indigenous Nation (re)building and self-governance has positive implications for the development of best practice models of land and water management, both in Australia and internationally.