Community-based Management Initiatives Research Articles

Protecting Wilderness or Cultural and Natural Heritage? Insights from Northern Patagonia, Chile

Abstract Protecting 30% of the planet’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030 (30x30) is the most recent call for global conservation action. Toward this end, the creation of protected areas is a central strategy. The various parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have committed to this global goal, including Chile. Against this backdrop, this article explores current narratives and practices around five protected areas in northern Patagonia, Chile. We argue that environmental discourses are key to understanding these narratives and practices. Environmental discourses influence the values central to the creation and development of protected areas, as well as the prevailing management approaches for these areas. Our findings show that two discourses are of particular importance: the ‘Patagonian wilderness’ discourse and the ‘cultural and natural heritage’ discourse. Based on our findings, we also discuss three emerging topics: the rewilding and rebranding of Patagonia, optimism around nature-based tourism, and implementation of global conservation goals within the national context. We reflect on the implications of our findings for further developments in Patagonia and for the global conservation debate. We contend that the future of protected-area management in northern Patagonia will depend on how community-based management initiatives are fostered and argue that aligning with such inclusive conservation approaches will be a critical requirement for the implementation of the 30x30 goal moving forward.] Spanish abstract: rb.gy/gmaziq

Trade-offs between conservation and development in community-based management initiatives

Community-based management (CBM) has attracted much interest as a conservation and development strategy in natural resource-dependent communities in recent decades. However, most initiatives fail to achieve both objectives. The most analyzed CBM strategies in the literature include donor- and government-driven initiatives, but other types exist as well. The research objective was to identify the internal and external factors that influence the trade-offs between conservation and development in three internally driven CBM initiatives in Latin America: a long-term indigenous-based conservation strategy, the constitutional recognition of ancestral land rights of Afro-American communities and artisanal fisheries management. The results showed that livelihoods depend on natural resources, but none of the cases identified a balance between conservation and development. Community activities are not the primary cause of natural resource degradation. Conservation is supported by ethnicity and cultural values and is challenged by current development models and worldviews that push intensification of resource use and by power asymmetries. Internal pressures include limited rule compliance and enforcement authority to stop free-riding and unauthorized activities. Internal challenges for development include the lack of capacities, rigid rules and non-inclusive CBM, and the inertia and risk aversion that prevail in many communities. External challenges include the lack of economic incentives and compensation models that enable welfare opportunities linked to sustainable management

One size does not fit all: Critical insights for effective community-based resource management in Melanesia

In recent years, Fiji's approach of combining traditional systems of community-based coastal management and modern management systems has become a successful blueprint for marine conservation, particularly the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network model. As a result of this success, conservation practitioners have imported the Fiji LMMA model to the Solomon Islands and in Vanuatu in hope of replicating the purported success attained in Fiji. This paper argues that because tenure systems and associated political systems in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are substantially different, one cannot simply extrapolate the more centralized tenurial and political Fiji model to the decentralized tenurial and politically eclectic Solomons and Vanuatu. This paper provides an analysis of some of the various approaches used in these countries to make a case for why socio-political diversity and historical particulars matter to resource management and conservation-in-practice (and for any development interventions). By examining examples of various nested and polycentric governance approaches—family, community, tribal, confederations, local community-based organizations (CBOs), and Church—it elucidate not only some of the differences between Fiji and Solomon Islands/Vanuatu, but also between Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. This provides critical insights into some of the myriad of factors impinging on conservation aspirations in these countries and may offer some alternative ways forward not currently considered by conservation practitioners. Finally, the paper provides some guidelines to how to increase the long-term success of marine conservation programs for fisheries management and community-based management initiatives in the region.

Deconstructing the Reality of Community-Based Management of Marine Resources in a Small Island Context in Indonesia

This study offers a detailed analysis of community-based management (CBM) in a small island in Indonesia. In the study site, area-specific stewardship for a marine territory was informally institutionalized and, in addition to state rules, locally devised rules based on informal agreements have emerged. Using multiple methods for the analysis of the perceptions of the local community, this research examines the actual impact of the different rules on the fishing patterns in that sea territory, and illuminates the rationales of the local population to engage (or not) in the community-based approach to manage the marine resources. The study shows that the CBM initiative has to be seen as part of a convoluted regulatory system that impacts the fishing behavior in the sea territory. A lack of official authority to formally develop and especially to locally enforce rules represents a key challenges for the CBM initiative. This is further complicated by severe coordination problems between the local community and higher level state actors. The study further shows that the motivation of the community members to engage in the enforcement of the informal rules is strongly based on short-term economic considerations. For rules that are perceived to have a strong impact on the individual fishing yields, the fear of potential short-term economic losses constitutes a particular success factor of the local initiative since it motivates the members of the community to enforce local rules, especially when outside fishers break the rules. Yet, if rule-breaking is not perceived to decrease individual fishing yield, or if benefits of the generated yields are shared with the community as a compensation mechanism, the motivation of the community members to engage in rule enforcement ceases.

Examining ‘willingness to participate’ in community-based water resource management in a transboundary conservation area in Central America

Operationalizing integrated water resource management (IWRM) often involves decentralization of water management via community-based management (CBM). While attention has been given to the components leading to successful CBM, less is known about what factors motivate people's willingness to participate (WTP) in such programs. This study analyzed factors that influence household WTP in CBM in a transboundary watershed located where El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras converge – the Trifinio Region. Several variables were hypothesized to influence WTP: sense of community (SOC), dependence on water resources, level of concern for water resources, and socio-economic characteristics. In 2014, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 62 households in five communities. Most respondents reported high levels of WTP in future CBM initiatives, and multivariate regression analysis revealed that SOC was the most important predictor of WTP, with wealth and perceptions of watershed management also statistically significant. Qualitative analyses revealed water availability was more concerning than water quality, and perceptions of inequitable access to water is an important constraint to developing CBM strategies. Taken together, these results suggest that enhancing SOC and relationships between local and regional levels of governance prior to establishing community-based projects would facilitate more success in implementing IWRM.

Effects of Community-Based Management on Amazon River Turtles: A Case Study ofPodocnemis sextuberculatain the Lower Amazon Floodplain, Pará, Brazil

Podocnemis sextuberculata is cited as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List due to a decline in its population as a result of the intensive exploitation pressure throughout its range. Understanding the effects of environmental characteristics and human activities on turtle populations is essential to improve current conservation programs. We analyzed the abundance of Podocnemis sextuberculata in the lower Amazon, where a management experiment is under way, by comparing neighboring areas with and without community-based management (CBM) initiatives. In addition, we analyzed the influence of environmental variables on the species' abundance. Abundance was measured by captures per unit effort expressed in number of individuals (CPUEN) and biomass (CPUEB). The effects of CBM and environmental variables were tested by General Linear Model analysis. A total of 354 individuals were captured, 321 in the areas under CBM and 33 in areas without CBM. CPUEN and CPUEB were strongly correlated, and their values were about 10-fold higher in the areas carrying out CBM initiatives. The variable that best explained variation in CPUEN and CPUEB was CBM. Distance between the sampling point and the nearest nesting beach and river level also influenced capture rates. Results clearly show that local fishing restrictions can have a positive influence on turtle populations.