Community-based Resource Management Systems Research Articles

Exploring social networks in a small tank cascade system in Northcentral Sri Lanka: First steps to establishing adaptive governance

Systems of irrigation governance that are community-led, flexible, and adaptive are better suited to meet the needs of local communities, resolve conflicts and minimize risks posed by a changing climate. Small Tank Cascade Systems (STCS) in Sri Lanka's dry zone have been critical to ensuring food and livelihood securities of local communities, and governance of STCS to reduce future climate risks will assume increased significance. Adaptive co-management (ACM) practices could reconcile complex natural resources management issues by incorporating flexible community-based resource management systems tailored to specific geographical places and contexts, supported by organizations working at various scales. We sought opportunities to enhance existing systems of resource governance through ACM as a response to the uncertainty surrounding changes in climate. The first steps were to identify actors and processes related to the governance of Palugaswewa STCS through the cultivation meeting; a key decision process for resource management. We used social network analysis (SNA) with a survey of 48 farmers to identify key actors, their roles and responsibilities, practices and decision processes. The findings indicate that current decision processes are compartmentalized within the cascade system with less collaboration among actors in the upper, middle and lower parts of the cascade than anticipated. We conclude that governance structures of STCS could be improved by recognizing and incorporating informal actors, farmer subgroups, existing social relationships and community norms. To minimize future climate risks, information provision to farmers needs to recognize existing information flows in local networks, develop strategies to enhance existing relationships, build on existing adaptive/flexible decision processes, foster collaboration across the cascade system and develop governance mechanisms that operate at cascade/catchment level.

Diversity and Adaptation in Local Forest Governance in Yunnan, China

Natural resource governance is often approached with a single resource or goal in mind. Locally developed community based resource management systems may instead encompass a suite of different natural and cultural resources, as well as aim to achieve multiple social and ecological goals simultaneously. I examine contemporary commons management through the lens of community-based forest governance in 32 communities in Yunnan Province, China. Synthesizing interviews, ethnographic research and published literature on community-level wild mushroom management systems in Yunnan reveals that institutions are focused on social and economic goals, are often adapted over time, and make up only one component of complex multi-resource forest governance arrangements. Flexibility over time, resource type, and land tenure regime allows individuals to variably participate in forest resource extraction and management activities and may promote greater access and equitability than static regulations. Documenting diverse community-led forest management strategies in Yunnan highlights the importance of local experimentation and values for adaptive governance in complex socioecological systems.

Modern disturbances to a long-lasting community-based resource management system: The Taos Valley acequias

Long-lasting community-based resource management systems have offered scholars important lessons in the study of human-environment relations. The examination of such systems has suffered from a sampling bias, however, in that it has focused disproportionately on successful systems. There are fewer studies that have explored the deterioration of such systems, particularly with an interdisciplinary approach. This shortfall is problematic given the increasing social and biophysical disturbances that communities are facing as they become more integrated into, and affected by, larger-scale processes.This study addresses this gap by analyzing the modern condition of a long-lasting community-based irrigation system known as the acequias in northern New Mexico. Using a mix of interview, survey, remote sensing, and census data, I examine the extent to which important indicators for the acequias have shifted in the last several decades and explore reasons for these changes. A mix of statistical and qualitative comparative techniques is used to conduct the analysis.By examining longitudinal data we find that the acequias are producing less than they have in the past and have mostly lost their common-property-based livestock pasturing system. While some of these changes can be attributed to similar declines in water availability, much of the change results from social drivers including demographic changes, regional-to-global market forces, and public policies. Overall the shift of the acequias to their current state is a result of their integration into a much larger-scale set of social and economic forces than they have experienced in the past. This shift will be very difficult to reverse, meaning the acequia farmers must adapt to the current condition. It is likely that these themes are common across many community-based resource management systems in many locations. In the future, further progress should be made in synthetically comparing such cases in ways that have already been done for long-lasting successful systems.

Baseline Carbon Stocks Assessment and Projection of Future Carbon Benefits of a Carbon Sequestration Project in East Timor

Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental problems humanity is facing today. Forest ecosystems serve as a source or sink of greenhouse gases, primarily CO2. With support from the Canadian Climate Change Fund, the Community-based Natural Resource Management for Carbon Sequestration project in East Timor (CBNRM-ET) was implemented to “maintain carbon (C) stocks and increase C sequestration through the development of community-based resource management systems that will simultaneously improve livelihood security”. Project sites were in the Laclubar and Remexio Sub-districts of the Laclo watershed. The objective of this study was to quantify baseline C stocks and sequestration benefits of project components (reforestation with fast-growing species, primarily Casuarina equisetifolia, and agroforestry involving integration of Paraserianthes falcataria). Field measurements show that mature stands (≥30 years) of P. falcataria and C. equisetifolia contain up to 200 Mg C ha−1 in above ground biomass, indicating the vast potential of project sites to sequester carbon. Baseline C stocks in above ground biomass were very low in both Laclubar (6.2 Mg C ha−1 for reforestation sites and 5.2 Mg C ha−1 for agroforestry sites and Remexio (3.0 Mg C ha−1 for reforestation and 2.5 Mg C ha−1 for agroforestry). Baseline soil organic C levels were much higher reaching up to 160 Mg C ha−1 in Laclubar and 70 Mg C ha−1 in Remexio. For the next 25 years, it is projected that 137 671 Mg C and 84 621 Mg C will be sequestered under high- and low C stock scenarios, respectively.

Monitoring Matters: Examining the Potential of Locally-based Approaches

Monitoring of biodiversity and resource use by professional scientists is often costly and hard to sustain, especially in developing countries, where financial resources are limited. Moreover, such monitoring can be logistically and technically difficult and is often perceived to be irrelevant by resource managers and the local communities. Alternatives are emerging, carried out at a local scale and by individuals with little formal education. The methods adopted span a spectrum, from participatory monitoring where aims and objectives are defined by the community, to ranger-based monitoring in protected areas. What distinguishes these approaches is that local people or local government staff are directly involved in data collection and (in most instances) analysis. In this issue of Biodiversity and Conservation, 15 case studies examine whether these new approaches can address the limitations of professional monitoring in developing countries. The case studies evaluate ongoing locally-based monitoring schemes involving more than 1500 community members in 13 countries. The papers are based on a symposium held in Denmark in April 2004 (www. monitoringmatters.org). Here, we review how the case studies shed light on the following key issues concerning locally-based methods: cost, sustainability, their ability to detect true local or larger-scale trends, their links to management decisions and action, and the empowerment of local constituencies. Locally-based monitoring appears to be consistently cheap relative to the costs of management and of professional monitoring, even though the start-up costs can be high. Most local monitoring schemes are still young and thus their chances of being sustained over the longer term are not yet certain. However, we believe their chances of surviving are better than many professional schemes, particularly when they are institutionalised within existing management structures, and linked to the delivery of ecosystem goods or services to local communities. When properly designed, local schemes yield locally relevant results that can be as reliable as those derived from professional monitoring. Many management decisions emanate from local schemes. The decisions appear to be taken promptly, in response to immediate threats to the environment, and often lead to community-based actions to protect habitats, species or the local flow of ecosystem benefits; however, few local schemes have so far led to actions beyond the local scale. Locally-based monitoring schemes often reinforce existing community-based resource management systems and lead to change in the attitude of locals towards more environmentally sustainable resource management. Locally-derived data have considerable unexplored potential to elucidate global patterns of change in the status of populations and habitats, the services they provide, and the threats they face, but more effort is needed to develop effective modalities for feeding locally-derived data up to national and international levels.