Community-based Resource Management Research Articles

Strategy for Improving Environmental Quality through Waste Management in the Bajoe Coastal Area Community, Bone Regency

This study aims to discuss the evaluation of waste management in the coastal area of Bajoe, Kab. Bone. The approach used is a qualitative and quantitative approach from a methodological aspect, and an environmental, economic, religious approach from a scientific aspect. The research design used is an evaluative research design. The required data were collected by observation, questionnaires, interviews, and documentation. The data that has been collected was analyzed by descriptive analysis. The results of the study show that First, the results of the assessment of waste observers really want to make a change to the people in the Bajoe coastal area by providing assistance in waste management. The Bajo people are said to have minimal attention to waste management even if they are given counseling on waste management. Second, the participation of the Bajoe coastal community in waste management based on Community-Based Resource Management (CBRM) theory. Third, the making of the module through the input-process-output stage through several stages in terms of revising the adjustment of environmental conditions in the Bajoe coastal area which must be harmonized because during the observation and distribution of questionnaires the researcher only focused on identifying types of waste and knowing how they manage waste. The module development stages consist of module creation, FGD Review Module and Module Implementation.

Barriers and opportunities regarding community-based forest management in Afghanistan: considerations for fragile states

SummaryThe Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), in power during 2002–2021, initiated the process of instituting community-based forest governance and building local capacity for natural resource management. These efforts coincided with the presence of international security forces and the mobilization of civil society organizations, and they were in response to community aspirations to protect and restore often degraded local forests. Legislation was passed to enable forest protection and management, including a provision to encourage participatory management by local community user groups organized as Forest Management Associations (FMAs). By the end of the GIRoA era, c. 20 registered FMAs were operating with c. 400 others in various stages of development across Afghanistan. Our analysis of relevant policy documents revealed that the policy framework developed during the GIRoA era scores favourably on the ideal criteria for community-based resource management. Despite the change in political administration with the inception of the current Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regime, the influence of the GIRoA era serves as a starting point and may have enduring influences on rural communities in Afghanistan and the natural resources that support them. Anecdotal evidence suggests that community-based forest management may persist under the current national leadership despite international isolation and funding constraints. The model developed in Afghanistan may be relevant to other fragile states, especially in contexts where rural forest-dependent communities have strong local institutions, such as shuras, and where forests are not prone to heavy extraction pressure.

Intergenerational perceptions of the collective action challenges facing Mexican community forests

Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas– especially those without access to land–may look outside of their communities for opportunities. The labor shortages and detachment from place that follow can undermine local capacities to manage communal lands for natural resource-based livelihoods. Researchers and NGOs that have studied and supported community-based resource management, including community forest enterprises (CFEs), argue that building community capacities and improving access to markets are necessary for forest commons to be sustainable. Yet, the role of young people in all of this remains understudied, including how their perceptions and motivations vis a vis forest livelihoods and work compare to those of older members who enjoy tenure rights and associated benefits. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth/young adults and older rights-holders in communities in different regions of Mexico with their own forestry enterprise, along with a small number of non-community members working in or supporting the country’s community forestry sector. We found that youth held a degree of attachment to traditional rural life, but perceived limited economic opportunities locally, low and unstable incomes, and few retirement benefits associated with forest work. This, along with the physical strain of land-based livelihoods, a lack of access to credit, processing delays for harvesting permits, and outdated logging equipment, contributed to diminished interest in the forestry sector and enhanced motivations to out-migrate. To cope with internal labor shortages, communities seek labor from afar, offering short-term contractual wages, and lease land and rights to outsiders. Such actions occur outside of federal commons law, suggesting that the regulatory context in Mexico is out of step with the emergent realities and needs of contemporary forest communities.

Exploring Community-Based Water Resource Management in Cameroon for Sustainable Development: Insights From Indigenous Participatory Approaches

Exploring Community-Based Water Resource Management in Cameroon for Sustainable Development: Insights From Indigenous Participatory Approaches

Opportunities and limitations to social learning for sustainability: empirical insights from a participatory approach to community-based resource management in the Philippines

ABSTRACTSocial learning is increasingly identified as a valuable tool in the pursuit of sustainable development agenda in the same manner that participatory processes are seen as important avenues for creating social learning situations. Through an empirical case study of participatory processes undertaken to rehabilitate a community-based irrigation system in the Philippines, this study explores two interrelated questions: what feature of the participatory irrigation management approach implemented in the Philippines facilitates social learning, and what were the limiting factors for its long-term success? One of the most prominent features of participatory approaches elucidated in this case study is the integration of traditional institutions into more contemporary formalized farmer associations. While this approach helped legitimize intervention and enhanced local cooperation for a successful project implementation, our findings underscores the need for carefully designed participatory processes that are specifically aimed at creating long term learning outcomes. Further study is recommended to further explore how social learning can be facilitated beyond the intervention phase of project-based participatory approaches.

Resident Perception of Forest Resource Management in Selected Communities in Ede South Local Government, Nigeria

This study examined residents’ perceptions of how forest resources are maintained and managed in Osun State, Nigeria's Ede South local government. The primary data were obtained by randomly selecting community members to receive questionnaires. The data was examined using cross tabulation, linear regression, and correlation.  The analysis's findings indicate that 86% of the respondents are already aware of the need to save forests. The respondents are 48 years old on average. The majority of respondents (67.1%) believed that if the government is allowed to control the forest resources, they can be managed more effectively. According to the survey, only 20% of respondents had a low level of understanding regarding community-based forest resource management. The majority of respondents (41%) don't know what they stand to gain from this strategy. 41% of them hold the view that the government owns the forest and should therefore be responsible for managing it, not them. In order to manage forest resources sustainably, community members should have the opportunity to participate in decision-making. Young professionals should also be involved.

Capacity-building for Coastal Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in the Pacific Islands

Abstract Capacity-building for coastal climate change adaptation in the Pacific Island countries (PICs) is paramount in ensuring resilience building and sustaina-ble management of coastal resources. The Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) program, through its capacity-building component, works at achieving this by supporting delivery of technical and vocation education and training (TVET) and continuing professional development programs. The PEUMP training programs focus on addressing capacity needs associated with coastal resource management in the PICs, including but not limited to, inadequate economic considerations in coastal fisheries regulations; limited capacity to support community-based coastal resource management; insufficient Pacific-relevant training and qualifications for sustainable coastal resource management through inclusive approaches; and insufficient in-depth understanding of the government’s role in com-munity and ecosystem-based approaches. To address some of these gaps PEUMP delivered TVET programs, micro-qualifications, non-formal training, and professional short courses across 15 PICs. Post-training impact assess-ments found the PEUMP training programs to have improved the knowledge and skills of participants, with more than 70 percent of the par-ticipants gaining new skills and/or knowledge, which they attempted to pass on to their colleagues. A number of lessons learned were identified through the PEUMP training programs, such as the pros and cons of deliv-ering training through virtual means within the Pacific context. The article wraps up with a set of recommendations as a way forward for capaci-ty-building in the Pacific Island region through further inclusive training, localization, and community-based approaches.

Development of kaligesing etawah crossbreed goat in Purworejo Central Java Province

This study aims to analyze the development of Kaligesing Etawah crossbreed goat in Purworejo Regency through community-based resource management approach, with the specific aims of assessing the condition of Kaligesing goat related to natural increase, examining the role of local government in determining the policy of developing Kaligesing goat in Purworejo, and recommending strategies in the development of Kaligesing goat through community-based resource management approach. The method used was a triangulation methods which include observation, survey and document study. The results showed that social-demographic such as education of farmers, goat ownership and land ownership were low level and natural increase of Kaligesing goat based on percentage of births per year and percentage of deaths per year was 45. 51%. The role of the government in determining the policy of developing Kaligesing goats in Purworejo is the Decree of the Purworejo Regency No. 188.4 of 1989 concerning the preservation of Kaligesing Goat, in addition to the Decree of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia No. 2591 / Kpts / PD.400 / 7/2010 dated July 19, 2010, determination of Kaligesing Goat as a local strain of Central Java. The recommended strategies that need to be carried out are: strengthening the Kaligesing goat farmer group in terms of maintenance and marketing management, self-economic strengthening by establishing farmers’ cooperatives, establishing market information centers managed by groups or cooperatives to make it easier for farmers to obtain information about selling prices, popularize recording / livestock records so as to tighten the entry of breeds from outside the region, ensure the availability of feed land in areas that can grow feed crops and the processing and preservation of forage crops.

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.

Diagnosing Participation and Inclusion in Collective Decision-Making in the Commons: Lessons from Ecuador

The objectives of our study are to advance our understanding of the micro-level governance conditions that facilitate more inclusive communal decision-making processes. Common-pool resource scholars frequently point to participatory governance arrangements as critical for successful resource management. Recognizing local decision-making rights, however, does not necessarily ensure that the decision process or management outcomes will be inclusive or equitable. Examples from decentralized and community-based resource management illustrate how communities and outside organizations alike can struggle to create decision-making forums that include and recognize the voices of more marginalized members. Our exploratory analysis examines household participation (n = 491) in communal decisions in twelve rural indigenous communities in the central Andes of Ecuador. We use the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to structure a set of logit models to identify the household attributes and community governance conditions that make it more likely that a household engages in community meetings (attends, voices opinions, perceives opinion is respected), and agrees with the collective decisions. Our findings reiterate the challenge of gaining full participation, particularly from women, and indicate how local governance characteristics such as frequency of meetings and leader training may promote greater inclusion and overall agreement with communal decisions.

Understanding Facilitators and Barriers to Success: Framework for Developing Community Forestry Case Studies

Due to the observed success of community-based management strategies, countries around the world have reformed forest policy to focus upon decentralization and community participation in forest management. Nonetheless, despite the commonly lauded benefits of communal forest management, not all community forest programs successfully achieve the dual goals of forest conservation and income generation. In an era when communal forest management is gaining global popularity, understanding factors that enable or constrain communities’ communal forests and community forest enterprises will help ensure their success. A significant amount of academic research has focused upon identifying and summarizing factors that facilitate or impede community-based resource management. Understanding these factors is an important first step for individuals interested in understanding community forestry operations. The goal of this article is to guide individuals interested in delving deeper into an existing community forestry case. This article provides a framework that can be used to develop community-forestry case studies and guide analysis. The framework highlights the interconnection between community resources, national-scale policy implementation, and markets and provides key factors to consider when analyzing the local context of community-based natural resource management cases.

Smallholder social networks: Advice seeking and adaptation in rural Kenya

CONTEXTSmallholder farmers in Africa are among those most impacted by climate change. Employing strategies such as planting early maturing or drought tolerant hybrid seeds is one common climate adaptive strategy for these households. However, seed choice has become increasingly complex for farmers. One way farmers look for clarity about seeds is to consult with other farmers. OBJECTIVEWe investigate smallholders' advice seeking within the context of a community water project in rural Kenya, a type of community-based common pool resource management organization. We examine a maize seed advice seeking network and compare it with a more general advice seeking network to better understand the social networks of maize seed advice seeking, and to characterize how peer-to-peer advice networks might factor into farmer decision-making about seeds. METHODSWe use exponential random graph modeling for the maize seed advice and general advice networks to test what factors predict advice-seeking among farmers in 104, or 92% of households in the community water project. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe maize seed advice network is less dense than the general advice network, with farmers on average seeking out fewer people for advice about maize. The features that shape each network also differ. There are some farmers who are significantly more active in seeking advice about maize seeds, and farmers who are already employing more adaptive practices on their farm are more likely to seek such advice. Farmers also seek each other out based on homophily, kinship, and physical proximity, and some farmers are sought out more often. We find evidence that physical infrastructure of the community water project drives advice-seeking ties, where farmers who are attached to the same branch of the water infrastructure are likely to seek advice from each other. SIGNIFICANCEMaize seed is not a topic about which many farmers in this network seek advice, and those who might be perceived as more experienced or educated are not necessarily those most sought for advice. Farmers hold key information due to their on-farm experience, and in the absence of robust extension services and consistent information about hybrid seeds, it is unclear to what extent the advice seeking that farmers do undertake fills those gaps. In addition, co-management of a common-pool resource facilitates advice sharing in both the maize and general advice networks, that is, on topics outside of the immediate reason for being part of a CWP, which is water management.

Utilization of marine taxa within an artisanal shellcraft sector of the Indo-Pacific region

Sustainable utilization of marine taxa is critical for maximizing social and economic goals of livelihood development within the Indo-Pacific. Yet, despite an increasing importance of shellcraft as a livelihood activity within the Indo-Pacific, information on the taxa utilized within shellcraft sectors remains scant. To address this knowledge gap, our study examined diversity, in terms of composition and quantities, of marine taxa utilized by artisan households and, collectively, within an artisanal shellcraft sector of Papua New Guinea. For each taxon, critical source habitats were identified, and the geographic scale of exploitation established. Critically, presented data revealed 73 taxa, representing at least 77 species, were utilized within the studied sector. Many of the taxa utilized had not previously been linked to shellcraft sectors, demonstrating that a broader composition of taxa is utilized than previously acknowledged. In terms of quantity, annual utilization within the sector was close to 500,000 individuals, the majority being mollusks of either class Gastropoda (83.6%), represented by 37 genera, or class Bivalvia (9.6%), represented by four genera. There was a strong bias towards a particular species, Chrysostoma paradoxum (78.5% of all individuals), as indicated by indices for the diversity utilized (H′ = 1.23; D = 0.38). However, substantial variation was evident in the diversity of taxa utilized among households (n = 36) engaged in shellcraft (H′ = 1.09 ± 0.71; D = 0.43 ± 0.27), with each household utilizing a unique composition of 19.1 ± 10.6 taxa. Source habitats for taxa ranged from pelagic to benthic intertidal and subtidal substrates, with the geographic scale of exploitation extending to 34 discrete locations up to 417 km away. The array of sector, household, and taxon-specific information presented provides a basis for supporting greater sustainability within shellcraft sectors across the Indo-Pacific, which is discussed within a context of informing community-based resource management, further developing marine aquaculture, and strengthening existing governance.

Revitalizing Collective Resources in Mountain Areas Through Community Engagement and Knowledge Cocreation

The ongoing global and large-scale changes in markets, demographics, and use of resources are impacting mountain peoples and regions. In mountain areas, resources have been governed through community-based systems for resource management for centuries, ensuring stewardship and local decision-making over the resources. Due to the importance of such systems to mountain societies, there is a need to understand local effects of global changes and reconfigure community-based resource management (CRM) to meet local needs while tackling global challenges. Changes include biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, as well as increasing social and economic disparities. Studies on the role of knowledge cocreation in the process of CRM innovation in response to ongoing changes in mountain social–ecological systems are missing. This study aimed to explore the reconfigurations that enable CRM to foster sustainable development and thriving communities. The study focused on an intervention promoting community entrepreneurship in community-based tourism for the revitalization of collective resources in 2 mountain communities in Northern Italy. We adopted a transdisciplinary approach and a research action methodology to codesign the interventions and research. Data from focus groups, a survey, participatory activities, interviews, and participant observation were collected and analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method. Results show that emerging reconfigurations in CRM include recognition of new values and uses of collective resources, inclusion of new stakeholders, and innovation of the organizational model, shifting the perspective from resource management to resource governance. The study recommends striking a balance between pushing innovation and increasing power imbalances. It is important to pay attention to the inclusivity of the process and to avoid excessive commodification of resources.

Testing a model to assess women’s inclusion and participation in community-based resource management in Solomon Islands

 Community-based fisheries management (CBFM) is a standard management framework in Melanesia. Yet, there is increasing evidence that women, among other marginalised groups, experience barriers to inclusion in decision-making processes. Through a case study in three communities in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands, we adapted Agarwal’s 2001 participation typology for a Melanesian CBFM context to present a participation model for assessing gender inclusivity in CBFM. We defined six levels of women’s participation, including, (1) no participation, (2) nominal, (3) passive, (4) consultive, (5) active, and (6) interactive (empowering) participation, defined as actively participating in all aspects of the decision-making process, and holding leadership roles that increase women’s influence and power across the community. The model should be broadly useful throughout Melanesia across many different cultural contexts, though we anticipate that aspects will need adaptation in different contexts, both within and beyond Solomon Islands. We found that the three study communities respectively fell within the passive, consultive, and active levels. Our results show that gender parity, that is equal representation of women and men, is not a reliable indicator of gender equity. The utility of the model lies in its implementation, which requires engagement with gender power structures. This work contributes to the gender, small-scale fisheries, and community-based management literature by assessing women’s participation in CBFM decision-making processes through use of a participation model, and providing recommendations to fisheries practitioners on implementation of the model to assess gender equity in a community’s CBFM structures.

The Role of Giri Mulya Study Group Community in Improving Community Empowerment

This study examinedcommunity needs for community empowerment oriented to regional potential. The empowerment was conducted by Giri Mulya Study Group Community using the community-based community resource management process. This community is a form of a development strategy and community empowerment that contributes to controlling and managing productive resources. This research employed thequalitative research method, while the approach used in this research was the case study approach. The research informants were selected using the snowball sampling technique, and data were collected through observation and in-depth interviews. Giri Mulya Study Group Community development had a positive impact on community empowerment in Munggugebang village. Cooperation that existedamongelements of society can be a significant impetus to carry out an empowerment process. Sustainability of education in the Giri Mulya Study Group Community is the most basic effort in empowering an area, in this case, rural areas.

The effect of drinking water sources due to Cyclone Aila at Shyamnagar, Sathkhira district, Bangladesh

Bangladesh is the most vulnerable country to disaster and its impact. Coastal Bangladesh along with the Bay of Bengal is the most important and suffered group of cyclone impacts. Cyclone Aila hit the southwestern coast of Bangladesh on 25 May 2009. About two million people were affected and washed away a huge number of households, lives, livestock, crops, and all other resources of the affected area. Water resources in the coastal area are always a term of crisis and even the aila mostly damaged all the resources including surface or groundwater sources. This study focuses on the recovery status of the affected area with considering the drinking water sources. About 36 water samples had been collected for the experiment including rainwater harvesting (6), pond sand filters (6), protected pond (6), and hand tube well (6) from specific six unions of Shyamnagar Upazilla under Sathkhira District in between the time of August to October 2016. A questionnaire field survey was conducted in the most affected coastal area in Bangladesh where about 103 households (309 respondents) participated in their willingness and the study considering their frequency of loss. The results showed a huge dimension of the water crisis and its mitigation. Protected pond and tube well water exceeded the DoE standard for almost all chemical parameters except potassium (3.28 mg/L and 3.75 mg/L), sulfate (377.19 mg/L and 225.66 mg/L), chloride (365.05 mg/L and 349.10 mg/L) and arsenic (1.76±0.25 mg/L and 3.78±1.43). Pond sand filter (PSF) and rainwater harvesting (RWH) had shown the lowest amount of all chemical concentrations compared with another two sources. The respondents face the problem of the distance from the household and the yearly availability of drinking water. They demand monitoring and source management system improvement along with community-based resource management. From the aila event, a huge recovery application is implemented here but these are not sufficient. Respondents gave some opinions to solve this crisis. Considering all aspects, they need a low-cost and more efficient drinking water source to survive their situation.

Community-based rangeland management in Namibia improves resource governance but not environmental and economic outcomes

Classic theories suggest that common pool resources are subject to overexploitation. Community-based resource management approaches may ameliorate tragedy of the commons effects. Here we use a randomized evaluation in Namibia’s communal rangelands to study a comprehensive four-year program to support community-based rangeland and cattle management. We find that the program led to persistent and large improvements for eight of thirteen indices of social and behavioral outcomes. Effects on rangeland health, cattle productivity and household economics, however, were either negative or nil. Positive impacts on community resource management may have been offset by communities’ inability to control grazing by non-participating herds and inhibited by an unresponsive rangeland sub-system. This juxtaposition, in which measurable improvements in community resource management did not translate into better outcomes for households or rangeland health, demonstrates the fragility of the causal pathway from program implementation to intended socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. It also points to challenges for improving climate change–adaptation strategies.

Patterns of catch and trophic signatures illustrate diverse management requirements of coastal fisheries in Solomon Islands

Coastal fisheries are a critical component of Pacific island food systems; they power village economies and provide nutritious aquatic foods. Many coastal women and men actively fishing in this region rely on multi-species fisheries, which given their extraordinary diversity are notoriously difficult to both characterize, and to manage. Understanding patterns of fishing, diversity of target species and drivers of these patterns can help define requirements for sustainable management and enhanced livelihoods. Here we use a 12-month data set of 8535 fishing trips undertaken by fishers across Malaita province, Solomon Islands, to create fisheries signatures for 13 communities based on the combination of two metrics; catch per unit effort (CPUE) and catch trophic levels. These signatures are in turn used as a framework for guiding suitable management recommendations in the context of community-based resource management. While a key proximate driver of these patterns was fishing gear (e.g. angling, nets or spearguns), market surveys and qualitative environmental information suggest that community fishing characteristics are coupled to local environmental features more than the market value of specific species they target. Our results demonstrate that even within a single island not all small-scale fisheries are equal, and effective management solutions ultimately depend on catering to the specific environmental characteristics around individual communities.

Macro- and microhabitat use patterns of holothurians in Buena Vista, Nggela, Solomon Islands: rock climber and bottom crawler species

Densities and habitat use patterns of holothurians, including nocturnal species, were assessed in Buena Vista, Nggela, Solomon Islands, for community-based resource management. Nighttime snorkeling surveys were conducted along transects (maximum 1.6 km) with 3 to 5 searchers in nearshore, channel, and outer reef macrohabitats. Only the population in the seagrass macrohabitat was separately assessed in 30 m line transects during the daytime. Microhabitats were clearly separated between species living on 3-dimensional structures (e.g. surfaces of knolls and reef slopes; rock climber group) and those on flat bottoms (bottom crawler group), although they coexisted at macrohabitat scales. Potential shelters adjacent to each individual differed between the 2 groups. Among bottom crawler species, Bohadschia koellikeri, which was recently taxonomically divided from B. vitiensis, occupied macrohabitats intermediately ranging between those of B. argus in the channel and outer reef macrohabitats and those of B. vitiensis and B. marmorata in the nearshore and seagrass macrohabitats. The high-density population was observed in the seagrass macrohabitat, mainly composed of Holothuria scabra, B. marmorata, and H. fuscogilva, although most individuals of these species were smaller than the national legal size limits. Moreover, the body lengths of H. atra and H. fuscogilva increased from the seagrass macrohabitat to the outer reef macrohabitat, implying their migration during growth and the roles of seagrass areas as nurseries. These results revealed diversity of macro- and microhabitat use patterns among species and their growth stages and highlight the importance of considering these factors for conserving diverse species by areal-based protection measures.