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Most countries in Africa have promoted some form of decentralized fisheries management either as discrete co-management projects or as a component of broader decentralization processes that cut across other sectors. These initiatives were shaped by an international policy narrative that emphasises participation in decision making and development. A review of fisheries decentralization experiences in Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Malawi reveals marked differences in purpose, strategy, and performance. In general, co-management projects are limited by their ability to scale up new practice and to maintain viable and representative management institutions. In other cases, the decentralization process is not well supported politically or locally or does not articulate with fisheries policy. Experiences of decentralization in other sectors provide useful lessons. Acknowledging the informal institutional environment orrealpolitikof fisheries and the rural economy could provide opportunities to better manage and review the process of decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative watershed institutions (CWIs) have been promoted as effective vehicles for facilitating decentralization and collaboration between government and local stakeholders in both developed and less developed nations. While governmental actors may see CWIs as a means to increase stakeholder participation, they may also use a variety of mechanisms to influence these institutions to advance agency policies. This article describes the authors' experiences with CWIs in two very different contexts: the state of Ohio (USA) and the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic. Using the Government Impacts Framework, the authors identify mechanisms by which government institutions influence CWI form and function. The degree and nature of impacts of governmental influence varies across CWIs, but, in general, CWIs that are closely aligned with government agency priorities experience fewer and less disruptive impacts. This influence can, in some instances, hinder efforts to decentralize water resource management, and instead reinforce existing centralized power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International policy trends are always transformed and translated to fit the political and administrative systems in which they are introduced. An international trend of decentralization has resulted in conservation management systems in Sweden and Norway that differ, both in the choice of institutional solution and in the scope of change. This is surprising, as conservation management in the two countries was originally very similar. Nature conservation was managed through hierarchical systems dominated by bureaucratic experts. While Sweden has introduced co-management in a few protected areas only, Norway has devolved powers in all large conservation areas to intermunicipal management boards. Through document studies, we investigate how decentralization interacts with the broader systems of political actors and institutions of which nature conservation is a part. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nepal's community forestry program has been touted as a successful case in decentralized forest management. However, the government of Nepal has often constrained the autonomy of local communities as an apparent attempt to reverse decentralization. This article identifies the mechanisms through which decentralized reforms and growing deliberative culture of policy process are attenuated. To this end, we analyze an amendment proposal of the government to revise the Forest Act 1993—a widely recognized legislation for democratic decentralization—with the tacit aim of re-equipping the government forestry staff with substantial power. This article shows that the government often monopolizes the policy process and obstructs community forestry, while failing to address its own governance deficits. While acknowledging the importance of an antagonistic form of resistance, we emphasize the combination of alliance-led resistance and research-informed deliberation as an effective strategy to contest inappropriate policy decisions and promote a deliberative culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Policy analysts have struggled to find methods that allow meaningful evaluation of forest management institutions, such as forest-sector decentralization, in terms of the resulting forest conditions. This article demonstrates how to use stocking indices to measure forest conditions when comparing forests across time or space. These measures are especially useful for comparative institutional and policy analysis because they are constructed with a common scale, thus providing a meaningful metric by which to compare conditions. As an example of the application of the method, evidence from Uganda is presented to show a reduction in stocking in many types of Ugandan forests during a time period of forest sector decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centralized regulation and fisheries co-management institutions, when imposed on Malawian fisherfolk, have failed due to poor local legitimacy, resulting in de facto open access regimes for most Malawian fisheries. Case studies from a range of locations indicate that a key to success or failure in co-management lies in understanding the roles played by both traditional (chiefs) and representational (stakeholder) institutions. Formally instituted, conservation-driven co-management institutions are unlikely to be effective if they try to replace informally derived, consensus-based social and cultural institutions. Additionally, institutional legitimacy requires downward accountability, and both traditional and decentralized institutions must remain vigilant against the threat of elite capture. An analysis of fisherfolk and chieftain roles in Malawi's fisheries management regimes illustrates how these stakeholders may either promote or undermine socially and ecologically sustainable outcomes. We conclude that both decentralized representational institutions and 'institutional bricolage' facilitated by chiefs are critical to maintaining resilient co-management institutions and fishing livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reforms directed toward decentralizing the management of natural resources are intended to increase stakeholder involvement and improve the effectiveness and sustainability of resource management arrangements though application of the principle of subsidiarity. The widespread advocacy of such reforms has given rise to numerous case-study examples around the world. This article presents a framework for such studies, based in institutional analysis, for researchers who wish to assess both the decentralization process and the outcomes of decentralization efforts. Rationale for the inclusion of variables and hypothesized relationships of variables to prospective outcomes are explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes of decentralization characterize much of the developing world's natural resource sectors (e.g., forestry). At the heart of decentralization processes lies the question of power, given that most decentralization efforts involve some transfer of authority from a central agency to downwardly accountable groups, or some claim to “empower” local-level actors. These processes often involve organizations such as the state, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities, who may have divergent interests. The question thus arises, how is power reflected in various approaches to natural resources conservation and management? In this article, we trace some theoretical understandings of the concept of power from disciplines such as critical theory, adult education, and development sociology. We then illustrate these conceptions of power with various examples from the field of natural resources. Our purpose is to shed light on how power can be understood with the aim of informing more deliberate, and perhaps more democratic, professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the manner by which resource management regimes, often conceived far away from their areas of application, are integrated into the local institutions, practices, and social structures of a place. This process of contextualization may be especially critical where, for reasons of resource scarcity, remoteness, or system complexity, the state cannot engage in effective program management. The thesis of the article is that if the program is to be sustainable, contextualization may be necessary and, moreover, can induce profound changes in the form and function of the original program. This process can lead to a type of governance that operates through webs of social relationships rather than hierarchical and bureaucratic lines of authority. We use this mode of analysis to show how a unique and viable species conservation program evolved on the Turtle Islands, Philippines, how the process of contextualization transformed it, and why it all unraveled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "paradigm shift" in natural resource management away from state-centred control toward community-based approaches in which local people play a much more active role is situated within the theoretical framework seeking to empower local communities through decentralization policies. This study examines the organizational framework within which decentralization is implemented using a case study from southern Zimbabwe. At the local level there is a complex interface between traditional and modern authority structures, with both complimentary and conflicting jurisdictions and mandates. Given this multiplicity of organizations, the study advocates for systematic examination of appropriate organizations to be involved in the decentralization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]