Prospects for Localizing Co-management

ABSTRACT

Since the institutionalization of biodiversity conservation in the 1980s, co-management has been employed as an economic policy for regulating the joint use of natural resources. However, barriers to its effectiveness may at times arise, as when imported initiatives are poorly acculturated to local needs. Inspired by contributions on the commons, globalization, and critical policy studies, we examine lapses in co-management and related natural resource governance practices, using a systematic review of policy publications on nature-reliant communities in the global South and North. The conclusions propose options through which a “localized co-management” may help enhance the inclusion of local/indigenous people in making decisions concerning the use of natural resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical policy studies
• commons
• localized co-management
• nature-reliant communities
• decision-making

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to members of the Anthropology Research Team at the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, who organized theoretical group discussions that motivated us. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers and editors for their comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ayonghe Akonwi Nebasifu

Ayonghe Akonwi Nebasifu is a researcher at the Anthropology Research Group of the Arctic Center, University of Lapland, where he performs research on the co-management of natural resources.

Francisco Cuogo

Francisco Cuogo is a researcher at the Center for Research in Political Science, School of Economics and Management, the University of Minho in Portugal, where he teaches transdisciplinary themes of globalization policy, economic development and governance.