Particular and wider interests in natural resource management: Organizing together but separately

Abstract

The focus that scholars have put on mainstream institutions for resource management, i.e. those recognized by the community and development agents as the primary organizations for resource management, has tended to mask alternative, less visible, but equally robust, organizational forms in which resources are managed and development is carried out at the local level. Mainstream institutions are often inadequate as arenas for negotiating contested interests. By directing attention to women's organizing in contexts in the south (India) and the north (Sweden), it is argued in this paper that although inclusive and heterogeneous structures are essential for the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources such as forests, in order to be able to be so, mainstream institutions need to be able to relate to other structures and forms that are exclusive and represent particular interests. This study of institutional contexts in such different places informs thinking on resource management, development and gender equality, and has practical implications for sustainable and equitable resource management. Importantly, it draws attention to the need to redefine how we study institutions for natural resource management.

Keywords:

• Development
• gender
• institutions
• particular and general interests
• resource management
• structure

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Maureen Reed and Carol Colfer for reading previous drafts and providing insightful comments and suggestions. The Swedish Research Council generously supported the original PhD research from which this material is drawn.

Notes

The argument in this article builds upon my thesis and is also developed in a forthcoming book, Gender, Development, and Environmental Management, to be published by Routledge.