A hierarchy of institutional pre-conditions for participatory natural resource management.
Abstract
This paper considers the pre-conditions for collective or participatory natural resource management. Drawing on the economic theory of social institutions and aspects of organisational theory, a framework for understanding the structural and behavioural pre-requisites within social institutions for participatory resource management is developed. This framework is applied to a case study of the institutional opportunities and constraints to participatory resource management in Trinidad and Tobago. The major stakeholders engaged in participatory resource management in Trinidad and Tobago are identified and key informants in each institution interviewed to identify the opportunities and constraints to participatory resource management, using both unstructured and semi-structured interviews. The findings are analysed through an exploration of constitutional order, institutional arrangement, and behavioural norms. The prescriptive relevance of this approach is in demonstrating the nature of change required in the necessary institutions to facilitate participatory resource management.
Citation
Tompkins, E., Adger, W.N. and Brown, K. 1999. A hierarchy of institutional pre-conditions for participatory natural resource management. Paper presented at the Conference of the Environment, Resources and Sustainable Development Study of the Development Studies Association, ‘Environmental resources: Conflict, co-operation and governance’. University of Bradford, May 17-19 2000.
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