ADVERTISEMENTS:
This article provides information about the participatory approach to the management of natural resources:
Different conceptions and debates on environment development connections by conservationists, develop-mentalists, women activists, tribals and other marginalised groups reveals that each one has a different position or emphasis on issues such as conservation, subsistence needs of the poor, particularly women; economic growth models and sustainability of critical resources, threats to ecosystems and issues of equity and distribution of costs and benefits in the management of natural resources.
https://www.sociologydiscussion.com/environment/participatory-approach-to-the-management-of-natural-resources-explained/1101
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The focus on the environment-development connection has reframed the issues of control and management of natural resources as it reflects the demands of the global economy which are pitted against the peoples’ claim to traditional rights and their livelihood. As political and economic battles intensify, livelihood interests and commercial interests are locked in never ending contradictions and may not be easily reconciled.
Over the years, various approaches for natural resource management have been outlined — both formal and informal arrangements — to support participatory processes on the grounds of efficiency, involving local people and building a partnership between the state and the community through appropriate institutional arrangements. Within the agenda of decentralised management of natural resources, one can identify several institutional arrangements such as self-initiated user groups, formal community groups established through government initiatives (Joint Forest Management or Watershed Management) and institutions of Local Self- Government (Panchayati Raj institutions). These local institutional arrangements shape the choices, priorities and bargaining systems to change state- community dynamics.
Community management of local resources or a decentralised strategy has assumed importance as it is expected to protect livelihoods and lead to a more sustainable management of resources. Another argument often made in defence of community management of natural resources relates to the indigenous/women’s knowledge systems, which are embedded in a particular community or context. Shiva argues “developing world women tribal and peasants act as intellectual gene pools of ecological categories of thought and action”.
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Women’s responses to environmental issues are mediated by their livelihood systems, division of labour and unequal access to productive resources, and knowledge and information. Local NGO’s have tried to build alternatives for the management of the local resource base and link issues of gender equity to issues of social justice, poverty and indigenous people’s rights.
The arguments for social justice and local people’s rights are based on the premise that local communities have a greater stake in the sustainable use of resources and are better positioned to respond and adapt to specific social and ecological conditions and incorporate local interest and preference. They are also conversant with the local ecological practices and processes and can manage the resources through traditional forms of access and management.