Countering elite capture in natural resource co-management

对抗自然资源共同管理中的精英掠夺

• 批准号: ES/Y009886/1
• 负责人: Rehnuma Ferdous
• 金额: $ 12.56万
• 依托单位: University of Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FY009886%2F1
• 关键词: Countering; elite; capture; natural; resource

Sustainable management of natural resources is critical for reversing biodiversity loss and addressing climate change. Many initiatives adopted around the globe since the 1980s have involved local communities in collaborative or community-based natural resource management. The central idea of co-management is sharing power, right and responsibility between government and resource users. In fisheries, the aim of co-management is to improve resource sustainability and the well-being of fisherfolk communities. However, in many countries of the Global South, co-management of fisheries, watersheds, forest, water resources, and land etc struggles with damaging elite capture by powerful interests. Fundamentally, the introduction of co-management in the context of fisheries does not occur within a power and institutional vacuum. A range of socially-embedded, informal institutions that already exist can affect the management and governance of fisheries. These include longstanding patron-client relationships, where powerful members within a community provide fisherfolk community with multiple social, financial and resource access-related support under local rules and obligations in exchange for labour services and political services to their patron. Using qualitative methods, my doctoral research investigated how the pre-existing socially and culturally-embedded institutions within fisherfolk communities in Bangladesh interact with and influence fisheries co-management.One area that the research did not focus on is mitigation of elite capture of resources. This fellowship will focus on disseminating my research findings to initiate conversations around how best to control and counter elite capture of natural resource co-management. I will organize an international hybrid workshop on "Power and co-management of natural resources" involving academics and practitioners working on natural resource management in different contexts with the aim of developing a special issue proposal. This workshop and subsequent special issue will create an opportunity to review the literature on elite capture, exchange perspectives on different contexts, propose and develop new approaches around mitigation, and encourage new lines of research and collaborations on this issue.I will also produce two policy briefs; first policy brief is on recommendations for operational guidelines of community-based organisations regarding the meaningful inclusion of women and resource users. This policy brief will be based on my PhD research, but will involve key stakeholders and policymakers and use their feedback to triangulate my findings. The second policy brief will be based on the hybrid workshop proposed above and will provide recommendations for mitigating elite capture. I will run a policy workshop in Bangladesh involving policymakers, practitioners, CBOs and politicians with the aim on impacting the formulation of policy around natural resource co-management. The policy briefs will also be shared with the "Too Big To Ignore Network" (TBTI), a global research network which will offer scope to share the example of Bangladesh and share lessons for uptake in other countries. This carefully planned programme will allow the fellow to disseminate the research findings to wider audiences, expand network with policymakers and other co-management stakeholders in contexts beyond Bangladesh, engage with academics and policymakers, and assist in influencing the co- management policy in Bangladesh and maximising the impact of the research.

自然资源的可持续管理对于扭转生物多样性丧失和应对气候变化至关重要。自1980年代以来，全球各地采取的许多举措都使当地社区参与协作或社区自然资源管理。共同管理的核心思想是在政府和资源使用者之间分享权力、权利和责任。在渔业方面，共同管理的目的是改善资源可持续性和渔民社区的福祉。然而，在全球南方的许多国家，渔业、流域、森林、水资源和土地等的共同管理，与强大利益集团对精英的破坏性捕获作了斗争。从根本上说，在渔业方面实行共同管理不是在权力和体制真空中进行的。已经存在的一系列植根于社会的非正式机构可以影响渔业的管理和治理。其中包括长期的资助人-客户关系，即社区内有权势的成员根据当地规则和义务向渔民社区提供与资源获取相关的多种社会、财政和资源支持，以换取向其资助人提供的劳工服务和政治服务。我的博士研究使用定性的方法，调查了孟加拉国渔民社区中预先存在的社会和文化根深蒂固的机构如何与渔业共同管理互动并影响渔业共同管理。这一奖学金将专注于传播我的研究成果，以启动关于如何最好地控制和对抗精英捕获自然资源共同管理的对话。我将组织一次关于“自然资源的权力和共同管理”的国际混合讲习班，邀请在不同情况下从事自然资源管理工作的学者和从业人员参加，目的是拟订一项特别问题提案。这次研讨会和随后的特刊将创造一个机会，回顾关于精英俘获的文献，交流不同背景下的观点，围绕缓解提出和制定新的方法，并鼓励在这个问题上开展新的研究和合作。我还将制作两份政策简报；第一份政策简报是关于社区组织关于有意义地纳入妇女和资源使用者的业务指南的建议。这份政策简报将基于我的博士研究，但将涉及关键的利益相关者和政策制定者，并利用他们的反馈来三角分析我的发现。第二份政策简报将以上文提议的混合讲习班为基础，并将就减少精英抓捕提出建议。我将在孟加拉国举办一个有政策制定者、从业人员、社区组织和政界人士参加的政策讲习班，目的是影响围绕自然资源共同管理的政策的制定。政策简报还将与“大到不能忽视”网络(TBTI)分享，这是一个全球研究网络，将提供机会分享孟加拉国的例子，并分享经验教训，供其他国家借鉴。这一精心规划的方案将使研究员能够向更广泛的受众传播研究成果，扩大与孟加拉国以外的政策制定者和其他共同管理利益攸关方的网络，与学者和政策制定者接触，并协助影响孟加拉国的共同管理政策，最大限度地发挥研究的影响。