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 20 世纪 80 年代以来，全球采取的许多举措都让当地社区参与协作或基于社区的自然资源管理。共管的核心思想是政府与资源使用者共享权力、权利和责任。在渔业领域，共同管理的目的是提高资源可持续性和渔民社区的福祉。然而，在许多南方国家，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破坏性的精英争夺作斗争。从根本上说，在渔业领域引入共同管理并不是在权力和机构真空的情况下发生的。现有的一系列嵌入社会的非正式机构可以影响渔业的管理和治理。其中包括长期的赞助人与客户关系，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多种社会、财务和资源获取相关支持，以换取为其赞助人提供的劳动力服务和政治服务。我的博士研究采用定性方法，调查了孟加拉国渔民社区中现有的社会和文化嵌入机构如何与渔业共同管理相互作用并影响渔业共同管理。该研究没有关注的一个领域是减少精英对资源的捕获。该奖学金将重点传播我的研究成果，以围绕如何最好地控制和对抗精英对自然资源共同管理的掠夺展开对话。我将组织一次关于“自然资源的权力和共同管理”的国际混合研讨会，让在不同背景下从事自然资源管理工作的学者和从业者参加，目的是制定一项特别问题提案。本次研讨会和随后的特刊将创造一个机会，回顾有关精英捕获的文献，交流不同背景的观点，提出和开发围绕缓解问题的新方法，并鼓励就此问题进行新的研究和合作。我还将制定两项政策内裤;第一份政策简报是关于社区组织关于有意义地包容妇女和资源使用者的业务指南的建议。本政策简报将基于我的博士研究，但将涉及主要利益相关者和政策制定者，并利用他们的反馈来对我的研究结果进行三角测量。第二份政策简报将基于上述混合研讨会，并将提供减轻精英俘获的建议。我将在孟加拉国举办一个由政策制定者、从业者、社区组织和政治家参加的政策研讨会，旨在影响自然资源共同管理政策的制定。政策简报还将与“太大而无法忽视的网络”(TBTI) 共享，该网络是一个全球研究网络，将为分享孟加拉国的例子和分享可供其他国家借鉴的经验教训提供空间。这项精心策划的计划将使研究员能够向更广泛的受众传播研究结果，扩大与孟加拉国以外地区的政策制定者和其他共同管理利益相关者的网络，与学者和政策制定者接触，并协助影响孟加拉国和孟加拉国的共同管理政策。最大限度地发挥研究的影响。