Discourses of Decentralization: Local Participation and Sámi Space for Agency in Norwegian Protected Area Management

This chapter analyzes the 2010 reform of Norwegian protected area management, which provided new arenas for influence for the Indigenous Sámi over protected areas on their lands, to explore how discourses of decentralization and participation in nature conservation shape the space for agency of Indigenous peoples. The results show that the discourses governing the reform articulate the relationship between Sámi rights and protected areas in relation to several different concepts, problem representations, and proposed solution, each with potentially different consequences for Sámi participation and influence. The construction of the concept of “participation” in the discourse of protected area management makes it possible to integrate into a system modelled after traditional, centralized organizational structures that prioritize conservation objectives over Sámi rights without fundamentally challenging relationships of power, divisions of responsibilities, or objectives for management. The paper concludes that the Norwegian discourse provides arenas for Sámi influence and participation that could serve as an example for protected area governance and management on Indigenous lands elsewhere, but that the failure to radically reconsider the principal assumptions of protected area discourses risks upholding or reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and colonial stereotypes.

Partisipasi Masyarakat dalam Pengelolaan Kawasan Konservasi Taman Nasional Alas Purwo

This article aims to describe community participation in the preservation of the Alas Purwo conservation area. The method used is qualitative with a descriptive model. The data comes from interviews, observations and literature studies. This study found that the community around the Alas Purwo area participates in the management of the conservation area. The communities are positioned as subjects in various conservation area management models. The Alas Purwo National Park Hall as an institution takes efforts to foster a loving nature and develop conservation cadres to provide environmental education to the community so that they care and play a role in preserving the Alas Purwo conservation area.AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tentang partisipasi masyarakat dalam pelestarian kawasan konservasi Alas Purwo. Metode yang digunakan adalah kualitatif dengan model deskriptif. Data bersumber dari hasil wawancara, observasi dan studi literatur. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa masyarakat sekitar kawasan Alas Purwo turut berpartisipasi dalam pengelolaan kawasan konservasi. Sebagai pelaku utama masyarakat sekitar diposisikan sebagai subyek dalam berbagai model pengelolaan kawasan konservasi. Balai Taman Nasional Alas Purwo sebagai institusi menempuh upaya bina cinta alam dan bina kader konservasi untuk memberikan pendidikan lingkungan pada masyarakat agar mereka peduli dan berperan dalam melestarikan kawasan konservasi Alas Purwo.

Challenges and opportunities of area-based conservation in reaching biodiversity and sustainability goals

Area-based conservation is essential to safeguard nature’s diversity. In view of expanding human land use, increasing climate change and unmet conservation targets, area-based conservation requires efficiency and effectiveness more than ever. In this review, I identify and relate pressing challenges to promising opportunities for effective and efficient protected area governance and management, to enhance research, decision-making and capacity building in area-based conservation under uncertain future developments. I reveal that protected area management is particularly challenged by human land use, climate change, invasive species, and social, political and economic limitations. Protected area management often lacks the continuous availability of data on current states and trends of nature and threats. Biocultural conservation, climate-smart management and biosecurity approaches help to overcome challenges induced by human needs, climate change and invasive species, respectively. Economic valuation and shifts in funding priorities can boost protected area effectiveness and efficiency. In-situ monitoring techniques, remote sensing and open data infrastructures can fill data and information gaps for protected area planning and management. Moreover, adaptive management is an auspicious concept in the framework of systematic conservation planning to ensure the enduring effectiveness of protected areas despite unpredictable future developments. Post-2020 international biodiversity and sustainable development goals could be met earlier if protected areas were more effective. I consequently conclude with the need for a global information system that is to support area-based conservation by synthesizing challenges and opportunities for protected area management effectiveness and efficiency at the local to global level.

Coastal Area Management through the Eco blue Sea concept in the settlement of tribe Bajo, Torokeku Village

Coastal management is an important issue for most regions of the world. This is because the initial activities in the fisheries and marine sector began in this area, ranging from capture fisheries, aquaculture, processing of fishery products to marketing. But in reality the management of coastal areas is not optimal and evenly distributed, even though fishery and marine resources have high economic and ecological value, as happened in the coastal area of Torokeku Village. This study aims to determine the appropriate community development approach strategy through the eco blue sea concept in order to maintain fisheries and marine resources found in the coastal area of the Bajo tribal community in Torokeku Village, South Konawe Regency. The research was conducted using descriptive qualitative analysis method. Collecting data through direct survey techniques in the field. The results obtained show that community-based coastal area management by seeking the development of coastal communities can be carried out through structural and non-structural approaches, so that in order to maintain these resources, their management must be carried out in a planned and integrated manner and able to provide the greatest benefit to all stakeholders, especially coastal communities, and minimize impacts and conflicts that may potentially occur.

Spatio-temporal analysis of the ‘last vestiges’ of endogenous cultural institutions: implications for Cameroon’s protected areas

The theoretical link between endogenous cultural institutions (ECIs) and the regulation of natural resource access and use in sub-Saharan Africa is re-gaining its position in theory and practice. This is partly explained by growing resource use inefficiency, linked to predominantly exogenous, centralized institutions. The current situation has rekindled interest to understand what is left of ECIs that can support natural resource use and management in several natural resource contexts, including protected areas. To provide answers to these questions, in-depth studies with a geographic orientation are required. Put succinctly, a spaio-temporal evidence base of ECIs around protected areas is relevant in today’s dispensation. Such evidence is required for rich natural resource and culturally diverse settings such as Cameroon—having over 250 ethnic groups. This paper explores space time dynamics of ECIs around two of Cameroon’s protected areas—Santchou and Bakossi landscapes. Specifically we: (i) identified and categorized ECIs linked to protected area management, (ii) analyzed their spatio-temporal dynamics and discuss their implications for protected area management. The study is informed by key informant interviews (N = 22) and focus group discussions (N = 6). Using descriptive statistics, the key resources around these protected areas were categorized. Furthermore, narratives and thematic analysis constituted the key element of qualitative analysis. In addition, an analysis of the spatial distribution of ECIs was conducted. Based on our analysis, we derived the following conclusions: (1) Institutions that assume an endogenous cultural nature in some communities potentially exhibit an exogenous origin with a perennial nature; while some ECIs may assume ephemeral to intermittent nature, despite being culturally embedded in communities. (2) While present day ECIs regulate the use of natural resources around protected areas, they were not initially set up for this purpose. (3) Even within the same ethnic group, ECIs exhibit spatio-temporal variations. The results suggest the need for Cameroon’s on-going revision of the legal framework to emphasize context-specific elements of ECI which could leverage protected area management.