Nyominka fishermen in the Bijagos Archipelago.	Work Package 3 Analysis of methods of regulation of access to resources and protected areas.	-- Home page Back

The methods of regulation of access to sustainable resources and to protected areas are a component of the heritage management of resources. Their recognition by the residents and peripheral inhabitants is particularly important for the governance of protected areas. The multi-functional nature of these areas is recognised when all the ways in which they are used (fishing, agriculture, livestock rearing, pasture, forestry, hunting, etc..) are taken into account. The regulation of these activities is studied at a local level, (local decisional bodies, village communities, and the grass roots economic units). In so doing, this module utilises the expertise of geographers, legal experts, anthropologists, sociologists and economists. The strategies of the local agents when dealing with the institutional authorities are brought out by the examination of the mechanics of local decision-making which have a direct or indirect effect on the use of natural sustainable resources and the environment. The accent is on the margin of manoeuvre granted to local agents which will govern their capacities as local users The identification of the system of rights takes into account the multiplicity of existing rights and is based on the identification of sources and norms, hence the integration of traditional laws, those derived from local practices, judicial interpretations as legal rights, and legislative and regulatory law. The logic of the territorialisation of places that are situated within protected areas brings to the fore the dynanics of landownership in relation to the political set-up currently in force, and which has been affected by decentralisation or the concentration of power.

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