Meeting of a part of CONSDEV team with a chief of nyominka settlement in the Island of Formosa (Bijagos Archipelago)
Results of Work Plan 5
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Meeting of a part of CONSDEV team with a chief of nyominka settlement in the Island of Formosa (Bijagos Archipelago) |
Analysis of the governance of coastal and marine protected Areas. Results of Work Plan 5 |
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The necessity of an adequate framework for analysis The concept of deliberative governance, which is imperative in international agreements, does not necessarily correspond to the various social and institutional situations found in the marine protected areas. In fact, as the concept is very general, it gives rise to a different interpretation, either authoritarian one, by States, in order to preserve the political and economic control of the exploitation of natural resources, or "autochthonist", by local communities, with the objective of extending their territorial control at the expense of other groups. This situation tends to create permanent tension between the vertical and horizontal methods of coordination. The elaboration of the appropriate methods of governance for marine protected areas thus necessitated the setting up of an adequate analysis framework. To do this, the established concepts of the governance of activities with risks, which bring out two paradigms of governance, the paradigm of authority and the one of mutual confidence, were used first. The application of these established concepts to environmental governance emphasized the necessary complementary nature of these two paradigms. This application then led to the definition of a method of governance appropriate for marine protected areas in terms of political economy and political science, where the coordination among the main organized forces in society, the state, and state branches constituted in itself the area of investigation. It was thus able to define the governance of coastal and marine protected areas as a process of decision and management which links together several levels of government in a broad sense (the notion of government includes the actions of the distribution of authority and theses of the definition of the methods of decision for attaining an objective decided collectively). This integration of different levels responds to the requirements of coordination of all actors (public, private, or community ones). In order to respond to the problem of reconciling the diverging interests on multiple territories, the complexity of the mechanisms of coordination among the different levels and organizations has to be taken into account. These mechanisms must be guided by procedural rationality, in order to, first, ensure the legitimacy of the defined regulations and the compliance of stakeholders with them and, next, to adapt to environmental changes. The definition of the methods of governance and the lessons we learnt from it The adopted analysis framework made possible to define the different methods of governance and thus to perceive the local translations of governance formulated by international agreements. A hierarchical model with a predominance of the paradigm of authority characterizes the governance of the Parc National du Banc d'Arguin (PNBA), as the State is placed at the center of decisions, and acts in collusion with the tribal hierarchies, which tends to reduce or exclude the depending populations from the management, even if they take part in the deliberations which remain quite theoretical. A model of community concession with a predominance of paradigm of mutual confidence characterizes the Bolama-Bijagos Archipelago Biosphere Reserve, as there are principally RBABB indigenous social institutions functioning on the principle of seniority (council of elders and age groups) who are responsible for the management of renewable natural resources terrestrial and coastal but not marine). In addition, this traditional regulation is encouraged by the legal framework, insofar as a land law recognizes and confirms all of the traditional rights. These are rival legitimate interests, which reveal the difficulty to hang together the paradigms of authority and of mutual confidence, that characterize the governance of the Saloum Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDS). In fact, the numerous bodies producing standards and regulations tend to annihilate any power of regulation of the access to renewable natural resources. This comparative approach has led to the analysis of a broad range of problems based on the three areas which differ concerning the importance of the population, the social context, and their institutional environment. The comparison of these three areas has been very fertile, concerning the identification of the general problems of governance found in the West African marine protected areas and the lessons to be learned from these results. These problems are essentially due to the absence of affirmed leadership in management, to the weak coordination among the levels of decision, and more generally, among the institutions (traditional, state, NGO, etc.) that ensure the regulation of access to renewable natural resources or that implement public policy. This all results in either weak legitimacy of the regulations in force (RBDS), or their use by traditional hierarchies for their own ends (PNBA), or in a local application of these rules (RBABB). The problems of governance refer to the environment of public policies, the analysis of which highlights some dead-ends: the enormous role of international pressure groups, the too sectorial and technical aspect of the fisheries management measures, the incomplete decentralization, and the fragmentation of the State and civil society. In the face of these dead-ends, the connection of the levels of power and decision as well as the re-qualification of the role of the State as mediator and guarantor are necessary. Proposition of directives for governance Four directives are proposed: a better targeting of objectives, the legal organization of the rights of access and the delegation of powers, specific financing for governance measures, and a precise evaluation of costs and profits. With reference to the principles of legitimacy and management, a better targeting of the objectives for marine protected areas is necessary, namely by means of setting up specific and negotiated standards. For deliberative governance, it is particularly important to pay a maximum of attention to the balance of power in the process of negotiations among the stake holders, in order to attain lasting arbitration. Concerning the principle of impartiality, the legal organization of the rights of access and the delegation of powers requires a listing of the rights of access, the recognition of the rights of use based on a negotiated process, and the putting into practice of the transmission of institutional and financial powers by the State, to decentralized services as well as to local communities. Further concerning the principle of impartiality, the specific financing of the governance measures of marine protected areas should be planned. In fact, the consultations for setting up standards by means of procedure decision mechanisms have a cost factor which should be included in the budget in advance in the functioning of marine protected areas. The financing of management should also include economic compensation to respond to the restrictions defined in the framework of these areas. Concerning the principles of performance and responsibility, a precise economic evaluation of the costs (direct and opportunity) related to the standards of preservation in a marine protected area as well as of the sustainable profits obtained is imperative, as it enables the guiding of the mechanisms of compensation that are essential to the initiatives of the regulation of exploitation and the development of the renewable resources. |
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