Community-Based Natural Resource Managment. Readings and Resources for Researchers. Volume 2

The purpose of this resource book is to provide the reader with an introduction to the concept of community based natural resource management (CBNRM hereafter) and a list of references and resources to promote further research and reading on the subject.

The term CBNRM is offered here as an umbrella term under which we have placed the related terms in the natural resource management literature: "co-management", "collaborative management" and "community management". While these terms do represent different ideas and approaches to natural resource management, they all tend to emphasize a strong role for communities in the control and management of productive natural resources. This emphasis on the "community" has gained widespread attention in recent years primarily in response to the poor track record of top-down, centralized, bureaucratic management and regulation of natural resources by states and governments. Representative and accountable community-based institutions (not necessarily the norm) are seen to be potentially more dynamicand responsive to rapidly changing local realities. The CBNRM approach is also recognized as a more effective way to maintain, adapt and build upon key elements of traditional resource management systems that have evolved under unique ecological circumstances and with distinctive forms of social organization. These, it is felt, can provide useful information upon which to develop and adapt sustainable resource management systems for the future.