The CCRN announces release of updated Governance Guidebook

29 Aug The CCRN announces release of updated Governance Guidebook

The Community Conservation Research Network (CCRN) announces the release of the Governance and Community Conservation Guidebook. This guidebook, created by the CCRN Environmental Change and Governance working group, has been updated, with input from researchers across our global network, to provide the most up-to-date information on what governance means, what challenges it faces, and how we can support more effective governance arrangements in the CCRN context and beyond.

The purpose of this guidebook is to provide information on key ‘ingredients’ of governance arrangements that seem to work to promote conservation objectives while achieving a fundamental balance between food and livelihood needs and ecosystems. These key questions, and many other related questions, are considered:

1. How does one recognize and support effective and equitable local conservation initiatives/practices?
2. To what extent are the interests of local resource users in conservation practices matched by meaningful involvement in decision‐making processes?
3. How can governance arrangements deal with the reality that household and community livelihoods are often based on portfolios of multiple resources, while individual resources are managed in silos constrained by institutional structures?
4. To what extent are the governance processes emerging in complex conservation situations adaptive to social‐ecological change and uncertainty?

This guidebook outlines select definitions of governance and highlights important linkages between governance, communities, and community conservation. Ultimately, a synthesis of CCRN research will help us to examine: 1) the extent to which interests of local resource users in conservation practices are matched by meaningful involvement in decision processes at multiple levels and, 2) the extent to which governance processes emerging in complex conservation situations are able to adapt to social‐ecological change and to deal with a range of uncertainties. To find out more information on governance and the role governance arrangements serve within a community, view the complete “Governance and Community Conservation Guidebook.”