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Abstract:
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"While power is a central concern in the emerging theory of co-management, there has been little attempt to 'unpack' what it means, or to identify the various types and sources of power at play. Co-management practitioners have referred to the concept of power in at least three ways: (i) Defining co-management. Co-management has been defined as 'the sharing of power and responsibility between the government and local resource users,' or, as signifying [a] political claim [by the local people] to the right to share management power and responsibility with the state; (ii) Describing or analyzing the effectiveness of co-management arrangements by adapting Arnstein's 'Ladder of Citizen Participation;' and (iii) Questioning the interest and motivations of the state in devolving 'real power' through the decentralization of natural resources management, as was done in the Ribot and Agrawal panel at IASCP 1998, and in the field of political ecology in general.
"Rocha's recent critique of Arnstein and development of a 'Ladder of Empowerment' provides the opportunity to revisit and elaborate on the work of co-management theorists to date, and to engage in a critical reflection on power and empowerment in co-management. What does power mean in the context of co-management? What types of power are involved, and what are their sources? How do these influence and affect the process and outcomes of co-management? This type of analysis can help build and strengthen the emerging field of co-management theory; it can also provide a useful angle for the inquiry into when co-management is feasible, and what conditions are required for success. This paper examines the case of Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, in order to develop a preliminary typology of power at play in co-management. Power is analyzed in relation to exogenous or non-local forces or variables; local-level or internal community dynamics; and work dynamics and relations between government officials and community members. The insights are based on six-and-a-half months of fieldwork. By spacing our visits to the community over a period of one-and-a-half years and through ongoing follow-up and involvement with the community since then, we have been able to follow the process closely, and gain insights into co-management.
"The Cahuita case pushes the boundaries of the conventional view of co-management as a devolution of power, and encourages the question of whether co-management can be a vehicle for socio-political empowerment. When the marine-terrestrial national park was established in 1978, the inhabitants (largely Afro-Caribbean) were forced to leave their farms without receiving compensation for their lands, and many turned to tourism as a livelihood. This new livelihood was threatened in 1994, when the Government of Costa Rica increased national park entrance fees to a level which locals feared would mean the end of tourism. In response, the locals staged a peaceful takeover of the park, and subsequently entered into negotiations with the Government. The result was that in 1997, the first co-management arrangement in a national park was established in Costa Rica. While the arrangement was informal at first and covered only a beach front area of 2 km, it received official sanction in 1998, when the mandate of the management committee was expanded to decision-making over the entire Park. This case is gaining increasing attention from national and regional policy-makers."
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