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Abstract:
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"The present article is based on a case study of participatory forest management in a setting where decentralization is planned but not yet operative. It is intended as a methodological critique of the theories and practices of decentralization as applied to environmental management, beginning with an analysis of field research results and proposing a new conceptual approach to the issue of environmental management. The central theme of this study builds around the principle of participation that has become the cornerstone of environmental management the world over. Born of a number of preceding theories (populism, the theory of public and economic choice, the democratic theory, etc.), participation of local populations in the management of local resources is viewed as a prerequisite for good management. For some theoreticians (Ostrom, 1990; Ribot 2001), local populations can be good managers. But under what conditions? According to Agrawal and Ribot (1999), when local managers are endowed with real decision-making power and are representative of and accountable to the population, they can manage effectively. In other words, democratic decentralization is and indispensable condition for good participation because, as an institutionalized form of the participatory approach, it reinforces the participation of local populations in the decision-making process by increasing decision-making process by increasing decision-makers accountability and representativity. Thus Agrawal and Ribot (1999) characterize democratic decentralization in terms of three variables: actors, powers, and accountability. In a scenario that combines these three variables, democratic participation can occur if the central power affects a real transfer of control to local institutions and increases their local accountability. Within this set of changes, relationships must be established between local institutions and local populations that are grounded in representation and accountability. Changes thus effected in the realm of participatory action will have an impact at the societal level, on environmental practices, and on general equity.
"Participatory management of the Baye forest was initiated by the British NGO in 1992, SOS Sahel, to promote traditional management by the community. In fact, however, forest management in Baye has been and remains subject to several institutional systems that bring into play several categories of actors possessing different levels of prerogative. Our inquiry concerned these different actors, the source and nature of the powers associated with each of them, the factors that determined the referral of authority, and the legal principles regulating the exercise of that authority, as well as the effects of its exercise at the societal and environmental levels. The results presented in this study are based on this three-pronged analysis schema of actors, authority and responsibility, representing a major innovation in environmental studies undertaken in the new context of decentralization."
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