Communities and Resource Management: A Critique

Abstract

From Introduction:

"The basic elements of earlier policy and scholarly writings about local communities and their residents are familiar. 'People' were an obstacle to efficient and 'rational' organization of resource use. A convincing logic undergirded the belief that the goals of conservation and the interests of local communities were in opposition. Conservation required protection of threatened resources: wildlife, forests, pastures, fisheries, and irrigation or drinking water. Many of these resources, especially at the local level, could be easily exploited because they were open to all. The interests of local communities who relied on available natural resources for fodder, fuelwood, water or food, lay in exploiting these. This schematic representation, popularised in no small measure by Garrett Hardin's pernicious influence and bolstered by several theoretical metaphors that served to guide policy, provided a convincing explanation of how resource degradation and depletion took place."