Co-Management: A Framework for the Participation of Communities, Indigenous Cultural Minorities, and Women in Asian Development Bank-Assisted Forestry and Fisheries Projects in Asia

Abstract

"Stakeholder participation has emerged as a key to equitable, and sustainable development in developing countries. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is increasingly adopting participatory approaches in the design of its projects in natural resources management. This paper will examine the new objectives and strategies adopted in ADB assisted forestry and fisheries operations in the Asia Pacific region, with case studies from Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Bangladesh....

"Case studies will be made of two forestry projects from Vietnam and Bangladesh, and two fisheries projects from Philippines and Indonesia. The Bangladesh forestry case study will analyze the issues of the rights, priorities of indigenous cultural minorities with regard to the management of forest resources, and ways in which the preparation, design, and components of the Project address these. It will also address the issues of participation of landless communities, poor women in forestry programs, and frameworks for their sustained participation, and benefit sharing arrangements. The Vietnam case will look at the issues of ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, and project strategies to address their specific socioeconomic interests. Participation of cultural minorities in land use planning and land allocation, community based planning and implementation, participatory monitoring and evaluation, are some of the strategies used in the project to develop joint management of the project.

"The fisheries examples will illustrate the participation of poor coastal fisher folk in designing systems of community based resource management (CRM). Gender analysis has been used to develop frameworks for women's full participation in the projects' design and implementation.

"Conclusions will be drawn on the basis of the case studies, with regard to issues and priorities for local communities, user groups, indigenous cultural minorities, poor women in the forestry and fishery sectors, and strategies adopted by the projects, to facilitate co-management, and initiate the process of sharing control over resource management between projects implementing agencies, and community stakeholders."