Exploring New Approaches to Community Governance: Understanding Community Dynamics

Abstract

"David Brunckhorst states that 'many property concepts, applications and policies can play a significant role in community governance protecting or regulating resource access and use.' I tend to agree with him, basing my views on my experiences through research in community governance of resources. One of the fundamental elements of governance is the capacity of communities to participate and contribute to decision-making on access to and use of natural resources. Of importance in this regard is the provision of incentives to communities by creating policies that guarantee property rights of the same resources to the concerned users. For example the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe confers proprietorship of resources to communities within the peripheries of national parks and living with wildlife. The idea behind this concept is to enhance accountability on the users and therefore sustainability of the resources."