WRI Publication: Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources - Institutionalizing Popular Participation

WRI Publication "Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources -Institutionalizing Popular Participation" written by Jesse Ribot. In order to increase environmental management efficiency and improve equity and justice for local people, many environmentalists have advocated participatory and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Democratic decentralization is a promising means of institutionalizing and scaling up the popular participation that makes CBNRM effective. However, most current “decentralization” reforms are characterized by insufficient transfer of powers to local institutions, under tight central-government oversight. Often, these local institutions do not represent and are not accountable to local communities. Nonetheless, some lessons and recommendations can be derived from the limited decentralization experiments that have taken place in various locations. This publication provides valuable insights into the process and issues surrounding the transformation from CBNMR to democratic decentralization. Original file posted on the World Resources Institute's website at {http://pdf.wri.org/ddnr_full_revised.pdf}