Essay On Co-Management

STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP

CO-MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND VALUE CREATION: AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF FOUR SELECTED RESOURCE COMMUNITIES IN GHANA

A PHD PROPOSAL

SUBMITTED BY

EMMANUEL YEBOAH-ASSIAMAH
(TRANSDISCIPLINARY PHD IN SUSTAINABILITY)

1.0 Introduction
Africa, and in particular West Africa sub-region has much reverence for their cultural and historical norms which are always in the form of narratives and conventions; most of these informal institutions have wider implications for environmental resources conservation and management. In Ghana, there are various communities with environmental resources, such as water and aquatic lives, forest grooves and wildlife in them; land management

They provide a thorough review of the concept; that co-management should not be viewed as a two-way process, just between the state and community, this will appear that the community is just a homogenous entity, however, actors within the community are so heterogeneous and diverse. The authors again bring out that, essentially, collaborative governance would involve power sharing but should be viewed as the end result of a collaborative problem-solving process rather than the starting point of a co-management decision-making process. The argument is that co-management and collaboratives are new environmental models devised to address sustainability and ecological challenges by carrying out a stakeholder analysis to involve various communities of interest; therefore, powers and responsibilities are definitely shared after the collaboration so as to function effectively. The process should be viewed as a continuum and learning process, always adapting and adjusting the collaboration or power relationship with time and contextual

Ghana, in recent times, has witnessed most of its environmental resources depleted and destroyed as a result of mining, encroachment, logging and climate change. This study seeks to provide an appropriate framework that holistically embraces elements from the formal and informal institutions as well proffering realistic enforcement mechanisms that would help shape management and conservation of environmental natural resources. Recommendations that will come out of the study would serve as policy relevant information which will help national and local government decision makers. It will also assist international development partners in their design of appropriate conservation practices for developing African