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R. Pomeroy.

4.1. Stakeholders

Stakeholders in community-based co-management can be defined as individuals, groups or organizations of people who are interested, involved or affected (positively or negatively) by marine and coastal resources use and management. This may originate from geographical proximity, historical association, dependence for livelihood, institutional mandate, economic interest, or a variety of other concerns. Stakeholders in coastal communities include fishers, their families and households, boat owners, fish traders, community-based groups, seasonal or part-time fishers, local business owners, local traditional authorities, elected government officials, representatives of government agencies, non-governmental organizations and others. There may be different stakeholders depending on their interests, their ways of perceiving problems and opportunities concerning marine and coastal resources, and different perceptions about and needs for management. Not all stakeholders have the same stake or level of interest in marine and coastal resources and thus may be less or more active and have different entitlements to a role in the co-management programme (see Chapter 6, Section 6.2.10 for more discussion on stakeholders).

Different types of stakeholders may be distinguished using some considerations and criteria, which include:

• Existing rights to marine and coastal resources;

• Continuity of relationship to resource (resident fisher versus migratory fisher);

• Unique knowledge and skills for the management of the resources at stake;

• Losses and damage incurred in the management process;

• Historical and cultural relations to the resources;

• Degree of economic and social reliance on the resources;

• Degree of effort and interest in management;

• Equity in the access to the resources and the distribution of benefits from their use;

• Compatibility of the interests and activities of the stakeholders;

• Present or potential impact of the activities of the stakeholders on the resource base (Borrini-Feyerabend, 1997).

Those who score high on several of these considerations and criteria may be considered 'primary' stakeholders and would assume a more active role in co-management, such as being on the management body. Secondary stakeholders may score on only one or two and be involved in a less important way, such as involvement on a consultative body (Borrini-Feyerabend, 1997).

Coastal communities are not all the same and are composed of people with different economic and social status, clans and family groups, language, ethnicity, customs and interests, which can create complexity for management. Even fishers from the same community and using the same fishing gear may have different interests. Coastal communities generally include a variety of stakeholders with divergent interests and views about co-management depending upon their involvement with the resources. These differences need to be recognized, understood and respected if co-management is to be promoted and involve the whole community.

4.2. Stakeholders in Community-based Co-management

For the purposes of this handbook, four key stakeholders or partners in community-based co-management are identified:

1. Resource users (fishers, family/household, community-based fisher group);

2. Government (national, regional, local);

3. Other stakeholders (community members, boat owners, fish traders, boat builders, business people, community-based groups, etc.);

4. Change agents (NGOs, academic and research institutions, development agencies, etc.).

This section of the handbook is written to discuss the role and responsibility of each of these four partners in the community-based co-management programme, and the relationship of the partners to each other.

4.2.1. Resource users

The local community is made up of individuals with differing interests in marine and coastal resource co-management. At the community-level, co-management projects usually have as their primary target fishers, that is, individuals who make their livelihood harvesting and using marine and coastal resources. The fishers are the individuals who, through their use of the resource, directly impact upon it and who are in turn directly impacted by management measures. Fishers are considered by many to be the real day-to-day managers of the resource, and as such, should be active participants in management. Fishers are usually the target of organizing and capacity-building activities.

Fishers' family and household are also stakeholders in co-management. Both the family and the household unit are identified, as, depending upon the culture, a household may include more than one family unit and several generations. In most fishing families, the fisher is usually a male. However, there are cases when decisions are made by both the husband and wife, and the spouse can be influential. Fisheries management programmes often leave out women, as the focus of the programme is the male fisher. Since women are involved in decision-making, and since women and children may be involved in aspects of production and marketing of the resource, it is clear that they are stakeholders, and should be partners, in co-management. Participation efforts, capacity-building efforts, and livelihood activities of the co-management programme, among others, should target women and, where appropriate, children.

Community-based fisher groups are formal and informal groups of local fishers established to support the social, cultural, economic and environmental interests of its members or of the community as a whole. These groups play an important role of bringing together fishers with similar interests concerning the resource and livelihood.

The main assets of community-based fisher groups are:

• Local knowledge, skills and resources;

• Built-in flexibility;

• Strong ties to the resource users, their families and the community;

• Direct responsiveness to local interests and conditions;

• Sociocultural cohesiveness;

• Capacity to serve the interests of its members;

• Confidence and trust of the local people (Borrini-Feyerabend, 1997).

Examples of community-based resource user groups are the people's organizations (POs) in the Philippines, the community fisheries (CF) organizations in Cambodia, and the mass organizations in Vietnam such as farmers/fishers union, women's union and youth union. In some cases, separate women's organizations are formed at the community level in the Philippines.

In general, the role of the community-based fisher groups in community-based co-management includes:

• Identification of issues and concerns of the community;

• Mobilization and leadership of co-management activities;

• Participation in research, data gathering and analysis;

• Participation in the planning, design and implementation of co-management activities;

• Community-based enforcement and self-regulation;

• Monitoring and evaluation;

• Advocacy to lobby for changes in or development of policy;

• Establish a people's movement for participation and change.

4.2.2. Government

Both the national and local government units (i.e. province/state, city, town, municipality, district, village) have jurisdiction over fisheries and coastal resources. Each government level has different mandates, authority and responsibility.

Increasingly, government policies and programmes stress the need for greater fisher participation and the development of local organizations to handle some aspect of resource management. Government must, however, not just call for more fisher involvement and participation, but also establish commensurate legal rights and authorities and devolve some of their powers. The delegation of authority and power sharing to manage the resource may be one of the most difficult tasks in establishing co-management. Government must not only foster conditions for resource user participation but sustain it.

As a first step, the national government must establish conditions for (or at least not impede) the co-management programme to originate and prosper. At a minimum, government must not challenge fishers' rights to hold meetings to discuss problems and solutions and to develop organizations and institutional arrangements (rights and rules) for management. Fishers must feel safe to openly hold meetings at their initiative and discuss problems and solutions in public fora. They must not feel threatened if they criticize existing government policies and management methods.

As a second step, fishers must be given access to government and government officials to express their concerns and ideas. Fishers should feel that government officials will listen and take action as necessary. As a third step, fishers should be given the right to develop their own organizations and to form networks and coalitions for cooperation and coordination. Too often there has been the formation of government-sponsored organizations which are officially recognized but ineffective since they do not represent the fishers. However, these may be the only type of organization a government may allow. Fishers must be free to develop organizations on their own initiative that meet their needs and that are legitimate to them. The issue is government's willingness to share authority and responsibility with the fisher organization and what function and form this will take.

One fundamental debate in co-management is the perception that fishers cannot always be entrusted to manage resources on their own. Unless government and officials who implement government policies can be convinced of the desire and the ability of fishers to manage themselves, not much progress can be made in co-management. The acknowledgement and acceptance of local-level management is partly the task of fishers to take on the new responsibilities, to organize themselves and, on the ability of the local community, to control the resources in question. On the other hand, communities and change agents often point out that government resource managers are reluctant to share authority. In this case, peers who have already 'bought into' co-management and/or a targeted education programme can be used to inform and, hopefully, persuade the resource managers to support co-management. While there are cases that show how politicians could use co-management to pursue their own personal goals and hang on to political power, it would be a mistake to interpret this for all government resource managers and officials. The success of co-management is fundamentally based on the trust extended among the partners and the commitment to collectively work towards a common vision.

A question for government is what management functions are best handled by the community, as opposed to the national or local government. Seven management functions have been identified that may be enhanced by the joint action of users and government resource managers at the local level: (i) data gathering; (ii) logistical decisions such as who can harvest and when; (iii) allocation decisions; (iv) protection of resources from environmental damage; (v) enforcement of regulations; (vi) enhancement of long-term planning; and (vii) more inclusive decision-making. No single formula exists to implement a co-management agreement to cover these functions. The answer depends on country-specific and site-specific conditions, and is ultimately a political decision.

The roles of the national government and national agencies in community-based co-management include:

• Provide enabling legislation to authorize and legitimize the right to organize and to make and enforce co-management;

• Determination of form and process and provision of decentralization;

• Recognition of legitimacy of community-based informal management systems;

• Address problems and issues beyond the scope of local co-management arrangements;

• Provide technical assistance;

• Provide financial assistance;

• Ensure accountability of co-management through overseeing local arrangements and dealing with abuses of local authority;

• Conflict management;

• Appeal mechanism;

• Backstopping local monitoring and enforcement mechanisms;

• Applying regulatory standards;

• Research;

• Training and education;

• Coordination role to maintain a forum for local co-management partners to interact;

• Gatekeeper in case the local co-management partners do not act upon their responsibility;

• Determination of allocation of management functions.

The main role of the local government unit is to support community-based co-management initiatives within its jurisdiction (Box 4.1). In many countries, local government units have a good deal of authority and responsibility to manage fisheries and coastal resources within their jurisdiction. This authority and responsibility may be historical or it may have been recently decentralized from the central government. There must be political willingness among the local political 'power elite' to support co-management. In addition, local government staff and officials must also endorse and actively support the co-management programme.

The roles the local government unit plays include:

• Supporting community involvement in community-based co-management;

• Approving local regulations and ordinances;

• Enforcement of regulations;

• Appeal mechanism;

• Providing technical assistance and staff;

• Providing financial assistance;

• Backstopping community-led functions, activities and mechanisms;

• Provide and/or support conflict management mechanisms;

• Ensure legitimacy and accountability of co-management;

• Engage in multisectoral and inter-local government unit collaboration;

• Facilitate and coordinate co-management planning and implementation;

• Provide a supporting environment for partner dialogue;

• Institutionalize co-management for fisheries and coastal resources in local waters (DENR et al., 2001a).

4.2.3. Other stakeholders

A number of other members of the local community are directly and indirectly stakeholders in community-based co-management. These stakeholders will have varying interests in engaging in co-management, depending in part on their economic interests in the fishers and the resource. For example, a fish trader who is involved in a credit/marketing relationship with a fisher may not be supportive of the fishers organizing to be involved in co-management because it may be a potential threat to their relationship. It will be important to engage the fish trader in the co-management process through, at a minimum, education and discussion to understand the process, if not as an active partner. The role of each of these stakeholders in community-based co-management will be different and site-specific.

The stakeholders include:

• Business people: Local businesses such as boat owners, fish traders, fish processors, boat builders, hotel owners, recreational fishing guides, aquaculturists and shipping companies all use marine and coastal resources and have a strong economic stake in resource management issues. While they may not have to be direct participants, at a minimum they need to be consulted and educated so that they do not disrupt the co-management process. Local business people can provide an incentive and funding to resource users to manage resources.

• Community-based groups: Formal and informal groups of local community members established to support the social, cultural, gender, economic and environmental interests of its members or of the community as a whole. There can be a variety of community-based groups such as a women's group, religious organization, civic organization and service organization. There can also be community-based groups, other than community-based fisher groups, with a direct interest in the fishery and coastal resources, such as women's fish marketing association or coastal aquaculture organization. These community-based groups play an important role of bringing together individuals and groups with similar interests. These groups have local knowledge, skills and resources; strong ties to the community and the confidence and trust of the local people.

• Part-time and seasonal resource users: In many areas, there are a number of part-time or seasonal resource users who depend on the resource for a part of their livelihood, income and food. These may be upland farmers who come to the coast to fish during the dry season or migratory fishers chasing small pelagics. While not a part of the resident community, they are a part of the community of resource users. Certain management measures can impact their livelihood, income and food security.

• Resource management organizations: In some countries, the law encourages the formation of collaborative resource management councils that have government and community representatives. These boards and councils provide technical expertise and serve in an advisory capacity to the government. These organizations can be important partners in co-management.

The roles of these other stakeholders include:

• Identification of issues and concerns of the community;

• Participation in planning and implementation;

• Providing incentives for certain behaviour;

• Dissemination of information;

• Fostering participation;

• Conflict management;

• Facilitation.

4.2.4. Change agents

Change agents include non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, development agencies and similar organizations who act in a catalytic and facilitation role for community-based co-management. The change agent is considered to be a catalyst of change and to act as an intermediary between communities and external institutions, such as government, the general public and businesses. Change agents are meant to 'spark' endogenous change 'from within', not to carry out the change programme; this is the responsibility of the organized community (Rivera, 1997). The facilitation role is to empower and enhance the capabilities of the community to manage their lives and resources. Through the process of building community self-reliance, the change agent creates an impetus for community-based co-management.

Most change agents have a conservation and/or social development focus. They may be registered with the government and be officially recognized as a legal entity. The change agent should maintain relative objectivity and provide technical and analytical skills. The change agent provides a variety of services such as information and independent advice, ideas and expertise, education and training, community organizing, social development, research, advocacy, and finance and resource mobilization. Many change agents have staff, such as community organizers, who live and work in the community. A community presence can increase the level of trust between communities and the change agent and increase total participation.

In the beginning, the change agent may play a more dominant role with the community, but this should gradually diminish as the co-management programme progresses. It is important to note that change agents should realize that it is the people themselves who should be the driving force behind the co-management process; that genuine participation and change have to start with the people (Rivera, 1997). Problems can arise when people become too dependent upon the change agent or when the change agent directly interferes in the process, rather than guiding it or serving as a catalyst. Problems can also occur when the change agent's ideological views on development are not acceptable to the community or government. The role of the change agent in community-based co-management will differ by country, where, for example, an NGO is not allowed by the government to operate.

Change agents may choose to establish alliance with other change agents who have complementary skills, allowing them to implement more complex projects than they could by working alone. Alliances or networking increase the ability of change agents to learn from each other. It also allows the change agents to engage in advocacy to influence public policy.

Development agencies, as change agents, can provide funding and technical guidance for community-based co-management.

Document(s) 7 de 18