Mafaniso Hara

Frank Matose

In southern Africa, the governance of commons has received a good deal of attention from both researchers and responsible government agencies, for the twin goals of biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. Resource management in this region is almost always in the hands of the government, with various degrees of cooperation with user-communities, and/or traditional decision making authority. Extensive research shows that the degree of cooperation is itself a critical variable in the effectiveness of commons management. 

The objective of this Specific Support Action (SSA) is to share existing research and experiences in the governance of large-scale natural resource commons across different ecosystem types Southern Africa: including marine and other large water body coastal zones; arid and semi-arid grasslands; savannas and forest patches; and floodplain ecosystems. The project will build on existing research on commons governance done by institutions and researchers who have been working on these different commons and particular resource management problems. It takes the starting point the insight that addressing natural resource degradation in Africa means finding ways to identify, reproduce and encourage existing positive practices of commons management across wide scales. The dual challenge of governance is to meet large scale problems with large scale solutions that are rooted in local practices and to use the ecosystem approach to integrate the management of different types of commons, each of which may play a role in the household survival strategies of vulnerable populations. Experience with governance in one type of commons generates lessons of value to the governance of other types of commons and for integrated governance.

The project is funded by the European Union and is inspired by the European Union INCO 2005 section A2 (Rational Use of Natural Resources) work programme, which calls for research on the sustainable management of three kinds of vulnerable eco-systems taking an ecosystem approach. The work programme defines ecosystem approach, following the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)) as:

a strategy for the management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way and that puts people and their natural resource use practices at the centre of decision making.

This is a definition that places the question of governance in the centre of the problem. Therefore the project team has sought to design a Specific Support Action that finds ways to share these lessons among researchers who have been working in their own resource sector. The present SSA addresses all three of the types of ecosystems called for in the work programme through the single cross-cutting theme of commons governance. The SSA will support the preparation of presentations of reports of recent research and programmatic experiences in cooperative management efforts from cases in four countries: Botswana (Okavango Delta), Malawi (Lake Chilwa), South Africa (SA Coastal, SA grassland) and Zambia (Lake Mweru and Kafue Flats). 

This is a two-year project, structured into three phases. The first two phases will make up the actual work programme, each having a theme: Theme one is titled, “Knowledge, Power, Economic Change and Common Practices” while theme two is titled, “Building on Existing Practices to Achieve Effective Governance Across Extensive Scales”.

• The first phase will develop a series of 10 (or more) papers, one for each of the cases related to Theme one: Knowledge, Power, Economic Change and Common Practices.
• The second phase will develop 10 (or more) papers, one for each of the cases related to Theme Two: Building on Existing Practices to Achieve Effective Governance Across Extensive Scales.
• The third phase will disseminate, through targeted campaigns, the results of the project to a broad audience of international researcher and activists, local policy makers, and local community members.

• The Institute for Fisheries Management and Coastal Community Development at Aarborg University (researchers: Dr. Doug Wilson, Prof. Jesper Raakjaer and Dr. Tobias Haller) and

• Centre for International Co-operation, Free University of Amsterdam (researcher: Dr. Stephen Turner)

• Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (Dr. Mafaniso Hara and Dr. Frank Matose)

• Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre, University of Botswana at Mau (Prof. Larry Swatuk, Dr. Lapo Magole and Dr. Rachel DeMotts)

• Malawi Department of Fisheries (Mr. Friday Njaya), Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi (Dr. Peter Mvula) and

• The Aquaculture and Fisheries Information Centre, Zambia (Mr. Cyprian Kapasa, Ms. Lindah Mlanga, Dr. Isaac Malasha and Dr. Kefasi Nyikahadzoi).