Strategies for the Resolution of Conflicts in Nature Conservation: Participation, Co-operation, and Negotiation


Personnel


Duration

12/2001 − 11/2004


Outline

Against the background of decentralisation and devolution in natural resource management the project analyses which strategies can resolve conflicts of interest between conservation and utilisation of 'nature'. The central question is: How to include stakeholders in decision making in nature conservation. The analysis comprehends three perspectives:

  1. Which instruments and approaches are most appropriate to involve stakeholders in decision-making processes. This component is closely linked to the project on "Multi criteria evaluation and decision aid to reconcile conflicts between land use and biodiversity conservation". (also compare "New Strategies for Solving Environmental Conflicts: Potentials for Combining Participation and Multicriteria Analysis", UFZ summerschool, 26.−28.6.02, Leipzig, as well as "FRAP − Development of a Procedural Framework for Action Plans to Reconcile Conflicts between Large Vertebrate Conservation and the Use of Biological Resources: Fisheries and Fish-eating Vertebrates as a Model Case" (EU, UFZ as co-ordinator, in negotiation))
  2. From a normative perspective the division of responsibilities between the state, civil society and the private sector is analysed. concepts from the new institutional economics especially transaction costs are applied to derive the "efficient boundaries of the state".
  3. The positive analysis of specific negotiation processes in nature conservation and natural resource management uses concepts of social and political capital to analyse political feasibility. This component includes the assessment of new governance structures in biodiversity conservation. Compare "Implementation and development of the Biodiversity Convention: local, national and international challenges".