Natural resource management
Effectiveness of bylaws in the management of natural resources
Can natural resources be managed effectively by bylaws in Western Africa?
Authors:
K. Alinon (ed); A. Kalinganire (ed)
Publisher:
CGIAR System-wide Program on Property Rights and Collective Action , 2008
This paper discusses the historical changes in power delegation from central origins to secondary institutions. The analysis covers the rise of bylaws across the Western African countries and links the multiplicity of bylaws to the spread of the decentralisation movement. West Africa is an environmentally diverse region that is poor, growing rapidly, and losing valuable natural resources.
The authors demonstrate the pertinence of bylaws as a tool for better management of natural resources. They note that confusion exists in West Africa regarding rules for access and management of land and other natural resources at the local level. The situation is a result of a misunderstanding between pre–existing customary practices and legislative and institutional schemes inherited from Western societies.
The report notes that recognising bylaws as one of the most capable arrangements in the management of natural resources at a local level is a better way to harmonise the ongoing decentralisation process with local practices. Bylaws are important for resource management as they constitute an arena of power negotiation between decentralised bodies and traditional institutions. This is because bylaws cannot operate without local bodies which need to ratify any agreement first.
To conclude the authors highlight that:
- there are important research issues to be addressed and reflections to be noted on the best strategy to render local bylaws more effective, particularly in situations where official legislation has begun to restore a place for local natural resources management
- there is a need to document the condition of efficiency of the forestry law at a local level focusing on the dialogue between various organisations (state, chiefs, NGOs) and institutional constructions created in the last decade (lands commissions, decentralised authorities, villages committees)
- economic impact of bylaws should not be neglected when it comes to addressing the problems of sustainable resource use and poverty alleviation.
