Sharing Power

* Authored by the world's leading practitioners, applicable to any resource from forests to agricultural land to water resources and fishing * Hundreds of case studies of successful co-management from a wide variety of contexts including the UK, Europe, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Indian Subcontinent, Latin America and Africa The collaborative or "co-management" of natural resources'whether between states and local communities or among and within communities themselves'is a process of collective understanding and actions by local communities and other social actors. The process brings about negotiated agreements on management roles, rights and responsibilities, making explicit the conditions and institutions of sound decentralized governance. This book is designed for professionals and people involved in collaborative management processes. It distills the wealth of experience and innovative approaches developed by people who have learned by doing. It begins by offering a variety of vistas, from broad historical and equity considerations to in-depth co-management examples. Illustrated in detail is the understanding accumulated in recent decades on starting points for co-management, prerequisites for successful negotiations as well as rules, methods and conditions for the negotiations. Methods and tools, such as practical checklists distilled from different situations and contexts, are offered throughout and examples of specifics agreements and pluralist management organizations are discussed.