Synopsis

Environmental challenges, from deforestation to overexploited fisheries, threaten to unravel decades of hard-fought sustainable development gains in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Yet poor communities across the developing world – those whose lives and livelihoods heavily depend on natural resources – often have little say in environmental management decision-making. In many countries, the power to establish and enforce sustainable development and conservation policies resides almost entirely with national governments.

Building on the Environmental Governance in Africa Working Paper Series, the Representation, Equity and Environment Working Paper Series presents new research on democratic decentralization of power and legislative representation in decision-making that determines the management, control and use of natural resources across the developing world. Papers in this series offer analyses of policies that distribute profits and other benefits from natural resource commodity chains as well as laws that govern the allocation of government revenues from the extractives industry. How accountable are decision-making processes? Is policymaking transparent, participatory and inclusive, especially for women, the poor and other historically marginalized groups? Authors call on governments and civil society to improve representation, equity and sound governance in environmental policymaking in developing countries around the world.

Publication Authors

Publication Authors

Accountability in Decentralization and the Democratic Context: Theory and Evidence from India
Ashwini Chhatre

Enclosing the Local for the Global Commons: Community Land Rights in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area
Marja Spierenburg, Conrad Steenkamp, and Harry Wels

Indigenous Peoples, Representation and Citizenship in Guatemalan Forestry
Anne M. Larson

Dilemmas of Democratic Decentralization in Mangochi District, Malawi: Interest and Mistrust in Fisheries Management
Mafaniso Hara

Undermining Grassland Management Through Centralized Environment Policies in Inner Mongolia
Wang Xiaoyi

‘Fragmented Belonging’ on Russia’s Western Frontier and Local Government Development in Karelia
Tomila Lankina

Engendering Exclusion in Senegal’s Democratic Decentralization: Subordinating Women through Participatory Natural Resource Management
Solange Bandiaky

Party Politics, Social Movements, and Local Democracy: Institutional Choices in the Brazilian Amazon
Fabiano Toni

State Building and Local Democracy in Benin: Two Cases of Decentralized Forest Management
Roch Mongbo

Authority over Forests: Negotiating Democratic Decentralization in Senegal
Jesse Ribot