Learning from community conservation in Ghana

This project aims to generate evidence through comparative research of two cases of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Ghana.

CBNRM has been widely adopted across the world, involving the formation of governance structures such as village committees or area-based user groups. These initiatives have generally been led by government ministries responsible for forests, fisheries and the environment, and supported by donor agencies and NGOs, often with dual aims of improving the condition and sustainable use of natural resources and improving the livelihoods of people dependent on the resources. Achieving such 'win-win' outcomes is challenging and many initiatives struggle to deliver on both, or either, outcomes, and sustaining efforts over time, particularly when donor funding has ceased.

Many factors have been found to be important for improving the potential for successful outcomes and for governance arrangements to be maintained over time. These factors include the arrangements being relevant to the local situation, building on existing institutions and practices, and being supported by government. Existing institutions are often interpreted as referring to traditional institutions, such as customary structures, rules and norms. There is limited literature, however, on what it means in practice to build on existing institutions and how these institutions interact with other actors, particularly local government.

This research project is a comparative study of two examples of Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs). A CREMA is a physically defined area that includes multiple communities that have agreed to manage the land and natural resources in a sustainable manner. A CREMA is managed by a community-based governance structure that is founded upon existing community decision-making institutions. CREMAs provide a good case for this project because the approach has been practised for more than 20 years, has been recognized in government policy since 2004, and passed into law in 2019. The case of CREMAs provides both unique features and characteristics that are common to CBNRM. The almost-unique features are the foundation in customary institutions and community initiative, rather than being driven by the government, whereas the characteristics the approach shares with other examples of CBNRM are the domination by more powerful interests, challenges in maintaining the structures and practice over time and separation of the system from local government.

The project involves investigation of two examples of CREMAs in Ghana, taking an example of a mature CREMA site, Wechiau (which has been in existence for more than 20 years) in the Savanna zone of northern Ghana, and an example of a CREMA in the Kakum landscape, which is the early stages of CREMA development.

The research will be informed by critical institutionalism, which involves the identification and analysis of institutions involved in natural resource management including those not designed for that purpose but which are found to be relevant in practice, such as kinship and gender relations. Critical institutionalism recognises that not only do a wide-range of institutions exist but that they interact with each other and change over time as a result of such interaction through processes of 'institutional bricolage' (Cleaver and de Koning, 2015).

The key research questions are:
1. How are customary institutions reflected in CREMA systems and practice?
2.How engaged are community members, particularly women and young people, in CREMAs and why?
3. How do CREMAs interact with local and national government and has this changed over time?

The anticipated outcomes include a deeper understanding of how CBNRM operates in practice, what challenges are faced and how they could be overcome. The project will additionally further conceptualise institutional bricolage and demonstrate how customary institutions shape and inform CBNRM.