Social aspects

At the heart of co-management of natural resources is a process of collective understanding and action 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 decentralised governance. De facto, co-management is about sharing power.

In this toolkit, we focus on both human (socioeconomic) and biophysical (ecological) aspects of monitoring. Socioeconomic monitoring normally focuses on people’s knowledge and attitude towards an ecosystem as well as their natural resource use and dependence. Ecological monitoring on the other hand will generally focus on a specific species or ecosystem, using supporting information on environmental conditions and associated organisms.

An environmental flow is the water regime provided within a river, wetland or coastal zone to maintain ecosystems and their benefits where there are competing water uses and where flows are regulated. Pioneering efforts in South Africa, Australia and the United States have shown that the process to establish them poses great challenges.

The goal of this toolkit is to help promote environmental stewardship and increase awareness of marine and coastal ecosystems among schoolchildren in Asia through the use of creative, investigative approaches. Investigative approaches allow schools to make the local environment relevant and interesting to children in coastal communities and help to reinforce the need for wise and sustainable management of our coastal and marine resources.

An environmental flow is the water regime provided within a river, wetland or coastal zone to maintain ecosystems and their benefits where there are competing water uses and where flows are regulated. Pioneering efforts in South Africa, Australia and the United States have shown that the process to establish them poses great challenges.

South-east Asia is both a centre for the consumption of wildlife products, and also a key supplier of wildlife products to the world. Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Vietnam are among the south-east Asian countries that act as major sources of wildlife in trade, the trade involving a wide variety of native species, which, in many cases, are declining as a result of unsustainable, and often illegal, harvest.

The Situation Analyses of the Wami and Ruvu (including coastal rivers) sub-basins were produced as separate analyses of the status, conditions and key issues affecting ecosystems in each basin using existing available information. The analyses provide information on natural resources (including water), socio-economic issues and the governance structure of water resource management.

The Situation Analyses of the Wami and Ruvu (including coastal rivers) sub-basins were produced as separate analyses of the status, conditions and key issues affecting ecosystems in each basin using existing available information. The analyses provide information on natural resources (including water), socio-economic issues and the governance structure of water resource management.

The objectives of the first edition of the Pangani situation analysis included identifying the resources that occupy the Pangani River Basin (PRB) and the processes and events that affect them, and identifying a series of broad action areas wherein interventions may feasibly be delivered. A second edition was needed to take into account the operation of the Water Resource Management Act in July 2009.