Mechanisms of Weak Governance in Grasslands and Wetlands of South America

Abstract

Weak governance is a major threat to sustainable development, especially in rural contexts and within ecosystems of great social and economic value. To understand and compare its arrangement in the grasslands and wetlands of the Colombian Llanos and the Paraguayan Pantanal, we build upon the Institutional and Development Framework (IAD) as we explore the role of political, economic, and social institutions and combine components of the theory of common-pool resources (CPR) and new institutional economics (NIE). This hybrid conceptualization provides a synthesis of how top-down hierarchical and market-based systems of community-based and natural resource management negatively affect sustainable development in both study areas. Our findings suggest three underlying mechanisms causing a situation of weak governance: centralized (economic and political) power, the role of central and local governments, and social exclusion. Understanding these multidimensional contextual mechanisms improves the understanding that institutional structures supporting arrangements that handle grasslands and wetlands in a sustainable way are needed to protect the ecosystem’s social and economic values, especially in rural and marginalized contexts.

When Unfair Trade Is Also at Home: The Economic Sustainability of Coffee Farms

“…FNC [Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia] has shown that it is far more expensive to take a container from coffee growing in Armenia to Cartagena (900 km) than from In Brazil, coffee production involves complex governance mechanisms to coordinate the whole chain towards both domestic and international markets [21,40]. Although present in remote locations, the supply chain involves a supportive activity from private agents who collectively handle issues that government fails to address [30,41]. There is no public organization responsible for the sector in the country, but there are several associations and cooperatives that provide support to producers.…”

Decentralization for Increased Sustainability in Natural Resource Management? Two Cautionary Cases from Ghana

“…In Bole, the central government's bypassing of the assembly to fight against informal ASM in its territory suggests ambiguity regarding rule interpretation (e.g., Act 462 and Act 703) and enforcement. The central government's weak mechanism of stopping informal ASM through a militarized taskforce failed to defuse ASM operation in communities of Bole [10]. The disenfranchisement of district authorities in Bole and Talensi, makes them tolerate informal ASM and disregard SMCL's grievances by relaxing existing regulations and enforcement, leading to resource over exploitation and destruction of cashew farms, bodies of water, and forest reserves.…”

“…Customary law governs surface land rights while statutory laws and regulations govern subterranean mineral resources, leading to a situation where gold ore mining is the result of the interactions of customary law and government laws and regulations. This affects the governance and coordination of mineral wealth exploitation, which can positively or negatively affect resource sustainability [10][11][12][13].…”

The Paraguayan Chaco at a crossroads: drivers of an emerging soybean frontier

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“…This trend is particularly prevalent in the soybean sector, either through direct expansion into forest areas, or indirectly by displacing other agricultural activities-most notably cattle pastureland-to more marginal or forested areas (Gasparri et al 2016). These marginal expansion areas often exhibit poor governance systems and/or weak enforcement of socioenvironmental regulations (Eufemia et al 2020;Le Polain de Waroux et al 2016).…”