Ostrom’s Governance Principles and Sustainable Financing of Fish Reserves

Abstract

Previous studies on community-based natural resource management have repeatedly underlined the significance of the design principles for sustainable commons governance developed by Elinor Ostrom. In this paper, we apply the principles heuristically to the case of the Sikunga Channel Fish Protection Area (FPA), a recently established fish reserve in the Upper Zambezi in Namibia. Based on qualitative fieldwork including semi-structured household interviews, expert interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation, we assess the utility of Ostrom's design principles as guidance for promoting sustainable fisheries co-management structures. Our results indicate that the lack of a sustainable financing mechanism is both a major source of resentments at Sikunga and the main obstacle for sound resource management, endangering the long-term effectiveness and social acceptance of the fish reserve.

Implications of the movement behaviour of African tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus for the design of freshwater protected areas

“…The positive effects that FPAs can have on freshwater biodiversity ( i.e ., increased local abundance or size classes) have been widely reported (Penha et al ., ; Reid et al ., ; Sanyanga et al ., ; Schram et al ., ; Suski & Cooke, ; Sztramko, ). For FPAs to be considered effective, it is essential that FPAs incorporate the lateral and longitudinal connectivity of the river system required for a species to access habitats required for spawning and feeding and, accounts for the human activities in the area under consideration (Bower et al ., ; Hermoso et al ., ; Wiederkehr et al ., ). In this regard, we note that the recommendations of the current study are limited to recommending the size of potential FPAs based an assessment of area use by tigerfish.…”

A scoping review of environmental governance challenges in southern Africa from 2010 to 2020

“…Articles closely linked to IWRM explored institutional themes related to water reforms (n = 5; e.g., Mehta et al 2014) and legal aspects (n = 2; e.g., Mogomotsi et al 2020). Notably, 17% of the articles put special emphasis on applying Ostrom's common pool theory (e.g., Bollig & Menestrey Schwieger 2014, Wiederkehr et al 2019). There was a dearth of studies explicitly applying the concepts of adaptive governance, co-management, social-ecological stewardship and polycentricity (e.g., Chinangwa et al 2016, Thondhlana et al 2016, Cockburn et al 2019.…”

How Ostrom's design principles apply to large‐scale commons: Cooperation over international river basins

“…Based on four case studies, Ross and Martinez‐Santos (2010) suggested that DPs operate in the management of groundwater. Similarly, many studies have diagnostically investigated how DPs are relevant to the success of small‐scale fisheries co‐management regions such as those in New Zealand (Yandle, 2003), in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa (Napier et al, 2005), in Kenya and Madagascar (Cinner et al, 2009), in American Samoa and Hawai'i (Levine & Richmond, 2015), in Uruguay and Brazil (Trimble & Berkes, 2015), in Southern Brazil (2017), and in Namibia (Wiederkehr et al, 2019). Despite Ostrom's warning against the theoretical generalizability of DPs, those studies have nevertheless viewed combinations of DPs as institutional panaceas for sustainable natural resource management.…”

“…(3) decisions are made collectively by participating in modifying the operational rules (DP3); (4) rules are enforced to monitor members' behaviors (DP4); (5) a system to deter participants with graduated sanctions exists (DP5); (6) accessible and low-cost conflict resolution mechanisms are available (DP6); (7) a minimum recognition of rights of community members is not challenged by external authorities (DP7); and (8) in the case of large-scale commons, governance activities are organized by multiple layers of nested enterprises (DP8). Although Ostrom's DPs have been broadly used as diagnostic guidelines to predict the likelihood of successful management of commons (e.g., Cox et al, 2010;Quynh et al, 2020;Wiederkehr et al, 2019), there have been few empirical attempts to explicitly examine the effects of the DPs on CPRs due to the potential methodological problem involved in measuring the success of CPRs management. This could exacerbate the issue of the external validity of the DPs and call for the need for a more rigorous methodological investigation (Araral, 2014).…”

“…Although Ostrom's DPs have been broadly used as diagnostic guidelines to predict the likelihood of successful management of commons (e.g., Cox et al, 2010; Quynh et al, 2020; Wiederkehr et al, 2019), there have been few empirical attempts to explicitly examine the effects of the DPs on CPRs due to the potential methodological problem involved in measuring the success of CPRs management. This could exacerbate the issue of the external validity of the DPs and call for the need for a more rigorous methodological investigation (Araral, 2014).…”