People, Power, and the Coast: a Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Implementing Benefit Sharing

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The concept of benefit sharing has seen growing adoption in recent years by a variety of sectors. However, its conceptual underpinnings, definitions, and framework remain poorly articulated and developed. We aim to help address this gap by presenting a new conceptual approach for enhancing understanding about benefit sharing and its implementation. We use the coast as a lens through which the analysis is framed because of the intricate governance challenges which coastal social-ecological systems present, the increasing development and exploitation pressures on these systems, and the growing need to improve understanding about the way in which greater equity and reduced inequalities could reduce conflicts, protect coastal ecosystems, and ensure greater social justice. Key elements of the framework include the range of actors involved, the natural resources they access and use, the interventions introduced to redistribute benefits, and the benefits and losses that result from these interventions. The framework underscores the importance of process in determining who gets what, as well as the wider institutional, political, social, and economic context. Power relations and imbalances underpin many of these elements and remain the central reason for benefits being distributed in the way that they are. The framework has relevance and application for coastal livelihoods, rural governance, and resource sustainability in a context in which community rights are increasingly undermined through land grabbing, unequal power relations, and externally driven development interventions.

Political Ecology of REDD+ in Indonesia

“…actors to access land and property (Corbera and Brown, 2010;Koch et al, 2008;Nuijten, 2005;Ribot and Peluso, 2003;Rodriguez de Francisco and Boelens, 2014;Wynberg and Hauck, 2014;).…”

“…Power is considered as an important explanatory factor for differences in the abilities of actors to access land and property and to develop multi-scalar resistance strategies (Corbera and Brown, 2010;Koch et al, 2008;Nuijten, 2005;Ribot and Peluso, 2003;Rodriguez de Francisco and Boelens, 2014;Wynberg and Hauck, 2014). Different schools of thought have influenced political ecology and the literature on the politics of scale.…”

Building towards the marine conservation end‐game: consolidating the role of MPAs in a future ocean

“…This can also include economic equity analyses (Halpern et al , ), bio‐economic modelling of the distribution of impacts (Charles, ), and proactive social impact evaluations (Esteves et al , ). Equitable management . To optimize socio‐economic benefits for local communities, MPA management can include programmes to support alternative livelihoods (Cattermoul et al , ) or implement benefit sharing agreements (Wynberg and Hauck, ). Compensation packages can be considered to address lost benefits.…”

“…Equitable management. To optimize socio-economic benefits for local communities, MPA management can include programmes to support alternative livelihoods (Cattermoul et al, 2008) or implement benefit sharing agreements (Wynberg and Hauck, 2014). Compensation packages can be considered to address lost benefits.…”

Navigating a just and inclusive path towards sustainable oceans

“…Indeed, the applied and solution-oriented social sciences have already advanced far ahead of the practice -with critical insights and novel approaches into how to better integrate human dimensions considerations into conservation, planning, fisheries and development processes being underutilized [103][104][105][106][107]. Important recent advances have been made into, for example, the incorporation of diverse socio-economic and cultural values in marine planning [103][104][105][108][109][110], the design and monitoring of equitable management of conservation initiatives [76,77,111], the monitoring and adaptive management of the social impacts of environmental management initiatives on human well-being, [112][113][114][115], the design of benefit sharing arrangements for marine and coastal development [107,116,117], approaches to consider equity and make triple-bottom line decisions in fisheries [41,79,118,119], and the creation of inclusive and collaborative marine planning management and good governance processes [11,84,[120][121][122][123][124]. These are just a few among many examples of how the applied social sciences can help to address the types of issues highlighted earlier.…”