Democratic Decentralisation through a Natural Resource Lens

This volume queries the state and effect of the global decentralization movement through the study of natural resource decentralizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The case studies presented here use a comparative framework to characterize the degree to which natural resource decentralizations can be said to be taking place and, where possible, to measure their social and environmental consequences. In general, the cases show that threats to national-level interests are producing resistance that is fettering the struggle for reform.

This volume queries the state and effect of the global decentralization movement through the study of natural resource decentralizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The case studies presented here use a comparative framework to characterize the degree to which natural resource decentralizations can be said to be taking place and, where possible, to measure their social and environmental consequences. In general, the cases show that threats to national-level interests are producing resistance that is fettering the struggle for reform.

Jesse C. Ribot is a Senior Associate in the Institutions and Governance Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI). He currently directs WRI's Africa Decentralization and Environment Initiative. He has conducted research on environmental justice, social vulnerability in the face of climate change, the social structure of resource access, and the effects of rural-urban resource markets on local livelihoods. Ribot has also worked on local environmental governance issues with the World Bank, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the Dutch Government and USAID, and has advised governments across Africa.

Anne M. Larson is a Research Associate of the Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia, and the Nitlapán Institute for Research and Development of the Central American University in Managua, Nicaragua. She has published articles in World Development and Public Administration and Development, as well as a book on local forest management in Nicaragua in Spanish, and worked extensively on the recently-published book Municipal Forest Management in Latin America (ed. Ferroukhi, 2003).