Assessing potential for community-based management of peccaries through common pool resource theory in the rural area of the Argentine Chaco.
Community-based management (CBM) has been recognized as an appropriate approach to conservation, assuming that local communities have higher stakes than the state in their natural resources and have better knowledge of local resources and, therefore, can manage them more efficiently. However, the implementation of CBM has not always been successful. The objective of this research was to assess the potential for the implementation of a governmental proposal for community-based management of peccaries (Tayassuidae) in the Impenetrable northern Argentine, through the examination of the reasons why arrangements to avoid overexploitation have not evolved in this region. I used the theory of common pool resources (CPRs) as a framework for this analysis. CPRs theory explains the conditions under which appropriators of a resource are likely to engage in devising and altering governing arrangements and the conditions under which such arrangements are likely to succeed. Fieldwork was conducted between June 2000 and August 2003 using a mixed methods approach. It was found that most of the condition of the resource and users identified by the CPR theory as associated with an increased likelihood of successful management of natural resources are absent or scarcely developed in the Impenetrable. Thus, the situation in the Impenetrable does not seem appropriate for the implementation of CBM of peccaries. It is first necessary to invest in training and development of local institutions' capacities and social capital. It is also important to increase the flow of relevant information, which will enable institutions to be effective, responsible, and accountable to the community. For the moment, a more appropriate approach will have to include a mixture of protectionism and comanagement of collared peccaries while the propitious conditions for a complete local management of the resource are developed.
Altrichter
Mariana
M
Environmental Studies Center, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA 92373-0999, USA. mariana_altrichter@redlands.edu
D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D001188:Artiodactyla; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004463:Ecology; D011157:Population Dynamics