part 1 - EuroAfrica-ICT

Cross sectoral commons governance in Southern AfricaPeriod: 01/03/2007 – 28/02/2009Budget from EC: EUR 538,785website: http://www.ifm.dk/croscog/Many Southern African natural resources are legallyrecognized as commons. The governance of commons inSouthern Africa has received a good deal of attention fromboth researchers and the responsible government agencies.The objective of this Specific Support Action is to shareexisting research and experiences in the governance of largescale natural resource commons across different ecosystemtypes Southern Africa including marine and other largewater body coastal zones arid and semi-arid grasslands,savannas and forest patches and floodplain ecosystems in.The SSA builds on existing research on commons governancedone by institutions specializing in particular resourcemanagement problems. It takes as its starting point theinsight that addressing natural resource degradation in Africameans finding ways to identify, reproduce and encourageexisting positive practices of commons managementacross wide scales. The dual challenge of governance isto meet large-scale problems with large-scale solutionsthat are rooted in local practices and to use an ecosystemapproach to integrate the management of different types ofcommons, each of which may play a role in the householdsurvival strategies of vulnerable populations. Experiencewith governance in one type of commons generates lessonsof value to the governance of other types of commons andfor integrated governance.Coordinator: Dr Douglas WilsonAalborg UniversityThe work programme consists of a series of preparationtasks and workshops in which researchers who have beenworking on different kinds of commons in Southern Africacomb their research for lessons of use to other kinds ofresources and then present this work at joint workshops. Thework takes place in two phases each one having a theme 1)Knowledge, Power, Economic Transformation and ExistingCommons Practices and 2) Building On Existing Practices toAchieve Effective Governance Across Extensive Scales.Natural Resources