| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND DECENTRALISATION IN SENEGAL:THE DOWN-SIDE OF PARTICIPATION
By Laurence Boutinot
Administrative and political decentralisation is not new in Africa. It is linked to widespread structural adjustment reforms that caused the disengagement of the states by the end of the 1970s. In Senegal, after long delays, the process of natural resource management decentralisation was accelerated by the passing of the 1996 decentralisation regulations and the new decentralised forest codes of 1993 and 1998. Like elsewhere in Africa, decentralisation is changing relations among various actors - public/private and community/individual - in natural resource management. Since Rio (1992) and Johannesburg (2002), the necessity of involving citizens in all stages and scales of natural resource management has been recognised. Furthermore, increased local responsibility is viewed as a way of producing equitable and sustainable development.
Natural resource management
and decentralisation
Natural resource management is a powerful lens for understanding the process
of decentralisation. Among all the decentralised sectors, natural resource management
is the only one that produces financial gains. In this way, the natural resource
management experience sheds light on the complex stakes involved, the difficulties
in implementation and the dysfunctions of decentralisation.
With a view to throwing light on the nature and effects of decentralisation we initiated a study on decentralised forest management in Senegal. We aim to explore whether decentralisation in Senegal can be a way to harmonise actions and redistribution of authority in natural resource management. More specifically, we aim to:
Further information:
Laurence Boutinot
Cirad Forêt , 37, Avenue Jean XXIII, BP 6189
Dakar Etoile, Dakar, Senegal
E-mail: boutinot@cirad.fr; boutinot@ird.sn