Enchantment and disenchantment: The role of community in natural resource conservation

The poor conservation outcomes that followed decades of intrusive resource management strategies and planned development have forced policy makers and scholars to reconsider the role of community in resource use and conservat ion. In a break from previous work on development which considered communit ies a hindrance to progressive social change, current writings champion the role of community in bringing about decentralization, meaningful participa tion, and conservation. But despite its recent popularity, the concept of c ommunity is rarely defined or carefully examined by those concerned with re source use and management. We seek to redress this omission by investigatin g "community" in work concerning resource conservation and management. We e xplore the conceptual origins of the community, and the ways the term has b een deployed in writings on resource use. We then analyze those aspects of community most important to advocates for community's role in resource mana gement - community as a small spatial unit, as a homogeneous social structu re, and as shared norms - and indicate the weaknesses of these approaches. Finally, we suggest a more political approach: community must be examined i n the context of development and conservation by focusing on the multiple i nterests and actors within communities, on how these actors influence decis ion-making, and on the internal and external institutions that shape the de cision-making process. A focus on institutions rather than "community" is l ikely to be more fruitful for those interested in community-based natural r esource management. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.