DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Natural Resources Management and

Development
BY Dr LAZARO KAGATA
 Expected outputs
• Understand and apply key concepts of natural
resources management and associated concepts
• Understand and apply different natural resources
management regimes and their relevance to
development
• Critically examine development challenges and
the role of natural resources management
• Understand key concepts of Global
Environmental/Climate change and policy
responses
KEY CONCEPTS
 Key concepts and theories
• The meaning of natural resources has kept
changing over the years.

• The nature of the change has been characterised

by divergences in disciplinary conceptualizations
of the meaning of resources.

• Schools of thought such as ecology, sociology and

environmental science define natural resources
from disciplinary perspectives.
 Sociology and Economic perspectives
• For example, sociology and economics view
natural resources from a humanistic and
purely economic sense, respectively.

• Such definitions consider natural resources as

material sources of wealth such as timber,
mineral deposits, or water that occur in a
natural state.
 Sociology and Economic
perspectives....cont
• Such materialistic definitions also embrace an
economic perspective.

• Economic perspectives of natural resources

consider the commercial value of natural
resources and the industries that they support.

• In this sense, economic theory considers that

private ownership of natural resources tends to
produce efficient consumption because the profit
motive imposes realistic pricing.
 Ecosystems perspectives
• Ecosystem concepts consider natural
resources as complex sources of interrelated
elements existing in a state of ecological
balance which must be sustained for life;
• Thus, ecosystem theory (Chapin et al., 2009),
considers the tangible and intangible values
of natural systems that produce natural
resources from the point of view of
sustenance of life
 Natural Resources defined
• Therefore, we can define natural resources from
materialistic and ecosystem perspectives as follows:

• Material perspective
– Natural resource is any material from nature that has
potential economic and ecological value to life such as
water, natural tree products, minerals and vital gases.

• From ecosystem theory

– a natural resource is a material occurring in nature that
has actual or potential value to a natural system that
supports living organisms
 Management Implications
• Management of natural resources embraces
the ecosystem theory which considers
tangible and non-tangible resource values
from an integrated and holistic perspective

• Thus, management of NR is an art and science

and involves utilitarian considerations.
 Management Implications…cont
• These considerations invoke application of:

– sociological domains of knowledge in the

management of natural resources.

– Social-cultural perspectives that influence

resource use anchored in the value systems of
society.
 What is ecosystem?
• Ecological systems are assemblages of biotic
(living) organisms in association with their abiotic
or physical and chemical environment.

• Thus, an ecosystem consists of:

– Organisms (plants, microbes, and animals—including

people); and

– Physical components (atmosphere, soil, water, etc.)

with which they interact.
 What is ecosystem?...cont
• All ecosystems are influenced, to a given
degree, by social processes (that is are social-
ecological systems)

• Thus, humankind is at the centre (in reality or

potentially) of all ecosystems
 Ecosystem structure
Ecosystem structure
• Ecosystem characteristics are best described
in relation to their structural and functional
attributes i.e. structure and function.
– Ecosystem structure is about the components of
ecosystem and their spatial relationships.
– Ecosystem function is the flux of biomass,
nutrients and energy throughout the ecosystem.
 Ecosystem structure….cont

• The magnitude of energy fluxes and intensity

of material resource transformations define
the dynamics and integrity of a given
ecosystem and natural resource systems
 Ecosystem structure….cont

The magnitude of energy fluxes and intensity of material resource transformations

define the dynamics and integrity of natural resource systems
 Ecosystem goods and services
• Ecosystems are the basis for social and economic
development.

• Human well-being and development depend on:

– Ecosystem goods such as food, timber and medicines;

– Ecosystem services such as water and air purification,

carbon storage, pollination, soil formation, and the
provision of aesthetic and cultural benefits.
 Ecosystems Mgt Challenges
• The challenge is to sustain the resilience of
ecosystems;

• their capacity to cope with disturbances; and

• maintain an adequate supply of goods and

services
 R’ship btn ecosystem services and
well-being
Ecosystem services Regulating services Well-being
•Climate regulation
•Water quality and
quantity
•Disease control

Supporting services Provisioning services

•Ecosystem •Food, water, Human well-
processes fuelwood, fiber,
•Diversity biochemicals
being
maintenance

Cultural services
•Cultural identity, Freedom
recreation, tourism and choice
and spiritual benefits
• Therefore, ecosystem services are the benefits people
obtain from ecosystems. These include:

– provisioning, regulating, and cultural services, which

directly affect people; and

– supporting services needed to maintain the other services.

Foundation of other categories of services

• Changes in these services affect human well-being

through impacts on security and the overall well-being
 Ecosystems management

• Hence we talk of ecosystems management

• The goal of ecosystem management is to provide

a sustainable flow of multiple ecosystem
services to society today and in the future------ Is
this not similar to SD?
 Ecosystems management…cont
• Ecosystem management recognizes the
integrated nature of:

– social–ecological systems;
– their inherent complexity and dynamics;
– at multiple temporal and spatial scales; and
– managing to maintain future options in the face of
uncertainty
 Ecosystems management…cont
• However, there are four extreme
circumstances of tradeoffs or
complementarities between ecosystem
management and human well-being:

1.Ecosystems may be conserved and the poor

made better off;
2.Ecosystems may be conserved at the expense
of the poor who rely on the ecosystem
services;
 Ecosystems management…cont

3. The poor may be made better off, but at the

expense of ecosystem services that are
highly valued by the larger society; or

4. Ecosystems may continue to degrade at the

same time as the rights and well-being of the
poor decline.
 Payment of ecosystem services
• In recent years, there have been efforts to
promote mechanisms for Payment for
Ecosystem Services (PES) or

• Compensation and Rewards for Environmental

Services (CRES) for the dual goals of improved
ecosystem management and enhanced human
well-being.
Payment of ecosystem services….cont

• (PES) is “....a voluntary, conditional transaction

where at least one buyer pays at least one
seller for maintaining or adopting sustainable
land management practices that favour the
provision of a well-defined environmental
service.
 Payment of ecosystem services….cont

• A CRES is mostly viewed as a possible alternative

income stream for poor people, that is, a new
way to “put money in people’s pockets.”

• CRES is also viewed as mechanisms for resolving

conflicts over resource access and benefit
sharing.
• Natural resources ownerships and rights

– In order to protect natural resources from overuse

and destruction, natural resources ownership and
rights to property of individuals, communities or
even states are important

– Hence we have NR with real property and those

that are not!
• Natural resources associated with real
property include forest, timber, mineral
deposits such as gold, copper, uranium and
fossil based fuels.

• Natural resources that are not fixed on land

such as air, are not associated with property
rights
Natural Resources management
• Natural resource management is defined here as
a scientific and technical principle that forms a
basis for sustainable management (conservation
and use) and governance of natural resources

• Management of natural resources embraces the

ecosystem theory which considers tangible and
non-tangible resource values from an integrated
and holistic perspective.
 Importance
• contribute significantly to development in
different ways:
– as an economic activity and source of growth;
– as a livelihood, by providing jobs for people;
– as a provider of environmental services that can have
both good and bad outcomes
– contributes to poverty alleviation,
– helps reduce diseases and child mortality,
– improves maternal health, and
– can contribute to gender equality through creation of
wealth and eventually women empowerment
Natural Resource Management and
Development
• There is consensus that natural resources are
fundamental for improving livelihoods and
achieving sustainable development
• However, how best to use natural resources
to improve livelihoods, reduce poverty and
advance economic growth while maintaining
and enhancing the sustainability and
resilience of the natural resource base

• ..........remains an elusive goal and daunting

challenge.
• Understanding and tackling this complex
challenge demands creative, integrative and
holistic approaches

• How best can we use natural resources for

development???

• A number of approaches are proposed

 Approaches

• The “Downward Spiral’ approach

• The entitlements approach
• The sustainable development approach
• The sustainable livelihoods approach
• The resilience approach
The “Downward Spiral’ approach
 The Orthodox View or “Downward
Spiral” of NRM and Poverty
• Views that poverty is a major cause and effect of global
environmental problems.

• This dominant view posits that there is a vicious downwards spiral

where:
– poor people are forced to overuse environmental resources to survive
from day to day,

– .....and the degradation of natural resources further impoverishes

them, making their survival ever more difficult and uncertain.

– The rapid degradation of natural resources pushes the poor further

down in the spiral, making them more vulnerable and in abject
poverty.
• Conclusion of the downward spiral view:

– Natural resources are being rapidly degraded

because of poverty, and that the poor are
responsible for the degradation of natural
resources.

– In the absence of any other options, the poor are

bound to exploit the natural resources for their
livelihood needs
 Empirical evidence against the down
spiral view
• However, empirical evidence does not support
this idea.

– Studies from Zimbabwe shows that rich households

are more responsible for degradation than the poor
(Cavendish, 2000)

– Poverty is not the primary cause of deforestation and

poor people are not the primary agent of degradation
(Chowdhury et al., 2010 and Khan, 2008)
• In their book “More People, Less Erosion” Tiffen et al.,
(2000) demonstrate an example of environmental
recovery in Kenya where population growth and
agricultural intensification have been accompanied by
improved rather than deteriorating soil and water
resources.

• Other examples that support this environmental

recovery have been documented in Sahelian countries
of Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Niger
(Mortimore, 2010).
• Thus, simple generalizations of this
multidimensional problem are erroneous and
that a more complex set of variables are in
play (Comim, 2009; Leach and Mearns, 1995)
• Therefore, the widespread view that poverty
leads to environmental degradation is not
clearly supported by evidence.

• What is more strongly supported by evidence

is the fact that environmental degradation
hurts the poor more.
• More understanding on how poor people
depend on, interact with and use their
environment in rural and urban areas is
needed.

• These studies point to demographic, cultural,

and institutional factors as important variables
in the poverty environmental degradation
nexus.
• Most studies agree that the links point to the
dynamic complexity, context-specificity and
resource specificity of the linkages between NRM
and poverty.

• Understanding these links is a rather complex

task and requires an integrated,
interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-
institutional and multi-stakeholder perspective.
 &

The “Environmental Entitlements”

Approach
 The “Environmental Entitlements”
Approach
• Based on seminal work by Ostrom (1990) and
her subsequent work (Ostrom, 2005, Agrawal
et al., 2001; Dietz et al., 2003;) that was
awarded the 2009 Noble Prize in Economic
Sciences

• Elinor Ostrom challenged this conventional

wisdom and orthodox view of NRM-Poverty
linkages.
• Her work and others challenged Hardin’s
“Tragedy of the Commons” and demonstrated
how humans interact with ecosystems to
maintain long-term sustainable resource
yields.
• They showed how societies have developed
diverse institutional arrangements for
managing natural resources and avoiding
ecosystem collapse.

• Emphasizes the multifaceted nature of

human–ecosystem interaction as follows.
• The concept of environmental entitlements
refers to:

– the alternative sets of benefits derived from

environmental goods and services over which
people have legitimate effective command over
them
• Empirical studies demonstrate that many poor people
are able to adopt protective mechanisms through
collective action which reduce the impacts of
demographic, economic and environmental change
(Forsyth and Leach (1998), Bucknall et al., (2000),
Cavendish (2000), and Comin et al., (2009).

• .............although the rural poor may have limited

resources, they still have considerable capacity to
adapt to environmental degradation and to
rehabilitate degraded resources
• The environmental entitlements framework
stresses the need for differentiating the social
actors in terms of their capabilities,
endowments and entitlements.

• Actors (i.e. managers and users) of

ecosystems have unequal access to resources.

• One of important actors are women!!!

• For example:

– Households living in extreme poverty and depending directly on

the use of natural resources tend to be female headed.

– Even when households have a male and female head,

intrahousehold access to, and management of natural
resources, often favour men and boys.

• Therefore, gender is arguably one of the critical factors that

affect the use and management of natural resources
The “Sustainable Development” Approach
 The “Sustainable Development”
Approach
• While many and confusing definitions of
sustainable development abound, Pezzey (1989)
states that “a development path is sustainable if
total welfare does not decline along the path”.

• Critical to this definition is a realization that

sufficient welfare functions through
consumption, environmental quality, social
equity, and other factors contributing to the
quality of life (Adams, 2006; UN, 1987).
• This definition captures the essence of a
pattern of resource use that aims to meet
human needs while preserving the natural
resources.

• This is necessary so that these needs can be

met not only in the present, but also for
generations to come – intergenerational
equity.
• The Bruntland Commission (Bruntland, 1987)
first referred to sustainable development as
one that "meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
• Sustainable development is, therefore, a
pattern of resource use that aims to meet
human needs while preserving the
environment so that these needs can be met
not only in the present, but also in the
future.

• Sustainability requires that human activity

only use nature's resources at a rate at which
they can be replenished naturally.
• This definition is rooted in a systems thinking as
it stresses the three interdependent and mutually
reinforcing pillars of sustainable development:

– economic development, social development, and

environmental sustainability.

• Sustainable development, therefore, aims to

bring the three together in a balanced way, as
three interconnected or nested rings
• Economic: an economically sustainable system
must be able to:

– Produce goods and services on a continuing basis;

– maintain manageable levels of government and
external debt; and
– avoid extreme sectoral imbalances that damage
agricultural and/or industrial production.
• Environmental: an environmentally
sustainable system must maintain:

– A stable resource base and avoid overexploitation

of non-renewable resource systems including:
• maintenance of biodiversity;
• atmospheric stability; and
• ecosystems services not always looked upon as
economic resources.
• Social: a socially sustainable system must

– achieve fairness in distribution and opportunity

among all persons with adequate provision of
such social services as health, education and
gender equity.

– The social dimension focuses on reconciliation of

environment and development, and governance
related to provision of social services
• The nested rings approach insists that:

– the economy is dependent on society and the

environment.
– Human and economic activities take place within
the environment and
– the society depend on and have an impact on the
environment.
– A key issue for sustainable development is
therefore

• the integration of different dimensions of

sustainability;
• taking a holistic view; and
• overcoming barriers between disciplines, ideologies
and sectors.
The “Sustainable Livelihoods”
Approach
 The “Sustainable Livelihoods”
Approach
• This recognition of the complexity in NRM-
poverty interactions has led to a focus
• on ‘sustainable rural livelihoods’.

• According to Chambers and Conway (1992):

“A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets
(including both material and social resources)
and activities required for a means of living.
• A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope
with and recover from stresses and shocks,
maintain or enhance its capabilities and
assets, while not undermining the natural
resource base.”
• The ‘sustainable livelihoods’ (SL) framework is
increasingly important in the NRM-
development debate.
 The Sustainable Livelihoods
Framework

• It’s ONE WAY of “organising” the complex

issues surrounding POVERTY
 Livelihoods assets
Human
Capital

Social Natural
Capital The Poor Capital

Physical Financial
Capital Capital
 Human Capital

• Health
• Nutrition
• Education
• Knowledge and skills
• Capacity to work
• Capacity to adapt
 Natural Capital
• Land and produce • Wild foods & fibres

• Water & aquatic • Biodiversity

resources

• Trees and forest • Environmental

products services

• Wildlife
 Social Capital
• Networks and connections
o patronage
o neighbourhoods
o kinship
• Relations of trust and mutual support
• Formal and informal groups
• Common rules and sanctions
• Collective representation
• Mechanisms for participation in decision-
making
• Leadership
 Physical Capital
• Infrastructure
• transport - roads, vehicles, etc.
• secure shelter & buildings
• water supply & sanitation
• energy
• communications
• Tools and techology
• tools and equipment for production
• seed, fertiliser, pesticides
• traditional technology
 Financial Capital
• Savings

• Credit/debt - formal, informal, NGOs

• Remittances

• Pensions

• Wages
 The Asset Mix
• Different households with different
access to livelihood “assets”

• Livelihoods affected by:

o diversityof assets
o amount of assets
o balance between assets
 Human capital

So…….. • labour capacity

• no education
Landless • limited skills
female Natural capital
agricultural • landless
labourer • access to common property resources
Financial capital
Human
Capital • low wages
• no access to credit
Physical capital
• poor water supply
Social Natural • poor housing
Capital Capital • poor communications
Social capital
• low social status
Physical Financial • descrimination against women
Capital Capital • strong links with family & friends
• traditions of reciprocal exchange
= an extremely reduced “livelihood
pentagon”
 “Vulnerability” Context
• Shocks
– Floods, droughts, cyclones
– Deaths in the family
– Violence or civil unrest
• Seasonality
• Trends and changes
– Population
– Environmental change
– Technology
– Markets and trade
– Globalisation
“Vulnerability” Context
H

Vulnerability
Context N
S
Shocks The people
Seasonality
Trends
Changes

P F
 Transforming structures and processes
• of government
• Policies • of different LEVELS of government
• of NGOs
• of interational bodies

• political, legislative & representative bodies

• Institutions • executive agencies
• judicial bodies
• civil society & membership organisations
• NGOs
• law, money
• political parties
• commercial enterprises & corporations

• the “rules of the game”

• Processes • decision-making processes
• social norms & customs
• gender, caste, class
• language
 Policies, Institutions & Processes

H
Vulnerability
Context
Policies
Shocks S N
The people influence Institutions
Seasonality
Trends Processes
Changes
P F
 Livelihood Strategies
Combining:
• the assets they can access

Taking account of:

• the vulnerability context

Supported or obstructed by:

• policies, institutions and processes.

………..………..leading to
 Livelihood Outcomes
Poverty - a “poor” livelihood outcome:

• based on a fragile or unbalanced set of livelihood

assets

• unable to sustain to shocks, changes or trends

• not supported, or actively obstructed by policies,

institutions and processes that do not allow assets
to be used as they might

• livehood options combined in a “bad” or

unsustainable strategy
 The Sustainable Livelihoods
Framework

H
Vulnerability
Context
Shocks Policies Livelihood Livelihood
Seasonality S The Poor Ninfluence Institutions Strategies Outcomes
Trends Processes
Changes

P F
• The framework shows how, in different
contexts, sustainable livelihoods are achieved
through access to a range of livelihood
resources (natural, economic, human and
social capitals) which are combined in the
pursuit of different livelihood strategies with
known livelihoods outcomes.
• People’s access to assets is strongly influenced
by their vulnerability context, which takes
account of:
– trends (for example, economic, political,
technological, etc.),
– shocks (for example, epidemics, natural disasters,
civil strife); and
– seasonality (for example, rains, droughts,
employment opportunities).
• Access is also influenced by the prevailing
social, institutional and political environment

• .......... which affects the ways in which people

combine and use their assets to achieve their
goals.
• For natural resources projects, the goal is to
enhance wellbeing and livelihoods of a variety
of stakeholders with a responsibility to sustain
the natural resource base so that future
generations can meet their needs.
• the simplest approach is to sustain the
inclusive wealth of the natural system

• ........., i.e., the total capital (natural, physical,

human, and social) that constitutes the
productive base available to society.
• Note that natural and social capitals are the
most difficult components of capital to renew,

• .......... once they are degraded, these are the

most critical components of inclusive wealth
to sustain.
The Resilience Approach
 The Resilience Approach

• Remember, the SL Framework emphasizes the

sustainability dimension, by looking at the resilience of
livelihoods and the natural resource base on which, in
part, they depend.

• Thus, livelihoods are sustainable when they are

resilient (strong, tough) in the face of :
– External shocks and stresses;
– maintain the long-term productivity of natural resources;
and
– do not undermine the livelihoods of, or compromise the
livelihood options open to others.
• Remember further that:

– Natural resource base sustainability refers to the

ability of a system to maintain productivity when
subject to disturbing forces, stresses and shocks.
• A key challenge for development is the
inherent complexity of NRM systems and the
delicate balance of managing natural
resources for present and future generations

• ,.......in the face of uncertainty and

vulnerability at complex temporal and spatial
scales.
• Chapin (2009) advocates broadening the
concept of sustainable development to

• .......a resilience-based approach to respond to

and shape change in social–ecological systems
in order to sustain the supply and
opportunities for use of ecosystem services by
society.
• The resilience approach builds on sustainable
development and sustainable livelihoods

• ........ by emphasizing the strategies employed

by communities to manage their natural
resources and their livelihoods under
conditions of uncertainty and in the face of
rapid change.
• The approach advances the principles of
adaptive management and integrative
approaches to NRM change and sustainability.

• It posits that the challenges of NRM can be

confronted with the empowerment of local
communities to manage their natural
resources
Thank you!!