Policies and governance structures in woodlands of Southern Africa

Abstract

This study investigated the institutional arrangements governing the management of miombo woodlands by exploring factors resulting in institutional change and how institutions respond to change in the miombo woodland. It has demonstrated the existence of a multiplicity of institutions ranging from national to local and from formal to informal; each varying according to the particular socio-cultural and traditional context. Understanding institutions in the region and the processes involved in their origins, evolution and dynamics is observed as much more important than analysing and interpreting them according to the “design principles” approach under common property resource (CPR) systems. A historical analysis has also revealed that institutions have to some extent been affected by changing state and administrative frameworks, from colonial to post-colonial periods. While recognising, for various reasons, the general weaknesses of some institutions to effectively govern natural resources, this study also identified critical factors that make some institutions in the region stable and enduring. The analysis has shown that institutions that are better integrated in terms of traditional, socio-cultural traits and incentives, and are given moral and political legitimacy at the local level are more stable and enduring than those that are less so. In our study, these refer to institutions concerning traditional leaderships, different types of clans or households, and sacred areas. Recent developments of devolution and legislation to enable community-based resource management have been based on the recognition of the potential of these local institutions while at the same time calling into question the efficacy of state institutions to manage on their own without community institutions. As the region continues to recognise the legitimacy of traditional systems with their related structures and rules, these critical factors are important in shaping or harnessing local institutions. This is of particular importance as policy makers try to develop institutional frameworks that integrate and accommodate formal legislation, e.g., the Forest Act, within the local by-laws for governing natural resource management of the miombo woodlands.