| Module 4 examined practical aspects of CBNRM. The module was designed to enable participants to apply different elements of the previous modules and to prepare for issues likely to surface in the filedwork.
Each participant wrote up a case study from their work context as a basis for further further analysis. Three case studies were selected for further analysis and as a basis for exploring the process of engagement with multiple resource users in a variety of resource management contexts.
Participants began by developing a process model that conceptualised the different actors and activities involved in the planning and implementation of a CBNRM initiative. Four different models were developed and compared by different groups. Common features of each process approach were identified and the strengths and weaknesses of each were assessed. This activity was complemented by an input by Webster Whande entitled Implementing CBNRM - a process approach.
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| Herbert Mwalukomo explains his group's CBNRM process model |
Machana Shamukuni providing an alternative view |
Mandla Makhanya arguing his group's approach |
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Webster Whande synthesizing the process models |
Tanya Higgins outlines Kulthoum Omari modelling as the 'new CBNRM professional' |
Tanya Higgins sorts cards representing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes |
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Munyaradzi Saruchera introduces the 3 world view in his session on IKS |
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William Ellis discussing the role of legal entities in CBNRM |
Participants then identified the key knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that should characterise the new natural resource management professional. This lead to a discussion that examined the multiskilled and interdisciplinary nature of the profession. The discussion highlighted the centrality of the social dimensions of natural resource management and the range of associated skills.
Participants continued to work with regional case studies to conceptualise entry strategies to identify and engage with different resource users around a co-management strategy. This activity was consolidated by Webster Whande with a session on the design of baseline studies. Munyaradzi Saruchera followed this up with a session on understanding and valuing local knowledge. He explored Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and the three world view which examined linkages between the Human, Natural and Spiritual Worlds arguing that CBNRM in Africa can best be understood in the context of African worldviews of the relationships between these worlds. The session examined how IKS were embedded in institutional arrangements mediating people's access to resources. At the same time Munyaradzi highlighted the dangers of romanticising IKS, noting that indigenous knowledge systems can become dysfunctional due to population, ecological and other factors.
The module concluded with an assessment of legal entities and their role in CBNRM. William Ellis focused on the successes and failures of legally entities established to formalise rights of specific resources users over sets of resources. His session focused on the role of legal entities within the context of land reform and NRM in South Africa. He highlighted the experience of establishing legal entities in contexts where traditional authorities had local influence and examined their often uneasy relationships with local government. He noted the challenges of trying to use legal entities as a legal glue to bind groups of land reform beneficiaries. He examined legal entities in the context of CBNRM characterised by the rapid commoditisation of cultural and natural resources. He assessed the extent to which the formation of legal entities could protect local interests.
His session profiled the complex case of the dispute over the rights to and benefits from hoodia gordonia - a plant that has been used for generations as an appetitive suppressant by the San. A multinational drug company synthesised and patented the active ingredients of Hoodia as a wonder anti-fat drug with potential market value of millions of dollars worldwide. They made no attempts to compensate the "owners" of the knowldege. However after San communities got support and legal assistance from NGOs the drug company has now agreed to pay compensation to a legal entity - the San council of South Africa. However despite this success there remained difficult questions to answer. Who owns indigenous knowledge? San communities throughout the region have used Hoodia. Is it correct that only the San communities in South Africa should benefit? | 
