How can an alternative natural resource co-management system be established? —Evidence from Chinese community forestry

ABSTRACT In developing countries, interest in community forest management (CFM) has steadily increased over the last decade. Based on the extended political institutional analysis and development (P-IAD) framework, this paper analyzes the Chinese CFM system by combining the political-economic context, rules-in-use, and discourses to show alternative co-management practices. We find that CFM is rooted in national-level development strategies, embedded government-society relationships, and social development claims. This governance structure determines that the public sector guides the development and utilization directions of forest resources based on development planning and national discourses, while community leaders serve both villagers and the public sector. Over the course of development, this co-management system undergoes dynamic adjustments and gradually fulfills the evaluative criteria, including employing varied institutions, ordinary rules, and cross-scale connections. Compared with the previous co-management system, the current system presents the features of national layer penetration, continuous power coordination, and development orientation. The experience of Chinese CFM shows that scholars should focus on the impact of national-level macro strategies and social construction on natural resource management, not just cooperation between civilian agencies and the community. The findings provide developing countries with new thoughts for designing natural resource management systems.