Institutional linkages and landscape governance systems: the case of Mt. Marsabit, Kenya (original) (raw)
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2014
On the whole, institutional systems within counties in Kenya have not been designed with ecosystem management in mind, whether in Marsabit or elsewhere. Ecosystems, moreover, cut across Ward, Location, and County boundaries. Devolution as envisaged under the current constitution, with the national and county governments revising old institutional structures, provides a window of opportunity to improve natural resource governance. This brief aims to inform ongoing processes of legal and institutional reform and policy on natural resource governance in the drylands.
INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT IN KENYA: THE STATE OF THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT
Kenya, like many nations, faces inter-related challenges of poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, and resource competition. Effectively tackling these issues necessitates the development of coordinated, landscape-scale partnerships through a process referred to as integrated landscape management (ILM). Kenya has become a leader in ILM, but responding to new environmental and socio-economic pressures demands further facilitation of ILM through targeted structuring of national laws, policies, regulations and strategies. This paper assesses the policy and legal context for ILM in Kenya in four key areas: 1) stakeholder cooperation and coordination, 2) legal and regulatory framework, 3) knowledge and capacity, and 4) investments and incentives for ILM. Our assessment indicates a strong foundation for the development of ILM in Kenya, especially through support for institutional collaboration, harmonization of policies across sectors, participatory natural resource management, and incentivizing ILM practices. Nonetheless, obstacles to ILM persist, such as budgeting processes that hinder integrated landscape financing. To improve the enabling environment for ILM, we suggest the following recommendations: 1) improve inter-ministerial and interagency cooperation, 2) stimulate ILM-friendly financing structures at the national level, 3) support county-level institutional capacities for ILM, and 4) facilitate financial coordination at the county level.
Multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) are the subject of increasing attention and investment in the domain of collaborative natural resource governance, yet evidence-based guidance is slim on policy and investment priorities to leverage the MSP approach. We provide a comparative analysis of eight landscape-level MSPs spanning seven countries (Peru, Brazil, India, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and a cross-border case from Kenya and Somalia), representing a diversity of resource systems covering forests, rangelands, and multiuse agricultural landscapes. Applying an adapted social-ecological systems framework, our synthesis identifies the influence of these MSPs on patterns of stakeholder interaction and draws implications for the design and organization of MSPs that are both appropriate and effective. From the cases, we distill lessons addressing: (1) how to design an MSP in relation to the governance context, including the fit between institutional and ecological dimensions of the system and with attention to cross-scale linkages; (2) how to implement inclusive processes that address power inequities, including through capacity building and procedural rules; and (3) how to support adaptive learning to expand the MSP's influence over time, including monitoring outcomes, adapting the scope of stakeholder engagement, and investing in MSP durability.