Background

The background to CBNRM Networking is briefly presented below through a number of steps and dimensions. These include history, intellectual evolution and societal contexts (the latter along several societal levels from micro to macro). Basically, the history of CBNRM and CBNRM Networking has, to a large extent, evolved in parallell, in response to - and utilizing - opportunities in terms of Internet-based technology on the one hand, and advances in globalization, localization and decentralization, on the other hand.

Internationally, work on community-based approaches to identifying, addressing and solving local problems and issues in connection with natural resource management are increasing fast. At the same time there is little contact between these local initiatives. Connected with this, there is little concerted effort at managing the fast growing body of knowledge and making it accessible. Likewise, the lack of contact between the stakeholders means that valuable experiences are not shared. As a result, the CBNRM agenda is not moving ahead as fast as one could wish.

Relevant Sections and Pages: .

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Pages in this section

  1. On CBNRM.  On what CBNRM was and is today. [access]
  2. The beginning.  (text.) [access]
  3. The 1998 CBNRM workshop.  (text.) [access]
  4. CBNRM Net.  (text.) [access]
  5. CBNRM Networking.  (text.) [access]
  6. CBNRM internationally.  (text.) [access]

On CBNRM

(see separate page.)

Further information: CBNRM.

The beginning

CBNRM originated in Southern Africa, as an approach together with the name and its abbreviation, around the early 1980s. The first organized effort to develop and use CBNRM was likely the "Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources" (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe, and others, especially NGOs, in the region followd suit. From the very beginning CBNRM was concerned with collective management of natural resources, while an early applied focus was on wildlife management, especially in connection with local involvement in the management of game and national parks.

Further information: CBNRM Net's online bibliography, CBNRM Networking's Section Links.

The 1998 CBNRM workshop

In 1998, the World Bank's World Bank Institute, in collaboration with others, organized the first ever international workshop on CBNRM (Washington DC, USA, 10-14 May 1998). Around 200 persons from more than 60 countries participated. This event represented a watershed in the interest in CBNRM, esp. outside of Southern Africa, including among practitioners and donors alike. The CBNRM Net (see below) became an important part of this internationalization of CBNRM.

In their recommendations, the workshop participants suggested, among others, that a network be established in order to make possible and further the communication and exchange between the participants. Other recommendations were directed at the World Bank as well as at the participants' respective governments. While these later recommendations probably were not acted upon, the recommendation to establish a global network was implemented. This became the responsibility of Lars Soeftestad, one of the organizers of the 1998 workshop.

Further information: Workshop website (as of 2000, on archive.org), Workshop website (as of 2002, on World Bank site), Workshop summary (incl. links to key documents, on CBNRM Net), Participants' regional overviews and recommendations (on CBNRM Net), List of participants (on CBNRM Net), Final workshop report (on CBNRM Net).

Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network (CBNRM Net)

Lars Soeftestad, working out of the World Bank Institute, implemented a key recommendation by participants at the May 1998 CBNRM workshop, namely the creation of a network, the Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network (CBNRM Net). CBNRM Net was established in 1998, including a website that contained substantial information and documents pertaining to the workshop, hosted on a World Bank server. When Lars Soeftestad left the World Bank in 2000 to move back to Norway he suggested that the World Bank take over management of the CBNRM Net. This was turned down, because it was concluded that the Bank did not have any comparative advantages (nor experience) in managing such networks. CBNRM Net was subsequently registered as an NGO in Norway.

Further information: CBNRM Net.

CBNRM Networking

CBNRM Networking represents a further development. It is the legal underpinning and overarching, integrative organizational context for a growing number of CBNRM-related social media-based, networking and operational Services, Tools and Activities (including CBNRM Net), as well as a networking home and umbrella for CBNRM work globally.

Further information: CBNRM Networking's Profile.

CBNRM internationally

Up until the early 1990s work on CBNRM was largely confined to Southern Africa. Today, while still having a dominant position in Sub-Saharan Africa, CBNRM is applied also elsewhere, including in South Asia and Southeastern Asia. It is an important agenda for several organizations with an international presence, and is used both as a tool or means and as goal. Of particular importance is the fact that CBNRM recently, has begun to be applied in some transition economies/countries.

Further information: CBNRM Networking's Links.