Document: Natural Resource Management and Local Economic Development - Linkages and lessons learnt in Chad, Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Africa and Tanzania

The guideline attempts to build bridges between the two disciplines of LED and CBNRM that can increase the quality and value that practitioners in both fields deliver to clients and communities. CBNRM is sometimes perceived as overly ecological, cultural and spiritual, while LED is sometimes perceived as capitalistic, market driven and resource hungry. Recent innovative thinking on both sides of the debate has revealed a broad and fertile middle ground where nature and the market economy can embrace and even proliferate for the benefit of local, regional and national growth as well as the development of international investment trends and consumer awareness. It is recognized that while CBNRM is a subset of LED from an economic perspective, it is as important for LED practitioners to increase their understanding of CBNRM as it is for CBNRM practitioners to embrace the rigours of the market economy in the interests of sustainable processes. CBNRM broadens the playing fields of LED and empowers communities economically. CBNRM also has the potential to meaningfully introduce new categories of human resources into the productive economy. This paper is a specific view of the linkages between CBNRM and LED, where LED is defined as the competitive, participatory model adopted by GTZ worldwide. This is defined in more detail later in the paper. Other approaches such as the “Propoor” model , the Making Markets Work for the Poor” and the “Livelihoods” model are not included in the comparative paper approach”. Apart from the recent thinking that identifies methodological concerns with these approaches, to include them in this analysis would be to create a lengthly and verbose document that detracts from the original intention of the paper.