The discursive construction of conflict in participatory forest management: The case of the Agoua forest restoration in Benin

Abstract

The discursive construction of conflict in participatory forest management: the case of the Agoua forest restoration in Benin Idrissou, L.; Aarts, M.N.C.; van Paassen, A.; Leeuwis, C. General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. AbstractThe Agoua Forest in Benin was declared a protected area in 1953 and subsequently managed by means of a coercion system, which, however, did not prevent its deforestation. In 2002, a participatory management process was designed to restore this forest. Although the project managers and local communities agreed to a plan at the beginning of the process, the plan was not implemented because confl ict arose in the course of the process. In this paper, an interactional framing approach was used to analyse the emergence of this confl ict, which ended in an impasse. This study showed that the confl ict was constructed and evolved mainly in stakeholders' discourses, even without changes in actual forest management and use. Moreover, it became clear that stakeholders constructed different frames in different conversation contexts: stakeholders, who share a set of perceptions, norms, and expectations as constructed and expressed in their talks (we-groups), constructed stereotypes and stigmas, blaming the other party and presenting themselves as innocent victims. In conversations involving all stakeholders, people did not reveal their real thoughts, either about each other or about the proposals for confl ict resolution. This study shows the relevance and agency of discourse in confl ict, and the importance of the interactional framing approach in understanding participatory management, and confl ict dynamics. It reveals how by means of discourses, farmers in the Agoua Forest succeeded in handling the confl ict, with the effect that little has been done in the project's decision to implement the plan.

Enhancing Environmental Quality and Sustainability through Negotiation and Conflict Management: Research into Systems, Dynamics, and Practices

“…While research in the United States has increasingly emphasized multicase comparisons using common indicators and research protocols, the complexity of the information necessary to understand conflict management processes coupled with the relative newness of their use continues to drive research in other countries to primarily single or small‐n case study‐based inquiries. Case studies are used either to illustrate some theoretical propositions (e.g., Aarts & Leeuwis, ; Gauthier, Simard, & Waaub, ; Idrissou, Aarts, van Paassen, & Leeuwis, ; Shmueli & Ben‐Gal, ; Turnhout, Bommel, & Aarts, ) or to extract lessons and begin to build theory on the basis of observed practical experiences (e.g., Eben, ; Gillham ; Hiwasaki, ; Kastens & Newig, ; Keen & Mercer, ; Klerkx & Aarts, ; Li, Liu, & Li, ; Shmueli, Kaufman & Ozawa, ; Soneryd, ). One research stream compares participatory practices in two or more countries (e.g., Cain et al., ; Darier et al., ; Morgenstern & Pizer, ; Stoll‐Kleemann & O'Riordan, ; Tilleman, ).…”

“…Several North American or West European initiatives have sought to implement environmental conflict management approaches in African, Asian, and South American countries that lack the political, institutional, or legal structures found in advanced democracies or have traditions of centralized, top‐down decision‐making (e.g., Porter and Young () on Ghana, Yasmi () on Indonesia, Zbinden and Lee () on Costa Rica and Idrissou et al. () on several cases in Benin). These cases have been described and evaluated, but they await analysis to derive process elements that travel well and others that cannot be implemented away from the contexts in which they evolved.…”

Community, Conflict and Land: Exploring the Strategic Partnership Model of South African Land Restitution

“…Various ways of defining conflict are analysed under problem frames, while conflict management frames deal with different ways through which conflict can be managed. Sources of power relations within conflict, such as authority, resources, expertise and personal, are studied through power frames (Gray, , Idrissou, Aarts, Van Paassen, & Leeuwis, 2011, Idrissou, van Paassen, Aarts, & Leeuwis, 2011).…”

The Role of Government in Environmental Land Use Planning: Towards an Integral Perspective

“…The idea of public participation is not new. Since the late 1980s, public participation in land use issues has become the dominant discourse, in the Netherlands, but also outside the Netherlands (see Idrissou et al, 2011). Public participation may take place at (or across) various government levels.…”