ABSTRACT
Sustainable management of common resources is one of the biggest challenges for the twenty-first century. Increasing anthropogenic pressures on the environment and structural inequalities in access, commercialization and use of natural resources, requires reconsidering governance models towards forms where participation, transparency and equity are the guiding principles. In Latin America, many authors have described the relevance of self-organization to understand and promote sustainable management practices. In Chile, major changes have been implemented in artisanal and industrial fisheries administrative regimes since 1990, particularly guided towards the implementation of a polycentric system. Especially relevant has been the formation of Management Committees for industrial and artisanal fisheries, which are inter-sectorial entities for the management of common fisheries and benthonic resources. However, policy implementation faces challenges and obstacles, including regulatory, administrative and institutional barriers and self-management capacities of artisanal fishers and their representatives. This chapter argues that a necessary condition for sustainable management of common resources is strengthening spaces for collective action based on deliberative democracy principles, like reciprocity, confidence and cooperation. Additionally, social legitimacy of these spaces requires effective and transparent decision-making in order to face the intrinsic problems of administration of common resources.
