ABSTRACT
In introducing the themes of this book, we argued for a broad integrated approach to understanding the complexity of ecological, socio-cultural and economic dynamics affecting local resource governance. This position reflects an emerging consensus in the social sciences, arising from a realistic recognition of the difficulties and contradictions faced by decentralized governance and sustainable development policy goals. 1 We have seen in the Indonesian case how economic and political crises became inextricably linked to the country’s environmental calamities as the excesses of an authoritarian regime brought about a serious deterioration of the nation’s natural wealth and extraordinary biodiversity. But we have also seen that democratization and decentralization in the post-Suharto ‘Reform Era’ did not automatically reverse this decline. The extended case studies presented in this volume show evidence that political reforms have stimulated revival of old and experimentation with new forms of local resource management, in some cases offering the prospect of a more sustainable and equitable future. In other cases, these political transformations have been accompanied by the acceleration of environ-mental decline and social disparity. In this final chapter we examine patterns across the case studies, considering the practical and theoretical problems exposed, as well as the enabling and constraining factors affecting social and environmental out-comes. We consider the links between social equity, environmental sustainability and resource governance raised in the context of debates surrounding ‘commons’ management, and reflect on the lessons suggested by our cases for prospects of constructing a broadly framed commonweal.
