ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the issue of governance. Environmental – and in fact broader – governance sets the framework for effective management of natural resources. Important shifts in governance of natural resources have appeared in the last few decades: while until the 1970s, governance was synonymous with the 'command and control' nature of central governments, trends indicate a shift towards decentralization and the expanding role of both civil society and the private sector in natural resource governance. For the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) environmental governance comprises 'the rules, practices, policies and institutions that shape how humans interact with the environment'. However, in western societies, the idea of environmental governance not being the exclusive remit of nation states, can be traced back to the 1970s and to the UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Decentralized environmental governance includes greater participation and involvement of civil society in environmental governance, a process which can be traced back to the postcolonial period.
