ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the strategies and innovations employed by the fishing communities to challenge unjust conservation proposals and articulate and claim their rights. It examines the responses of different governance actors as well as the deliberative processes, and shifts in attitude that took place in the seven-year process that resulted in a consensus regarding a contested estuary management plan. The chapter discusses lessons learned and highlights the importance of a robust legal foundation, the value of partnerships and transdisciplinary research and the critical role of advocacy, awareness raising and capacity development. Providing the space and time for sharing knowledge, values, views and aspirations is crucial for transformative learning. The chapter reports on a classic conservation conflict in South Africa where local resource-dependent communities are under threat due to conservation plans to expand a protected area and enhance biodiversity protection.
