ABSTRACT
In thinking about ways of ‘doing’ resource management, it is very easy to limit our horizon to what resource managers ‘do’ in their professional work (in some form or another), and to neglect the broader social and political arenas in which decisions crucial to resource management are made. For example, it would be easy to overemphasise the importance of ‘doing’ impact assessment, and ignore actions in the wider political arena that shape what impact assessment is required. In this chapter the focus shifts away from the specifics of impact assessment to consider the broader policy arena as an arena of practice. The discussion also considers how public policy processes interact with corporate and community actions in shaping reform processes and practical outcomes in resource management systems.
