The Value of Cultural Theory for Participatory Processes in Natural Resource Management

While participation is seen as an important part of sustainable natural resource management, it is not always successful – a number of studies to date indicate conflicting values and power inequalities can significantly undermine participatory processes. A new paper in the Journal of Forest Policy and Economics examines another source of conflict: differing views of reality and underlying cultural biases. Where so far the main focus of research has been on power imbalances and conflicting interests, this article focuses on another source of conflict, i.e., differing views of reality and underlying cultural biases.

Research states that cultural theory (CT), which subdivides the divergent notions of reality into four worldviews (hierarchism, individualism, egalitarianism, fatalism), could be a useful tool to gain insight in conflicting views of reality and the consequences of these conflicting views for participatory processes. To investigate the value of CT for participation, a study in Java (Indonesia) was carried out to determine to what extent worldviews can be used to predict preferred strategies in forestry problems. The results show that an empirical identification of worldviews was possible, but these worldviews do not automatically explain how individuals address forestry problems. This might be because of the difficulty of measuring worldviews in relation to individuals' strategies, or that CT's explanatory capacity is overestimated. In either case, the paper concludes that CT, the way it is used now, is not the instrument that will help us solving the problems in participatory processes.

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Authors: Marjanke A. Hoogstra-Klein, Dwiko B. Permadi, Yurdi Yasmi

Journal Title:  Forest Policy and Economics
Volume: 20
Pages: 99-106
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.12.001
Publication Year: 2012
Language: English