Abstract
In theory, co-management is defined as a partnership arrangement in which government, the community of local resource users, and other resource stakeholders, share the responsibility and authority for the management of a resource. In practice, however, co-management has been used to describe a number of resource management regimes, ranging from processes that utilize only community consultation, to partnerships that incorporate equal participant decision-making. Under Northern Canadian Land Claim Settlements, co-management commonly involves joint decision making and shared responsibility regarding resource planning and management. Although these resource management boards have the financial and legal backing of Land Claim Agreements, their resource management success is largely dependent on the amount of stakeholder support for the process, the function of internal organization activities, and external factors affecting the co-managed region. This Masters Degree Project proposes and field tests an evaluation framework designed for renewable resource co-management boards and the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board (SRRB) in particular. The framework builds on previous co-management evaluations completed in Northern Canada, as well as other more recent methods of organizational assessment. As a partnership was formed with the SRRB, the framework was tailored to reflect Board input and the specifics of this co-management regime. Field testing this evaluation framework yielded general lessons and suggestions for implementing future co-management assessments, in addition to specific findings and recommendations for the SRRB.
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