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Myths and Laws: Changing Institutions of Indigenous Marine Resource Management in Central America

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How Institutions Change

Abstract

There are a great number of studies about the traditional or indigenous management of marine resources. Some of these management systems have been able to prevent resource degradation over long periods of time and serve as examples for the sustainable use of common property resources. Over-exploitation in these systems is avoided through a set of access rights, operational use rules and sometimes through magico-religious norms such as taboos or sacred areas. However, not all traditional institutions prove efficient for the protection of natural resources. Especially in those societies that are confronting social disruption and accelerated change, for example through the rapid integration into market economies, a breakdown of the traditional management system may take place. Often the consequence is an open-access situation in which resources are over-exploited and ecosystem degradation occurs, threatening the survival of the coastal communities depending to a high degree on marine resources as a source of income and as an important protein staple. Incentives for the creation of new institutions for effective resource management come from a variety of actor groups, for example government agencies, international conservation groups or development organisations. In some cases, it is the local indigenous population itself which tries to adapt existing institutions or create new ones to confront change and to close institutional gaps.

The findings of this article are based on the author’s research in Panama in 1994 and on the findings from a research project from 1999 to 2002. The latter was financed by the German Research Council (DFG), whom I would like to thank for the funding, and was directed by Prof. J. Bähr at the University of Kiel. During this project, entitled “Traditional Resource Management of Marine Resources in Central America: Comparing Cultural Change, Conflicting Uses and Local Solutions”, research was conducted in three autoctonous populations in Central America: the Kuna of Panama, the Miskito of Eastern Nicaragua and the afro-caribbean Raizales on the Caribbean island of Providencia (Colombia).

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  1. Verena Sandner
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Heiko Breit Anita Engels Timothy Moss Markus Troja

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Sandner, V. (2003). Myths and Laws: Changing Institutions of Indigenous Marine Resource Management in Central America. In: Breit, H., Engels, A., Moss, T., Troja, M. (eds) How Institutions Change. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80936-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-80936-0_15

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

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