A Comparative Policy Framework Analysis of the Impact of International Environmental Agreements and Processes on Local Community Development in Kenya
| atmire.migration.oldid | 2134 | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Draper, Dianne | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Grant, Miriam | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ouko, Evans Mark | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-05-01T21:13:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-06-16T07:00:38Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-05-01 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2014 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Policy and technological factors outside the immediate boundaries of environmental resource areas are increasingly viewed as critical to the outcomes of chosen management strategies. In particular, the derivation of commons policy by most developing countries from a similar set of international treaties and processes often results in uncertain and unintended consequences on local development. I undertook a multi-scalar policy analysis case study with a mixed methods approach of Kenya forestry governance by examining how external factors influence national policies and selected local community development projects in order to contribute to theory and programmatic improvements. Political ecology was adopted as the broad investigative tool toward multiple socially constructed realities for different actors. Study participants were located at local, national and international agency levels with a focus on international treaties and processes impacting on forest governance. I found that international actors had, in practice, acquired significant stake-holding of contested forest areas in Kenya through their categorization as globally significant biodiversity habitats. The emergence of horizontal and vertical networks and coalitions propagated skewed power relationships in the new multilevel management arrangements. Normative goals of international environmental treaties aimed at benefitting local communities were routinely superseded by higher level interests with preference for the maintenance of the status quo such as neoliberal-informed and centralized commons management. I recognized the centrality of a shared commons in the rural development agenda and the need to adopt more redistributive contextualized policies and intervention programs that give relevance to accepted and relevant local cultural practices if more sustainable outcomes are to be achieved. More collaborative efforts and linkages at vertical and horizontal levels within and between Community Forest Associations, development cooperatives at regional and national levels, and deliberate linkages to international nongovernmental organizations that support their beliefs in practice will be critical in reversing the power imbalances observed in forest governance. Because ICDPs have evolved into major development mechanisms in Kenya’s overall development process I recommended that a comprehensive and inclusive political definition of its boundaries and aims should be undertaken in order to rationalize its operations within the overall development agenda. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Ouko, E. M. (2014). A Comparative Policy Framework Analysis of the Impact of International Environmental Agreements and Processes on Local Community Development in Kenya (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24668 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/24668 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1473 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Graduate Studies | |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.publisher.place | Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | |
| dc.subject | Geography | |
| dc.subject.classification | environmental policy | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | local community development | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Kenya | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Project Management | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | globalization | en_US |
| dc.title | A Comparative Policy Framework Analysis of the Impact of International Environmental Agreements and Processes on Local Community Development in Kenya | |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Geography | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true |