Whose forest is it anyway? A critical exploration of the network governance model and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership

The Congo Rainforest of central Africa is a resource of global significance, found within the boundaries of some of the poorest countries in the world. These two factors make it particularly complex to govern. This article argues that the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) is an example of governance that aims to match the complexity of the governance challenge with a form of organisation that copes better with complexity, namely the network. It traces both the general change in governance theory and the way it has played out in the forestry sector specifically. After a descriptive overview of the CBFP, the article moves to a critical exploration of the network governance model demonstrated in this as yet understudied partnership. The following two questions were identified as key to a preliminary analysis of the CBFP: ‘Who are the stakeholders?’ and ‘What influence do these different stakeholders have?’ Secondly, the article explores the potential of multi-stakeholder tools often applied at the local level for purposes of deepening analysis at the regional and international levels, using the CBFP as a case study

Business · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental resource management · General partnership · Geography · Network governance · Political science · Public relations · Regional science · Stakeholder · Computer Science · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management

• Redd+ and the global climate policy negotiating regimes

  Godwell Nhamo•South African Journal of…•2011

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