Policy and legislative frameworks for co-management.

This paper was prepared for the Asia-Pacific Fisheries Commission workshop on mainstreaming fisheries co-management, held in Cambodia in August 2005. It examines the policy and legislative frameworks for co-management in thirteen countries in Asia and the Pacific, and the extent to which these frameworks hinder or support co-management practices. The nature of policy and legislative frameworks is varied, as is commitment by governments to co-management - in some cases support is more rhetoric than reality, with insufficient real transfer of powers and financial resources to local levels. Through an analysis of the different case studies, "lessons learned" are presented and a number of conclusions drawn about the key characteristics of a supportive policy and legislative frameworks based on some ideas about "best practice". The adoption of these characteristics by governments would demonstrate their commitment to co-management and increase the likelihood of co-management success.