Editing Community-based economics (section)

== Environmental sustainability and natural resource preservation ==

Due to the hybrid nature of many [[community-based natural resource management]] approaches, governance actors from higher than just the local community level are often involved. As such, approaches can differ widely with respect to the composition of participants. Different governance functions can be performed by different actors from different societal spheres and at different levels.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sattler |first1=Claudia |last2=Schröter |first2=Barbara |last3=Meyer |first3=Angela |last4=Giersch |first4=Gregor |last5=Meyer |first5=Claas |last6=Matzdorf |first6=Bettina |title=Multilevel governance in community-based environmental management: a case study comparison from Latin America |journal=Ecology and Society |date=2016 |volume=21 |issue=4 |page=1 |doi=10.5751/ES-08475-210424 |url=https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08475-210424|doi-access=free |hdl=10535/10233 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Community-based approaches may overlook or neglect broader social processes. Some communities may be too poor or conflict-ridden to be able to help themselves; 'participation fatigue' can be present, and power differentials can lead to inequitable outcomes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wismer |first1=Susan |last2=Mitchell |first2=Bruce |title=Community-based Approaches to Resource and Environmental Management |journal=Environments: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies |date=2005 |volume=33 |issue=1 |page=1 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277801932}}</ref>

"[[Bioregionalism|Bioregional and ecological economics theory]] describes the growth of local economic linkages as vital to moving post-industrial economies toward sustainability". Growing economic links involves engaging local communities to the point where they have meaningful levels of ownership over their environmental and financial resources, in order to focus on the production of resources to meet localised needs. This pattern is becoming more familiar in many parts of North America and Europe.<ref name="perkins" /> As currently practised, [https://www.dti.gov.ph/faps/proged/ Green Community Economic Development (GCED)] schemes involve extending ideas to finance local economic initiatives. These initiatives feature energy and other conservation measures and environmental remediation as an essential job creation focus".<ref name="perkins" />

=== Australia ===
Government agencies and community groups have protocols for engaging with Aboriginal communities. In regional Australia, resource management practitioners apply projects according to engagement protocols transferred from remote Australia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=Jennifer |title=Protocols, particularities, and problematising Indigenous 'engagement' in community-based environmental management in settled Australia |journal=The Geographical Journal |date=2010 |volume=176 |issue=3 |page=1 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4959.2010.00355.x}}</ref> Various state governments in Australia devolve powers to regional organisations to decide how to invest public funds in [[environmental management]].<ref name="marshall">{{cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=Graham R |last2=McNeill |first2=Judith |last3=Reeve |first3=I J |title=Economics for Accountability in Community-Based Environmental Governance |date=2011 |url=https://apo.org.au/node/151201}}</ref> This model is an example of a community based economic approach to ecological management. This approach is one that the Australian state governments have justified based on the potential benefits of developing the capacities of landholders and other stakeholders. 
Stakeholders then respond self-reliantly (both as individuals and in groups) to the environmental challenges.<ref name="marshall" />

=== Nepal ===
The state government of Nepal set up the Community Forestry programme in 1978, an initiative that saw community members being given full rights for the protection of forests. Around twenty thousand community forest user groups, including under two and a half million households are involved in the management of around two million hectares of community forest in Nepal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overall Gaps and Challenges of Community Based Enterprise in Community Forests in Nepal |url=https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/fff_policy_brief_2.pdf |website=ICUN.org |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources}}</ref>

=== United States ===
In many rural communities across the west of the United States, ([[Community-Based Organization|community-based organisations (CBO)]]), grassroots non-profit entities focusing on revitalising their respective communities through linked natural resource stewardship and rural economic development activities, have emerged to provide direction and practical solutions to natural resource management dilemmas and social conflict.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=Jesse |last2=Davis |first2=Emily J |last3=Ellison |first3=Autumn |last4=Moseley |first4=Cassandra |last5=Nowell |first5=Branda |title=Community-Based Organizations in the U.S. West: Status, Structure, and Activities |date=2016 |url=https://ewp.uoregon.edu/sites/ewp.uoregon.edu/files/WP_67.pdf}}</ref> CBOs seek to help communities cope with policy and economic transitions.