Beyond Proprietorship. Murphree�s Laws on Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Southern Africa: Murphree�s Laws on Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Southern Africa

13. Taking Murphree’s Principles into the Future

198 TAKING MURPHREE’S PRINCIPLES INTO THE FUTURE … Introduction This concluding section is a synopsis informed partly by the contributions included in this book. Moreover, it is informed by discussions and deliberations that occurred during the conference held to honour Professor Murphree’s contribution to scholarship and natural resources governance in southern Africa. The discussions held at the conference, and also implied in the chapters forming this volume, clearly highlight the fact that research and development are political processes, as is policy making. The authors of this concluding chapter have elected to discuss an issue often ignored by researchers and all those concerned with empowering marginalised communities across southern Africa, namely that both research and development are political processes. Research & development as politics Researchers are often not critical about issues such as who drives their research agendas. Generally speaking, research is a political process because it is done within a framework of interests, whether individually or collectively. Applied research is more political still because it seeks to change social structures so that they become more beneficial to a larger segment of society, particularly the marginalised and powerless. When talking about CBNRM initiatives, applied social scientists are more concerned with creating partnerships and capacity building in beneficiary communities. Connectedness of policy and research is illustrated by Marshall Murphree’s engagements with both academia and policy-makers in the wildlife arena. For example, his engagement as a Parks and Wildlife Board member and as the chairman of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe , is illustrative of the continuum involving research and policy making. We should also not lose sight of his successful participation in the CITES Conference of Parties discussions at the international level. 13 Taking Murphree’s Principles into the Future: The Research & Development Issues for CBNRM Initiatives in Southern Africa Billy Mukamuri, Jeanette Manjengwa & Simon Anstey 199 Billy Mukamuri, Jeanette Manjengwa & Simon Anstey Another lesson drawn from Professor Murphree’s long academic and development career is that researchers need always to reflect on their work – past, present and ongoing – and to persevere, even if the working environment is hostile, with the aim of ‘turning the tide’ through lobbying. Applied research is all about changing lives for the better, for improving humanity’s well-being. In addition, we are reminded that applied research is a lifelong engagement with a ‘moral nature’ and this reminds us of the need for commitment to the people we are engaged with, particularly the powerless, and marginalised communities. Language is a central component of applied research. The general tendency by most researchers is to use complicated language, hardly comprehended by various stakeholders and end-users. Heavy-handed language mystifies research and development, and yet the purpose of research is to demystify issues. Researchers ought to write and speak in comprehensible languages. Development, like research, is a political process involving multiple stakeholders and interests. Researchers need to be resolute and optimistic all the time. We are reminded that researchers and development practitioners need to view issues more as ‘challenges’ than as ‘problems’: ‘problems disillusion’, while ‘challenges inspire’. Development will occur if the increasing tendency towards ‘elite capture’ of CBNRM initiatives is curtailed. More and more effort is needed to give priority to local communities so that they take charge of their own development. Further devolution of CBNRM initiatives to levels lower than RDCs continues to be called for. RDCs, though lower than governmental line ministries, are still strongly linked to the state and therefore constrained as key partners in a devolved or decentralised natural resources governance regime. In terms of wildlife management at the local level, there is a wide recognition of the need for more constituent-based institutions. Towards a pro-poor research agenda Deliberations at the conference and contributions to this book indicate the importance of understanding political dynamics at the local level. More research needs to be conducted to understand and hence improve ‘democracy from below’ and reverse the elite capture of CBNRM initiatives. An investigation into policy making processes remains an imperative for CBNRM researchers. Another key aspect of CBNRM research is understanding representation , and issues linking culture and politics such as natural resources management, property and democracy. Legal aspects of CBNRM initiatives require full comprehension. There is a need to investigate and characterise property rights surrounding different CBNRM contexts, which may include public, private and common property regimes. 200 TAKING MURPHREE’S PRINCIPLES...