GOVERNANCE AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR THE CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper was developed in the context of the research project entitled GEM-CON-BIO (Governance and Ecosystems Management for the Conservation of Biodiversity), which is a European FP6 funded project under Priority 7 – Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge-Based Society. Its strategic objective is to explore the interactions between governance modes and sustainable development objectives in view of identifying what governance processes and institutions can best contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. To achieve its objective, GEM-CON-BIO investigates types and modes of governance that are related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, identifies the critical characteristics and threshold factors that exist in the environment of an ecosystem management authority (environmental, social and economic factors), as well as who controls them, and conducts research on a range of thematic and case studies, with particular emphasis on innovative and market-based approaches to govern the use of ecosystems and individual species. GEM-CON-BIO explores these relationships between communities, their access to natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity in countries both inside and outside the EU