Understanding Stakeholder Values in Co-Management Arrangements for Protected Area Establishment on the Kokoda Track, Papua New Guinea

Over recent years, a number of scholars have drawn attention to the importance of broad stakeholder participation in natural resource management. The general trend toward a more democratic attitude amongst many resource management practitioners has also amplified pressure for the development of processes whereby the full spectrum of stakeholders can engage in the development of sustainable natural resource management plans. Theories of co-management have formed an important part of research in this field for a number of years, and more recently there has been a concerted academic attempt to develop methodologies for operationalizing co-management. The aim of this paper is to present an operationalization of the action arena developed by Carlsson and Berkes (2005), which is a six-step methodological schema for enacting co-management arrangements in natural resource management. The action arena is essentially the community or resource system under investigation. Carlsson and Berkes (2005) note that first an understanding of the action arena is required prior to proceeding to the management tasks to be performed, and identifying the stakeholder linkages that must be analysed in order to determine opportunities for capacity building and strategies for conflict resolution