Governing Through Networks: Working Toward a Sustainable Management of West Africa’s Coastal Mangrove Ecosystems - The Land/Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone of West and Central Africa - page 186

through collaboration that have produced major successes
in the West African marine and coastal region over the past
several years. Thematic networks that target a specific
functional unit, such as the marine protected area, are
shown to achieve success in developing strong relationships
among actors who share knowledge about how to best
preserve and manage critical habitats and thus take coherent
and effective action. But they have also encountered many
of the challenges that typically arise when networked gov-
ernance approaches are applied to complex policy prob-
lems. These networks—the Regional Coastal and Marine
Conservation Partnership (PRCM), the West African net-
work for marine protected areas (RAMPAO)—have
revealed the utility and challenges of using networked
governance models to address mangrove conservation.

transition, meaning that opportunities to influence change
are always available to be exploited by actors within the
system (Waldrop 1994 ; Huitema et al. 2009 ). The combi-
nation of human activities, such as the clearance of man-
groves for aquaculture, and environmental pressures, such
as sea-level rise, necessitate the development of a different
policy framework for mangrove conservation.
This chapter employs the concept of networked gover-
nance as a useful framework for managing the often over-
lapping or conflicting conservation goals that
simultaneously attempt to enhance human well-being and
ecological resilience (Hirsch et al. 2010 ; McShane et al.
2011 ). We present two case studies of how networks can be
used to mitigate the degradation of mangrove ecosystems
and the negative effects emanating from conservation policy
implementation. Enhanced collaboration among various
government bodies, and between those bodies and non-
governmental stakeholders, is a key ingredient to the suc-
cess of networked governance. If we acknowledge that both
natural and human agents contribute to environmental
degradation through complicated interactions at multiple
scales, then conservation efforts will be more coherent.
Networks offer a powerful tool for enhancing coordina-
tion and synergy, and for making sense of the trade-offs.
They represent an important mechanism that works to
capitalize on the effectiveness of local communities in
addressing complex problems that have regional and even
global consequences. Lessons learned on the ground from
experience and experimentation can be effectively trans-
mitted to the national and regional levels through networked
governance to effect policy change. This model of gover-
nance permits each participating institution and entity to
focus on its core mission while multiplying the impact of its
individual actions. This multiplier effect is transmitted
through the interconnections or relationships that connect
the various parts of these human networks. These connec-
tions are sustained through information flows, or, in some
cases, through contractual arrangements (Meadows 2008 ).
The network brings together the combined might of indi-
vidual organizations whose missions complement each
other and address different aspects and scales of complex
policy and conservation problems.
While Huitema et al. ( 2009 ) conclude that there is little
empirical evidence proving that polycentric governance
systems (systems characterized by multiple centers of
authority or control) are more flexible and resilient than
centralized hierarchical systems, many case studies
(including this one) have demonstrated the advantages of
systems that distribute ecosystem management responsi-
bilities across scales and actors (Imperial 2005 ; PRCM
2012). Indeed, effectiveness increases as opportunities to
collaborate are multiplied, allowing the development of
trust.

Complexity and Governance

Species losses are often the 'result of interactions between a
number of highly context-dependent causal factors' (Blau-
stein and Kiesecker 2002 , p. 597). Therefore, instead of
focusing on single factors that may endanger a species or
critical habitat, Blaustein and Kiesecker ( 2002 ) assert the
need to understand the complex interactions among multi-
ple factors affecting ecosystems in order to fully understand
the causes of biodiversity loss. Such an approach allows the
examination of how human actions such as habitat
destruction, overexploitation of natural resources, and the
release of contaminants interact with environmental factors
to exacerbate species or habitat losses.
Human-environment interactions and policy solutions
occur within the intricate structures of ecosystems (Fig. 1 ).
These systems are themselves naturally in a constant state
of flux and change due to environmental forces such as
climate, gravitational pull, and the amount of precipitation
or carbon dioxide in the air (Blaustein and Kiesecker 2002 ;
Lui et al. 2007 ; Dayton et al. 2005 ). This state of constant
action and reaction creates an atmosphere of seeming chaos
where the causes and effects of various changes are difficult
to distinguish. However, the dynamic nature of ecosystems
actually indicates the capacity of such systems to engage in
continual adaptation. For example, the Science for the
Protection of Indonesian Coastal Ecosystems (SPICE III)
program discovered the presence of a new faunal species in
the Segara Anakan Lagoon, representing a habitat adapta-
tion in response to a high concentration of organic pollu-
tants in the sediment (ZMT 2012 ). Social systems such as
policy governance 1 systems are in a similar state of constant

1

Following Huitema et al. ( 2009 ), in this study, governance is defined
to include the gamut of formal and informal structures and relation-
ships that are implicated in governing.