Bypassing the Commons: A Political Ecology of Elite Capture and Resilience in Wetland Co-Management
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This study uses Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System Framework (SESF) to analyse fishers’ resilience to social-ecological challenges within the co-managed Bogiani fishery’s social-ecological system (SES) in Bangladesh. Synthesizing the SESF with insights from political ecology and informal institutional theory, the study assesses how structural power relations and patronage networks influence fishers’ resilience. Empirical findings from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions indicate that socioeconomic adversity and top-down, hierarchical political processes constrain local fishers’ capacity to co-manage the fishery. Unable to cover high annual leasing fees and maintenance expenses in competitive government auctions, fishers rely on wealthy, politically connected individuals for financial backing. This reliance enables elites to capture fishery management informally. Furthermore, exclusion from decision-making, market-driven governance, and short-term profit extraction without habitat restoration threaten long-term social-ecological sustainability. Minimal fisher participation in rulemaking and enforcement severely undermines collective action, causing co-management to fail in fostering joint action to mitigate ecological degradation.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7215028448