Study On Community Natural Resource Management From The Sociological Perspective

This research was done for the focus of human on resource and environment issues, and increasing concerns about community-based natural resource management approach with the evolution of modern ecological, economic and sociological theories. Under the current social background in China, it is difficult for the traditional village community to come back to the status of self-governance and collective management before the coorperatives, but the traditional practices in managing local natural resource still remain and present their rationality in many indigenous rural community. We can provide some theoretical instruction through exploring the rationality of these practices in rural community, which is the main purpose and significance for this research. Several conclusions are as follows:Firstly, the process of local people managing local natural resource management covers the interaction between local people and local natural resource, the objective of meeting livelihood and the process of local people socialization. This process is very complex, which is affected by various political, economic, social and cultural factors from macro- to micro-level.Secondly, to a natural resource dependent rural community, the process of the local natural resource management per se is a course of interaction among community residents. During this course, the definition of natural resource right and duty of community actors, community institution, social capital and the involving of external development projects play active roles.Thirdly, the availability of local natural resource management in rural community depends on the credibility of households in using and managing local natural resource and the sanction to residents getting out of line. In rural community, the establishment of credibility and sanction mechanism not only depends on economic incentives but also the local culture, customs, social relationship and the residents' consciousness of equality in implementing right and interest distribution. These interests are not ornamented by residents' conscious behaviors, but a process of community institution and social capital evolution by different stakeholders' intended or unintended actions, including borrowing from current local institutions and social interaction models.Fourthly, it is necessary for these poor rural communities to provide economic support for them, but it is also important to enhance and stimulate local residents' consciousness of natural resource protection and to develop community institutions through some external projects.Generally, the management of rural community natural resource is an important component of community self-governance process. Many factors, such as the consistency between the right realizing and the duty implementing of community resource, the flexibility, practicability and maneuverability of community institutions, the production and accumulation of social capital, have played very important roles in implementing effectively community natural resource management. Behind these factors, the "equity" consciousness and the reciprocal principles, which formed during the long history of survival competition and frequent interaction, and the goals for improving livelihoods have become the primary impetus. At the same time, the development intervenuing outsides facilitated thisprocess. Accordingly, to some extent, we should pay more attention to the community governance and integration in establishing the related policies and institutions of natural resource management. We should leave more room for community self-governance through creating a environment helpful to the solidarity of inhabitants, accumulation of social capital and development of community institutions, so that develop the initiatives and active participations of community residents, which may be more effective than establishing directly the restricted rules/laws.