In developing countries, coastal resources hold significant value for a number of different sectors of the economy, such as mining, fisheries, forestry and tourism. However, global patterns indicate growing levels of economic inequality between custodians of these resources and those exploiting them, as well as an increasing incidence in absolute levels of poverty. `Benefit-sharing' has emerged as a popular term to describe interventions to redress inequalities, and thus alleviate poverty. Drawing from empirical research in coastal communities across South Africa and Mozambique, this book provides cutting-edge analyses of and new conceptual approaches to these issues. The findings have relevance and application for coastal livelihoods, rural governance and resource sustainability, not only in these countries but across the world in a context where community rights are increasingly undermined by land-grabbing, unequal power relations and externally driven development interventions.

This title provides an overview of nine coastal and fisheries co-management case studies in South Africa. The approach used in this title reflects the worldwide trend to implement models which utilise local user groups in the management of coastal and fisheries resources. The title outlines the concepts and theoretical underpinnings of co-management and it examines the policy and legal framework governing coastal and fisheries resource management in southern Africa. This title aims to enhance our understanding of the status of co-management in South Africa and to provide policy makers, resource managers and researchers with information on the concept and practice of implementing co-management. It examines the conditions needed to ensure successful co-management, the positive outcomes of adopting this approach, the principle challenges, comparisons with international experience and the viability of implementing coastal and fisheries co-management for South Africa.