Abstract
Natural resource governance requires the collaboration of various stakeholders, including community, state and private institutions. Using an institutional bricolage theoretical framework and stakeholder theory, we analyzed stakeholder influences and interrelationships in the management of the Bouche du Roy Community Biodiversity Conservation Area (CBCA). We conducted semi-structured interviews with seventy-three (73) participants from responsible organisations and agencies and the local population and undertook participatory observations and documentary analyses. Our analysis reveals that the management of the CBCA is characterized by two main institutional features. The first consists of arrangements that govern the organization of stakeholders and the establishment of the local management association. The second is a hybridization of conservation strategies that includes cultural and spiritual practices. Our analysis also reveals that considering priorities and characteristics of the local population facilitates the implementation of the CBCA ecosystems’ conservation plan, despite differences between conservation objectives and the population’s needs. The mapping of actor relations reveals unequal influence across stakeholder categories and weak capacity and autonomy of the responsible local association. The management of the CBCA would benefit from reinforcing local actors’ capacity, thus improving the balance of decision-making responsibility and fostering the local management association’s autonomy. This case study sheds light on the dynamics of influence in the multiscale institutional management of community natural resources.