Co-management in protected areas: an opportunity for all?

Co-management has been identified as the preferred management approach for the protection and conservation of nature flora and fauna around the world despite the ambiguity around the meaning and application of co-management in practice. While some see co-management as a panacea for solving all conservation problems, there is pressing need to critically explore the governance and management arrangements required for successful nature conservation. This article uses primary data from three protected areas in regional New South Wales (Australia), and the broader governance literature to develop a co-management implementation framework that identifies three distinct models of co-management in action; control, coordination and collaboration. The three models vary with regards to stakeholder positions, power, representations, interactions and role in delivery. This framework is beneficial for exploring the range of co-management arrangements existing, and potentially suitable for, specific management contexts and outcomes. While in its infancy, the framework provides a mental frame from which environmental managers can evaluate the applicability of alternative governance frameworks and their potential strengths and weaknesses.