Maps of Stakeholders

IMPRECO Project Partners mapped the local stakeholders according to common methodologies. The stakeholders identified refer to four main categories: local communities and end users; business activities; local development planners; technicians and academia (quadruple helix). Stakeholders which have the highest potential to benefit or conflict in the use of ecosystems and ecosystem services were assessed as relevant thanks to specific stakeholder analysis and according to the benefit or conflict criteria. They were later involved in the so-called JTF – Joint Task Forces: local working groups for the community – based management of Protected Areas and related ecosystems. The Map of Stakeholders is built on two main steps:

Identifying stakeholders

When talking about stakeholders, it is important to consider that stakeholders are both local people and organizations such as governments, agencies, organizations not necessarily located close to the natural resource (for ex. Regional or National offices/agencies/organizations); are both organizations and informal groups (individuals, communities and informal networks); are both the directly and indirectly users of natural resources which may impact indirectly on the resources even without using them.

In order to identify the groups and actors that have a stake in each of the Ecosystem Service, PPs gave a response to the following questions (Caribbean Natural Resources Institute, 2004[4]):

  • Who uses the resource?
  • Who benefits from the use of the resource?
  • Who impacts on the resource, whether positively or negatively?

Analyzing stakeholders

Crossing Ecosystem Service with stakeholders the stakeholders’ analysis is carried out. This step aims at working out their power, influence and interest.

Stakeholder analysis exercise aims at answering questions such as:

  • What are the current and future interests of the various stakeholders in the use and management of the Ecosystem Service? What are their needs and expectations? How do they use the Ecosystem Service and what benefits do they derive?
  • What are the social and environmental impacts, both positive and negative, of their past and current uses of and relationships with the Ecosystem Service?
  • Are there some conflicts in the use of the Ecosystem Service among the stakeholders?
  • How ready and willing are they to participate in and contribute to management? What are the potential areas of agreement and shared interest, upon which consensus and collaboration can be developed? What are the human, technical and financial resources that they are willing to contribute to the management process?

Download the maps of stakeholders

 

[4] Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (2004), Guidelines for Stakeholder Identification and Analysis: A Manual for Caribbean Natural Resource Managers and Planners, ISBN 1-890792-07-1.