The Transformation of Organizational Partnership in the Management of Common-pool Resource: A Case Study of Marine Protected Areas in Green Island, Taiwan
The Transformation of Organizational Partnership in the Management of Common-pool Resource: A Case Study of Marine Protected Areas in Green Island, Taiwan

Summary/Abstract: The oceans, as a common-pool resource, are facing an ever increasing number of crises and challenges, and the promotion of marine protected area (MPA) management is viewed as the best path to resolving such issues. This paper takes MPA management in Green Island as the basis for its analysis, employing the method of participant observation with the aim of discussing changes that occur in institutional partnerships throughout the process of MPA management. Results show that, in Green Island, in accordance with developmental requirements, there was a trend for partnerships to become increasingly complex, and for community level organizations to have close ties. Outside organizations are the spark that ignites MPA mechanisms, but such organizations first have to court the trust of the local people, in order to successfully promote their establishment. When community partnership networks mature, further challenges to their power develop. ‘Learning-as-participation’ can go some way to reducing conflicts that arise from power struggles. As well as this, local intermediary organizations play a key role in the development of institutional linkages, their main functions being coordination of inter-organizational communication, resources integration, and expansion of partnership networks. Such organizations are unique in their promise of an ‘indefinite’ service, and so can build close ties with fundamental community organizations.

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