Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 2: Adaptive Collaborative Management: A Conceptual Model • 25
Phase 3:
Material or Instrumental
Action
Phase 2:
Strategic Action
Phase 1:
Communicative Action
Figure 2-1. ACM perspective on Habermas’s (1981) three forms of action
The sections below explore these three phases in more depth, drawing links
to theory from natural resource management and other relevant fields.
The model is not an attempt to present an all-encompassing theoretical
framework to explain human agency or behaviour. It does provide a
theoretical framework within which facilitation of processes embodying
the paradigm shift required by an ACM approach becomes understandable
and replicable. The spark that ignites the framework is communication.
Phase 1. Communicative action: emergence of a shared vision
In this phase, visions for the management of the resource are articulated,
external facilitators (if any) negotiate their ‘entry’ into a community, and
the attitudes and beliefs ( mental models) of all concerned stakeholders
related to management of the resource are explored and made visible.
To define the space within which communicative action takes place, we
use three sets of processes (Figure 2-2):
• leadership and facilitation;
• exploration of attitudes, beliefs and perceptions (mental models)
of stakeholders relevant to resource management; and
• communication among the stakeholders.