Ecosystem-based governance according to the Malawi principles: a test for the southern Lake Malawi

Abstract

AbstractThis paper examines what may happen when the internationally renowned Malawi principles for ecosystem-based fisheries management are implemented in real-life situations. To explore this, an ecosystem-based fisheries management plan for the southern part of the Lake Malawi is used as a case study. However, the lessons learned are relevant for the global implementation of these principles. Drawing on ‘interactive governance theory’, we argue that implementation involves all three ‘governance-orders’, (1) where the governance principles are formulated, (2) where the institutions are designed to operationalise and implement these principles, and (3) where implementation and enforcement actually take place and become routine operation. The Malawi principles must be institutionalised and, subsequently, find their concretisation in the way the southern Lake Malawi ecosystem is actually managed by, and according to, the Malawi Principles and the institutions of which management is a function. Our case study portrays the need to build capacity to address the implementation challenges as they appear at all three governance-orders. We suggest that ecosystem-based governance is a more appropriate term, for what the Malawi principles aim to achieve, than management, which we associate with the more technical elements of this approach.