Gender, social difference and coastal resource management in lowland Philippine fishing communities

This paper considers how an effort to institutionalize coastal resource management (CRM) at the municipal level in the Philippines has unfolded against the class, ethnic, and gender divisions characteristic of lowland Philippine society. It draws inspiration from recent suggestions that the study of community-based natural resource management would be better served by focusing on institutions rather than on community per se (King and Durrenberger 2000; Agrawal and Gibson 2001) and, more particularly, on how institutions shape (and are shaped by) the multiple interests and actors within communities (Agrawal and Gibson 1999, p. 640). Of special interest here is how institutional arrangements may influence both the reality and the perception of local community participation, which is much sought-after in resource management projects in general.