Good Governance

Good Governance plays a key role in the successful conservation of shorebirds and their habitats.

Many WHSRN sites involve multiple stakeholders. Each have a role in managing the area, but all too often these stakeholders may view management for shorebirds differently.

Good governance can provide a structured and collaborative process for creating guidelines for decision-making, including who has access to information and who participates in decision-making. By creating agreements through consensus, norms and rules are established for decision-making, management actions, and effective conservation.

With Good Governance, Site Partners Can:

  • Form multi-stakeholder management committees
  • Create manage­ment plans developed through participatory processes
  • Create local authority by-laws that regulate the use of an area
  • Develop proposals for official protected area status
  • Develop­ projects that integrate site conservation efforts with local development

How Does Good Governance Work?

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A good governance process can help determine the relationships between these key stakeholders and how each is held accountable.

Potential Participants Might Include:

  • Municipalities
  • Government ministries
  • Communities and local leaders
  • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
  • Businesses
  • Private landowners
  • Administrators and managers of protected areas
  • Universities and research centers

Site Support

The WHSRN Executive Office can provide strategic guidance to improve governance conditions at your site. Through on-site workshops and continued mentoring, you and your partners can build and strengthen your site’s capacity for good governance.

For more information or to request a Good Governance workshop at your site, contact Diego.

All photos: Diego Luna Quevedo.