The fisheries crisis and inability of countries to sustainably manage their coastal and marine resources has convinced many Governments to delegate or share their management with local actors. New institutional arrangements, bringing governors closer to the problems and opportunities of the fisheries, promised a governance that is more efficient, equitable, and sustainable than in the past. However, despite the expectations, decentralization has driven limited successes in most tropical developing countries. These coastal socioecological systems are characterized by high diversity, complexity and dynamics, which makes governors that are already lacking resources, often ill-prepared to address local challenges and effectively govern the fisheries. The Philippines, with the adoption of its Local Government Code in 1991, has implemented decentralization of fisheries management to all its coastal municipalities. It has built the foundation for decentralized governance that delegates power of decision to the lowest effective level of Government, promotes accountability to the System-to-be-Governed, and allocates the necessary resources to local authorities to respond adequately to local needs. Using case studies in 2 municipalities of the province of Palawan in the Philippines, Cedric's research will investigate to what extent decentralization has generated more effective governance interactions between the local governors and the ecosystem users to address key fisheries concerns, particularly to sustain livelihoods, maintain ecosystem health, and improve compliance of fishers with rules.

Cedric has been involved with small-scale fisheries work for the past 7 years, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. His main interests relate to the governance of natural resources and particularly to understand how local institutions can develop to raise the profile of small-scale fishers in rural areas of less developed countries.

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