摘要：Both global and local environmental problems call for the transformation of manycontemporary and unsustainable governance approaches. Therefore, recent interest has sprung up aroundfactors that facilitate and hinder societies from transforming governance of natural resources. Using asocial-network approach, we study links between informal power structures and knowledge sharing andconsensus building. We examine how this interaction may have affected the (in)ability of a community tomove from open-access to some form of collective action for resource management. Individuals occupyingcentral positions in a knowledge network can be instrumental in determining which knowledge andinterpretation of ecological signals is most dominant. If the same individuals are also influential in otherareas, they are highly likely to become opinion leaders. We use this notion of opinion leaders to frame ourstudy. The study is set in a rural fishing community in East Africa where access to fishing equipment is ofutmost importance for generating household income, but such gear ownership is not evenly distributed inthe village. Hence, we use gear-exchange networks to explore power. Our results show a clear and strongrelationship between centrality in the knowledge network and in-degree centrality (reflecting gear-lendingcapacity) in the gear-exchange network, supporting the idea that opinion leaders exist. We also indicatethat a majority of these potential opinion leaders demonstrate little recognition of declining fisheries. Werelate our findings to existing theories of influence and governance transformability at the community level,and explore ideas about how social networks can help identify potential change agents in communitiesexperiencing inertia with respect to collective action for improved resource management
关键词：comanagement; governance; local ecological knowledge; natural resources; power; social;networks; transformation
