It is clear that Sharing Power represents an impressive outcome from a long period of reflection on the topic of co-management by the authors. It has been designed to support people attempting to understand co-management regimes and those interested in supporting them in policy and developing them in practice. In pursing this aim, as well as their own extensive experience as researchers and practitioners, the authors have drawn extensively on a variety of perspectives and wide range of experiences of the co-management of natural resources. As such, the book includes examples from managing agriculture, fisheries, water management, forestry and wildlife, and landscapes worldwide. Sharing Power is a wide-ranging guide to co-management that takes in issues from international institutions through negotiating agreements to issues of entitlement and human well-being. To help the reader, 39 definitions and considerations are included, and the book is written in a very engaging and accessible style, with the numerous references usefully footnoted.

The book begins by examining the background to the emergence of co-management. This historical and conceptual analysis presents management as a complex, dynamic social-ecological process that proceeds against the backdrop of historical human interactions with the natural world. This analysis draws attention to both the strong political dimensions of natural resource management and the potential advantages and characteristics of co-management.

Recognizing that context is crucial, the authors provide sound practical advice and highlight methodologies that have been tested in field situations and that can help achieve the full potential of co-management. In doing so, the authors do not shy from identifying potential obstacles, difficulties and dangers that they clearly recognize are inherent in collaboratively managing natural resources. To assist the practitioner, the authors present some 31 checklists to assess situations, including ‘ideas for managing conflict’ and ‘characteristics of effective indicators’. However, this advice is far from prescriptive and the authors draw attention to the diversity of co-management arrangements that can exist and the messy nature of co-management that often makes more adaptive management approaches as appropriate strategies. The book presents this through the use of a rich set of case studies that include 94 southern hemisphere and 27 northern examples.

Importantly, the authors have also sought to address the wider institutional and cultural setting within which co-management initiatives are pursued. In doing so they draw attention to the implications of international and national policy, rights and cultural identity and what they describe as ‘the politics of policy’. Overall, the authors have been dedicated in making available a very useful resource for those interested in, or practising, co-management and natural resource management more broadly.