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...This presentation does not focus on natural heritage-related values and interests, though they constitute an important domain of reflection on which most actors (public authorities in Central Africa, national and international scientists, consultants, international NGOs, national civil society associations, etc.) are reluctant to embark. They prefer to limit themselves to technical controversies confined within the domain agreed on by real experts, so to speak, that is the utilitarian paradigm – of what use is nature, whether exploited or conserved? (see various discussions on the resultant value of the environment).

This paper does not focus on the political, economic, social and cultural values ensuing from the qualification of nature as heritage or as resource. Rather, it examines the conditions of such qualification and arbitration. Therefore, it is not a holistic reflection that can shed light on all policy negotiations, but a pragmatic reflection that focuses on the second phase of the democratic process as described by the following famous quotation ascribed to Paul Ricœur: “a democratic society is one that is considered divided, that is characterized by conflicting interests, and which seeks to associate each citizen on an equal basis to express, analyze and examine those contradictions in order to achieve arbitration” (underlined by the author).

In other words, it does not examine the conflicting interests themselves, but focuses on the conditions for associating citizens in the expression, analysis, discussion and arbitration of these conflicting interests. It does not indicate the conflicting interests affecting the management of natural heritage, but directly focuses on the conditions of action to understand who and how decisions concerning such heritage are made. The “who and how” is what will later be referred to as the governance of heritage (see also the contradictory reflections concerning the definition of the term governance).

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