One emerging approach aimed at addressing the dilemmas of effective and sustainable resource governance in changing social and natural environments is adaptive co-management. The approach emphasizes flexibility, coordination and deliberation amongst diverse stakeholders, integration within and between various levels of institutional, actor and organizational networks, and social learning. Social learning is the collaborative or mutual development and sharing of knowledge by multiple stakeholders through learning-by-doing. The aim of this research is to provide insights to how the theoretical goals of adaptive co-management can be achieved in practice in environmental resource management in developing countries often characterised by conditions of weak local management systems. Theoretically, the research will elucidate how structural characteristics of governance influence social learning processes and how societal learning and local empowerment can reshape resource governance structures.