Suchergebnisse

In this article, local institutions for forest conservation and management are analysed. The discussion is based on data from 37 villages and 180 households randomly sampled from a protected area in Rajasthan, India. Local management institutions are described, factors affecting inter-village differences in management institutions and collective action are analysed in a logit model, and the impact of institutions and other variables on common resource dependency and forest outcomes is tested using instrumental variable regression. Village population size has a positive effect and prior institutional experience a negative effect on the probability of collective action. It is concluded that efforts at improving forest management should not be confined to the poorest farmers. Large landowners are heavily involved in degrading use practises, especially when resources have good market potential. Local management institutions play a positive role in the area, but their impact appears insufficient to safeguard forests and commons from continued degradation. Conservation policies should target win–win options through interventions aimed at improving technologies for private and common lands as well as institutional changes.

Motivated by management problems in national fisheries, we examine management of renewable resources in local or regional commons. This paper suggests that property rights, or lack thereof, be replaced by well-defined user rights. It shows that the use of commons can be conditioned, paid for, or valued, via market mechanisms. To that end, direct deals and double auctions are expedient. Either institution can distribute, restore and secure resource rent. Either can also focalize debates as to which assignments, regulations or taxation of rights might be fair or legitimate.

AbstractThis article examines the evolution of economic theory to explain the emergence and maintenance of cooperation among users of local commons. The conventional view that "free riding" prevents cooperative solutions to the commons dilemma is challenged under new theories rooted in evolutionary paradigm and the institutional matrix within which individuals find themselves. Contrary to the prediction of the conventional view, modern evolutionary theories provide ample empirical and theoretical evidence in support of a community's ability to self‐organize to preserve the local commons.

Communities across the world interact with common pool resources in distinct ways, including for economic as well as social and cultural purposes. The involvement of local communities in the conservation and management of these resources requires recognising and building upon their customary de facto governance arrangements. However, the absence of a comprehensive database around the customary governance arrangements hinders their recognition, also weakens these arrangements and the institutions around them. The absence of such a database weakens the trust of external stakeholders in these customary arrangements and in local communities' abilities to act for sustainable management of resources. In an attempt to address this issue, this research was carried out for preparing such a database to record the customary governance arrangements around the common pool resources, namely the People's Commons' Register (PCR). This participatory action research was conducted at three locations in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This paper shares the methodology evolved as an outcome of the research. It also highlights some key insights into the complex relationships of different stakeholders around the common pool resources. The creation of a database such as PCR is an essential first step in creating awareness and collectivising local communities for the conservation and management of the common pool resources. PCR aims to become a people's document by enabling them to access opportunities to secure their rights to use, protect, manage and establish claims on their resources.

This article examines whether (and why) migrant communities are less likely to support institutions for managing common pool resources. Focusing on Buvuma Island, which is situated in Uganda's portion of Lake Victoria, I study the efforts at locally supporting forestry regulations among randomly selected communities. These communities have varying proportions of both immigrants and prospective out-migrants, and they are confronting the degradation of adjacent forest reserves. The evidence from survey data on 293 randomly selected heads of households suggests that migrant communities are less likely to support common pool resource institutions. The same evidence suggests that the lower likelihood of support among migrant communities has more to do with their weaker relationships (of reputation, trust, and reciprocity) than their expectations about the institutional net-benefits.

This article deploys the Foucauldian concept of governmentality to study the political tensions that may unfold when commons are enacted through hybrid institutional configurations. We focus on civic management facilities (CMFs) that are located in the city of Barcelona. These are facilities owned by Barcelona City Council which, responding to organised citizens' demands, are transferred to them so that they can develop their own transformative projects for the community. The hybrid institutional nature of these CMFs makes it impossible for them to avoid maintaining a relationship with the local state. Based on a survey to 51 CMFs, semi‐structured interviews with 41 grassroots members of CMFs and seven semi‐structured interviews with public employees and politicians, we argue that hybrid forms of commons lead to the development of political tensions. On the one hand, we show how the local state's administrative procedures - to do with accountability and the use of public space - reshape the activities of the CMFs, leading to the depoliticisation of their transformative projects. On the other hand, the analysis also presents the strategies of resistance articulated by the facilities, which enable members to work towards the development of their transformative aims. We conclude that such political tensions cannot be resolved but must be properly governed in order to make the commons' transformative project an enduring one.

Includes bibliographical references. ; In 1993, the Government of Namibia formulated the Rural Water Supply Policy which provides for the establishment of the Water Point Committees to take responsibility for management of water supply in rural areas. By establishing these local-level water management institutions, policy makers in Namibia assume that water resources in the rural areas will be managed sustainably. This dissertation seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of local-level institutions in the management of rural water supply in Namibia. Water Point Committees in the Khorixas regional constituency will be used as an illustration. Specifically, this dissertation examines the provisions of the Rural Water Supply Policy and the National Land Policy and assesses their implications with regards to management of land and water in communal areas. In addition, the socio-economic conditions of the Khorixas constituency and their appropriateness for local-level management are examined. The extent to which the attributes of sustainability have been considered in the implementation of policies is also examined. Broad recommendations that could improve the effectiveness of the Water Point Committees in the Khorixas constituency and possibly in other areas in Namibia are made.