http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/40419 2013-05-22T21:10:31Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/43037 Title: Collective titling and the process of institution building : common property regime in the Colombian Pacific Authors: Vélez, Maria Alejandra Abstract: This research is aimed at an empirical examination of the institutional developments that have occurred in Afro-Colombian communities after the change of a property right regime. We surveyed community leaders to understand whether these communities have succeeded in designing and implementing rules to manage their collective land and its resources. This paper illustrates how collective titling has changed the local environmental governance by creating local rules and legal tools to guard against the encroachment by intruders. Our study presents an example of a complex property system where both formal and informal rights coexist. 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/43035 Title: Can co-management improve governance of a common-pool resource? : lessons from a framed field experiment in a marine protected area in the Colombian Caribbean Authors: Moreno-Sánchez, Rocío del Pilar; Maldonado, Jorge Higinio Abstract: Complexities associated with the management of common pool resources (CPR) threaten governance at some marine protected areas (MPA). In this paper, using economic experimental games (EEG), we investigate the effects of both external regulation and the complementarities between internal regulation and non-coercive authority intervention—what we call comanagement— on fishermen’s extraction decisions. We perform EEG with fishermen inhabiting the influence zone of an MPA in the Colombian Caribbean. The results show that comanagement exhibits the best results, both in terms of resource sustainability and reduction in extraction, highlighting the importance of strategies that recognize communities as key actors in the decision-making process for the sustainable use and conservation of CPR in protected areas. 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/41832 Title: Poverty, private property and common pool resource management : the case of irrigation tanks in South India Authors: Balasubramanian, R.; Selvaraj, K.N. Editors: Gunatilake, Herath; Shyamsundar, Priya Abstract: Irrigation tanks are one of the oldest and most important common property water resources in the resource-poor regions of South India. Tanks are also important from an ecological perspective because they serve as a geographically well-distributed mechanism for the conservation of soil, water and bio-diversity. Unfortunately, tank irrigation has undergone a process of rapid decline in the recent past, much of which can be attributed to the disintegration of traditional irrigation institutions. In response, people adopt various coping strategies such as migration, non-agricultural employment, and private tube-wells. Adoption of private coping mechanisms has serious implications for community coping mechanisms, i.e., for collective conservation efforts. Against this background, this study tries to understand the main causes of tank degradation and the complex interrelationships among poverty, private coping mechanisms and community coping mechanisms that affect tank performance. Primary and secondary data are used to estimate three regressions models: a macro model on tank degradation, a household-level model on collective action, and a production function incorporating collective action as an input. // In general, poor people are more dependent on tanks for various livelihood needs and hence they contribute more towards tank management compared to non-poor households. The analysis of tank degradation shows that there has been a decline in the performance of tanks. Population pressure is found to have accelerated the process of tank degradation. Though the emergence of private tube-wells contributes towards mitigating tank degradation within a narrow range, a continuous increase in the number of wells beyond limits exacerbates the process of tank degradation. This result is further validated by the micro-level econometric model of collective action towards tank management, which indicates that the increase in the number of private wells has a strong negative effect on the participation of rural communities in tank management. The size of the user group has a negative impact on cooperation, while the existence of traditional governance structures, such as rules for water allocation, promotes collective action. Wealth inequality is found to have a U-shaped relationship with collective action. The production function analysis shows that collective action has a positive and significant impact on the rice yields. Therefore, collective action is important for higher productivity and income. The study proposes several policy measures to revive and sustain tanks so as to provide livelihood security to the poor, who are the most affected by resource degradation. 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/41830 Title: Property rights and natural resources : socio-economic heterogeneity and distributional implications of common property resource management Authors: Adhikari, Bhim Editors: Gunatilake, Herath; Shyamsundar, Priya Abstract: Poverty, property rights and distributional implications of community-based resource management have become major topics of discussion and debate in recent years. This study tries to examine the contribution of community forestry to household-level income with particular emphasis on group heterogeneity and equity in benefit distribution. The assessment of household level benefits suggests that poorer households are currently benefiting less in absolute terms from community forestry than less poor households. In terms of the contribution of forests to household income, the study results suggest that the poor are not necessarily more dependent than the rich, a finding that contradicts results from other similar studies. Econometric analysis suggests that income from community forests is related to socio-economic attributes and private resource endowments of households. Households with land and livestock assets, as well as upper caste households gain more from the commons, while better educated households depend less on forest resources. Female-headed households benefit less from community forests, further aggravating the inequity in distribution of benefits. The study makes a number of recommendations to improve community forest management in Nepal, which include, due consideration for community needs in selecting species for community forestry, transferability of user rights, which would allow less endowed households to benefit more, and more and equitable representation of women and disadvantaged groups in forest management committees (JEL Q2, Q23). 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z http://idl-bnc.idrc.ca:80/dspace/handle/10625/38901 Title: Who collect resources in degraded environment? : a case study from Jhabua District, India Authors: Chopra, Neetu; Singh, Supriya; Gupta, Shreekant; Narain, Urvashi; Van't Veld, Klaas Abstract: This paper examines the impact of the variation in stocks of three resources, namely, water, forests and fodder biomass, on resource collection time of rural households in India, especially women. Using household level data from 543 households across 60 villages in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, we estimate reduced form gender-specific time allocation equations derived from a household production model. An increase in groundwater scarcity makes women and children spend more time in water collection. An increase in the total iomass availability in the commons increases the time spent by men and women in grazing activity in addition to making men and women more likely to go for fuelwood collection. The results taken together indicate significant time impacts of natural resource scarcity. Our analysis has important implications for natural resource management initiatives such as community forestry and watershed development programmes, and these programmes have the potential to alleviate poverty by affecting the time allocation decisions of rural households, particularly women. This paper also tries to understand some of the trends emerging from the quantitative/econometric analysis using insights from social anthropology. Description: no. 23-07 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z