Collective titling and the process of institution building : common property regime in the Colombian Pacific

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.