SECURING COMMON PROPERTY
REGIMES IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD

Synthesis of 41 Case Studies on Common
Property Regimes from Africa, Asia, Europe
and Latin America.

• PREFACE
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• INTRODUCTION
• ACCESS TO RESOURCES VIA COMMON PROPERTY REGIMES
• TENURE SECURITY UNDER COMMON PROPERTY REGIMES
• THREATS TO COMMON PROPERTY REGIMES
  - Markets
  - Demographic Factors
  - Legal and Governance
    Frameworks
  - Conflicts and Conflict
    Management
• EXAMPLES OF REFORM AND INNOVATION
• CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES
• ANNEX A: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CASE STUDIES
• ANNEX B: CASE STUDY FRAMEWORK
• ABBREVIATIONS
• Other Useful Resources on Common Property

PREFACE

Securing the access rights of the many millions of households who rely on Common Property
for their livelihoods is one of today's biggest challenges facing poverty reduction efforts in rural areas.
The commons fulfill religious, cultural and environmental functions, and are of particular importance
for securing the livelihoods of poorer members of society, including women and the landless.
Recent studies have also demonstrated that although significant levels of national income are derived
from the commons, they are rarely recognized in national accounting.

The drive towards individual ownership of land, occurring in all regions of the globe, means that large tracts of historically commonly-held land are becoming privatized. This benefits the tenure security of
a privileged few who are able to privatize land in their name, but it generally results in the
dispossession of large numbers of poorer land users who previously had access to these resources.

This paper is the result of a joint effort by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the system-wide program on Collective Action and Property Rights ( CAPRi ) of the CGIAR. It draws on the diverse experiences of ILC and CAPRi network members to identify lessons and interventions that can elevate
the status of common property systems.

Over 40 case studies were submitted from 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America ,
written by civil society organizations, researchers and government officers. This has provided a
particularly rich analysis that can assist organizations, such as those associated with CAPRi
and ILC, in shared objectives of promoting the tenure security of women and men whose livelihoods
are built on the use of common property.

CAPRi and ILC wish to thank the case study authors and their organizations for contributing to this
important initiative. We also extend our appreciation to Adriana Herrera of the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) for her contributions to developing the case study framework and the internet
discussion forum, and to Charlotte Hess of the International Association for the Study of Common
Property (IASC) and Michael Taylor of ILC for their helpful review and insightful comments on an
earlier draft of this paper.

Bruce H. Moore
Director International Land Coalition

Ruth Meinzen-Dick
Coordinator CGIAR System-wide
Program on Collective Action and
Property Rights

ILC and CAPRI appreciate the generous support of the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) toward this pubblication.