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

THREATS TO COMMON PROPERTY REGIMES:

» DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Demographic factors such as population increases and migration are among social trends that are placing pressure on common property regimes. In some parts of the world, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is impacting women's rights to land and resources, including those accessed through common property, as one case study from Southern Africa describes.

Population Pressure

In seven of the case studies, population pressure - i.e., population growth that feeds an increased need for natural resources - is indicated. In several cases from India , population increase is contributing to encroachment and degradation of forest resources. In addition, in cases where local elites are not sanctioned for rule breaking, community controls for joint resource management break down, creating a near open-access situation in some community forests. In the central Himalayas in India , user groups were primarily responsible for encroachment in the respective community forests (Aggarwal, 2005).

In this case, most community forests had adequate resources within them to meet user needs and neighbouring community forests were typically less accessible in terms of distance. Moreover, violations by non-members were more easily detected and reported by all users. The rise in encroachment can be explained by the increasing size of the user groups due to rise in population, as well as greater pressures on women to engage in practices that were time saving but destructive to the forest.

Encroachment is often linked with population pressure on resources, but may also reflect power dynamics within communities and changing roles (or absence) of the state. One case from the Patha region of India 's Uttar Pradesh state suggests that land grabbing is linked to population pressure but facilitated by lack of good governance to safeguard access by poor community members to the commons:

With the abolition of Jamindari system, government created common property resources like ponds, grazing spaces, plantation area play grounds under the GramSabha (a village-micro-unity governance). With the increases in the population pressure on land, the village started encroachment and grabbing of these common property resources as well as the land of illiterates and poor community. [Although the] government has well structured administrative system to maintain the existence of common property and a good governance system . it has been alleged the land grabbers have a knot with these officials (Prasad 2005).

Migration and Population Shifts

In addition to population growth, migration and other shifts in population are noted as a demographic factor in six of the case studies. Rural out-migration is another development associated with the increased links between rural communities, surrounding regions and urban centers. In several cases, rural out-migration - particularly of working-age men - has become a factor in the management of the commons. In the Kumaun region of India , the high rate of male out-migration has left much greater responsibility for resource management on already overburdened women. Women increasingly lop oak leaves in summer, despite local bans, because of household labour shortage and time needed to collect leaves and fodder (Aggarwal 2005).

Migration of families within rural areas, i.e., in-migration, may also influence the common property arrangements, particularly where migrant farmers begin competing with other groups for resources or, as in the Zimbabwe case, do not have knowledge of or respect for local customary institutions that manage the commons.

HIV/AIDS Epidemic

While only one case focused on the links between HIV/AIDS and common property regimes, the need for attention to this issue, particularly as related to women's rights to land and resources managed as common property, is reinforced by other assessments of land tenure issues in areas where the epidemic is widespread. In regions where there are high and increasing rates of HIV/AIDS, such as southern Africa, access to land and natural resources - particularly by women and female-headed households - is in jeopardy. This, in turn, creates or exacerbates food security and nutrition challenges, making it all the more difficult for families hit by the disease to sustain themselves. This is illustrated in one of the cases from Zimbabwe :

Due to the high death rates, and the amount of time needed to care for the sick, the orphans and vulnerable children, little time is left for the management of CPRs at community level, yet the same CPRs are a source of medicines for the sick and also provide nutritious foods to assist the depleted immunities of the poor and vulnerable. This means that the pandemic has reduced the capacity of the communities to sustainably manage the CPRs, which are important for their livelihoods (Mgugu, 2005).