Securing the Commons: Case Studies

Africa

Rights and Resources Initiative
Whose Land Is It? Commons and Conflict States: Why the ownership of the commons matters in making and keeping peace
2008
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This paper focuses on the tenure fate of the commons vis-à-vis three case studies in Afghanistan, Liberia and Sudan. The case studies provide examples of how the ownership of the commons has been a source of contestation between its traditional owners and the state. The case is made that in industrial economies the issue is generally being worked out peacefully, but much less so in rapidly transforming and frequently volatile agrarian states and where customary landholders are often majorities (Bolivia, Angola and Indonesia).

Reinventing the Commons: An African Case Study
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This paper presents a case study of incentives and pressures that lead people to switch from a private to a communal management land ownership regime.

The Role of Land Tenure and Property Rights in Sustainable Resource Use: The Case of Benin
1994
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This paper studies traditional land tenure and state land legislation and evaluates the existing tenure systems in Benin as a basis for sustainable resource management.

Asia

Rights and Resources Initiative
Whose Land Is It? Commons and Conflict States: Why the ownership of the commons matters in making and keeping peace
2008
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This paper focuses on the tenure fate of the commons vis-à-vis three case studies in Afghanistan, Liberia and Sudan. The case studies provide examples of how the ownership of the commons has been a source of contestation between its traditional owners and the state. The case is made that in industrial economies the issue is generally being worked out peacefully, but much less so in rapidly transforming and frequently volatile agrarian states and where customary landholders are often majorities (Bolivia, Angola and Indonesia).

Land Tenure Systems and Rights in Trees and Forests: Case Studies from Mainland Southeast Asia
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This study analyzes the interactions between land tenure systems and rights in trees and forests in Vietnam and Thailand . It contains various case studies highlighting conflicting interests between state agencies, private interests and local communities.

Latin America

Monitoring Land Tenure Rights Andean Region
Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales, 2007
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This discussion paper focuses on tenure security over land as one of the contributing factors to the reduction of poverty and links land policies to the need for adequate infrastructure support.

Europe

One Action Plan of Albanian Government: How to Finalize the Transfer of Forest and Pasture in all Communes of the Country in Half of Next Year
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This short paper discusses the steps the Albanian government has taken to transfer pasture and forest rights to more than 300 communities. This action would transfer the resource management into the hands of local community-based association for a variety of purposes. The association would exercise wide discretion over the use of natural resources through these enhanced property rights

Draft Report on the National Seminar: Improvement of the Legal Framework for Sustainable Management of Communal Forests and Pastures in Albania
2008
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This report is the result of a two-day workshop on the legal framework related to the management of community forests and pastures under the ownership and use of Local Government Units. The report highlights how the legal frameworks supporting the transfer of communal rights are unclear and inadequate for assuring rights to communal forests and pastures.

Global

International Institute for Environment and Development
http://www.iied.org/pubs/search.php?s=STC A series of 11 global case studies on securing the commons.