Securing the Commons: Policies and Laws

Africa

Zimbabwe Communal Areas Forest Produce Act, No. 20 1987
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Regulates the use and management of forest produce in protected areas. The Act vests the commercial use of forest products on communal areas in the hands of Rural District Councils and only allows subsistence use by local communities.

Zimbabwe Communal Land Act 1982
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This Act places the control of land under the President through to the Rural District Councils.

Zimbabwe Communal Forest Produce Act 1975
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This Act restricts the use of forest produce in comminal areas. It prohibits exploitation of certain resources withut a license, but it also allows any inhabitant to exploit any forest produce, including reserved trees, on any land which he is permitted to occupy. A 1982 amendment gave Rural District Councils the authority to manage wildlife on communal land. Furthermore, the amendment allows rural communities to use communal lands for income generation and poverty alleviation.

The Constitution of Kenya Chapter IX Trust Lands Act
http://kenya.rcbowen.com/constitution/chap9.html
The Trust Land Act Cap 285 regulates any land that is not registered under any act of parliament. This land is administered through local authorities who have the right to assign lands to communities via this act. However, the local authorities also retain the right to repossess the land at any time.

Constitution of the Republic of Uganda , 1995
Chapter 15, Article 237(3)
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Recognizes customary land tenure systems

Asia

Nepal Forest Act 1993
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Chapter 5, §25-30 Provisions Relating to the Community Forest
This section of the Act regulates under what circumstances a District Forest Officer may handover any part of a National Forest to a Community Forest User Group.
Chapter 6, §31-34 Provisions Relating to the Leasehold Forest
This section of the Act provides for the granting of the part of any National Forest I the form of Leasehold Forest to any corporate body, industry or community established under prevailing law. The objectives of the Leasehold Forest is to make use of Forest Products, promote conservation, and protect the environment.

India 1927 Forest Act
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Chapter Three: Village Forests
State government may assign to any village the rights over land that has been constituted as a reserved forest. Reserved forests are then managed as Village Forests. The state government, however, may regulate the rules for management and use of these village forests. Fore example, it may regulate the use of timber, pasture, etc.
Chapter Four: Protected Forests
Article 32-State government regulates the granting of licenses for people to access timber and other forests from state-owned forests.

India 1937 Van Panchayat Act
The legally demarcated village forests are managed by Forest Councils or Van Panchayats. These forest respresent the earliest decentralized common property management schemes which developed through formal state-community partnerships for the management of natural resources. Access and use to these forests are guided by community-designed rules. Local users consider the forests as collective property. The Panchayats are not divisible. The Forest Act prescribes how the Panchayats are formed and imposes duties to protect the forest resources and to distribute them in an equitable manner.

India 1988 Forest Conservation Act
http://envfor.nic.in/legis/forest/forest2.html
Restricts the de-reservation of any forest land to any private person, authority, corporation, or agency.

Latin America

1993 Peruvian Constitution/ Constitución Política del Perú Titulo III
http://www.allpa.org.pe/legislacion_constitucion.shtml
Article 89 states that Rural and Native communities are autonomous and that they have free use of their land. Ownership of native lands may not be rescinded.

1997 Ley No 26845 Ley de Titulacion de las Tierras de las Comunidades Campesinas de la Costa
http://www.allpa.org.pe/legislacion_ley26845.shtml
This law facilitates access to private property to people who rely on the commons.

3. Otras Leyes Peruvianas que protegen las tierras comunales
http://www.allpa.org.pe/legislacion-tierras_com.shtml

Europe

Albania Restitution and Compensation of Property, Law No. 9235. dated 29.07.2004
Amended with Law No. 9388, dated 4.5.2005 and Law No. 9583, dated 17.7.2006
The Assembly of the Republic of Albania
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The amendments and additions approved the recognition of private ownership and the restitution of private forests and pastures to the rural farmers. The goal is to encourage community participation in the management of natural resources.
See also: http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/j2108e/j2108e06.htm