Call for Case Studies on Common Property

The Land Tenure Service of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the CGIAR's Collective Action for Property Rights (CAPRi) initiative, and the International Land Coalition (ILC) are pleased to share the attached study proposal: "Rural Common Property in a Perspective of Development and Modernization." Our three institutions invite you to participate in this joint effort, by sharing with us a case study analysis on common property, based on your own community-based work and research.

This main goal of this collaborative study is to understand better the latest developments in common property, and identify lessons on strengthening common tenure regimes where appropriate. As you are well aware, while common property systems are critical to the well-being of many poor rural households, these systems are often under represented in public and policy dialogues.  As a result, common property systems can be neglected or ignored in policy dialogues. 

If common property systems are not well protected or supported, common lands may fall into risk when other powerful land users, land owners or populations in search of land intrude into these areas.  For these reasons, commons systems need to be better understood, so that policies can reflect the needs and interests those whose livelihoods depend on them.

This collaborative study will present case studies from the community level, and analysis of national policy frameworks in which these systems operate. These will be linked to a review of institutional policies at the global level and international trends in understanding common property. Finally, all components of this study will contribute to the formulation of policy-oriented recommendations. A full list of case studies received will be included in the study's final report, and we anticipate that the cases received will be provided in electronic format (such as CD) along with this report.

The attached study proposal outlines key questions and issues for consideration that we hope can be explored through the case studies.

We would be pleased to receive case studies (up to 8-10 pages) for this study by 1 September 2005 , in either English or Spanish. The study proposal provides a proposed framework for case studies, which we hope will allow for the comparison of experiences across countries and regions.

If you would like any additional information about the study or have comments that you would like to share at this point, please contact Andrew Fuys at the Land Coalition secretariat. For those colleagues who wish to confirm their interest in submitting a case study, we ask that you send an E-mail at this time to indicate your interest, so we can be sure to keep in contact over the coming weeks.

We appreciate your consideration and assistance, and look forward to working together in the future on this and other important collaborations.

Adriana Herrera, FAO Land Tenure Service
Ruth Meinzen-Dick, CAPRi
Andrew Fuys, International Land Coalition