Common Property Resources Degradation and Migration: A Case Study of Assam

Throughout the world today, various common property resources systems are coming under increased pressure, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. Rapid rates of population growth, technological change, increases in the size of markets, and cultural changes, as well as uneven growth and persistent poverty, have often resulted in increased levels of utilization of various natural-resource-based systems. Forests are being cleared rapidly; groundwater is being pumped to the surface at an often alarmingly high rate; fish and wildlife populations are declining in the face of loss of habitat and high levels of harvesting; range and pasture lands are being overgrazed; and other example abound. Because the exploitation of these resource systems represents an important component in the livelihoods of people throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America, their degradation cannot be ignored (David H. Feeny). The present study is conducted in Dindigul District in Tamilnadu consisted of 14 blocks. This study was carried out in 5 blocks namely Oddanchatram, Reddiyarchatrm, Dindigul, Sanarpatti and Vadamadurai. These blocks were identified based on the high level of CPR present over there. From each of the above mentioned identified block 5 village panchayats have been selected. The main objectives of the present study were to examine the dependency level of Common Property Resources(CPR) among the respondents and also to study the determinants of degradation of Common Property Resources (CPR) in the study area.

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Shared landscapes: Ownership and governance of Ōhiwa Harbour (Aotearoa New Zealand)

10.26686/wgtn.17018924 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Tanja Rother

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Local Government ◽

Collective Action ◽

Common Property ◽

Common Property Resources ◽

Property Relations ◽

Resource Governance ◽

Aotearoa New Zealand ◽

The Commons

<p>This thesis explores narratives of property and ownership in natural resources, particularly common property resources such as the foreshore and seabed. Using the Ōhiwa Harbour as a case study, I investigate property relations between Māori, Pākehā and official agencies in respect to the natural environment in an evolving ‘third space’ in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this space, conflicting narratives on the ‘ownership’ of common property resources hold centre stage. This research addresses a gap in the literature concerning everyday Māori-Pākehā relations in owning and governing natural common goods, taking both the community and local government levels into account. Its principal questions are: How do property relations inform people’s capacity to act collectively across cultural meanings? How might intercultural communities utilise legal pluralism to facilitate decolonisation in natural resource governance? Can nature be given the agency it is sometimes declared to have? Overarching these and other research questions is an investigation of how far commoning has progressed in the case-study area and whether this might form the basis for new developments for the concept of the commons. Informed by theories relating to both the commons and institutions which embody collective action, I employ a three-layered approach to property that distinguishes cultural ideologies, legal-institutional frameworks of rights, and actual social relationships and practices. I show that this mixed theoretical and empirical approach can be usefully tested through in-depth ethnographic fieldwork. In particular, my participation in everyday interactions of kaitiaki, care groups and the Ōhiwa Harbour Strategy partnership has revealed important nuances, synergies and differences between the different layers of property relations. I propose separate institutions for collective action are emerging at the community level that have started to borrow cultural concepts from each other, although their practices remain largely disconnected. At the local government level, too, the Ōhiwa Harbour Strategy partnership embodies common and intercultural ownership and offers an important stage for iwi and hapū representation. There are rich ‘commoning’ opportunities at both the community and the local government levels for the exercise of transformative power regarding the local normative order. The self- and multi-level governance of common properties such as the Ōhiwa Harbour could be fostered if ideas of the commons would be embraced more broadly, including at a national governmental level. The sense of shared ownership in the landscape that tāngata whenua and Pākehā express provides, moreover, opportunities to move beyond the formal Crown-Māori reconciliation processes that have largely excluded Pākehā. For these reasons alone, future research into the knowledge commons is crucial. The thesis contends that commons research in Aotearoa New Zealand needs to critically engage with concepts such as rangatiratanga, kaitiakitanga and stewardship, both per se and because their realisation appears to be a quest not only for Māori but for a growing number of Pākehā who question ongoing marketization and seek alternatives to public and private ownership. The thesis findings also point to other areas of research which could benefit from a commons approach, such as Pākehā and Māori memory of the transformation of landscapes, and issues related to farming, forestry and particularly freshwater. Based on an in-depth study of both the current imaginary of the commons, and practical progress on institutionalising collective action at Ōhiwa Harbour, this thesis contributes to and opens the way for future thinking on shared, socially and ecologically sustainable landscapes.</p>

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Village Ecocomplex Functioning With Common Property Resources: A Case-study on Coastal Orissa, India

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892900024085 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 57-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hara Prasad Sahoo ◽

Malaya Kumar Misra

Keyword(s):

Social Welfare ◽

Natural Resources ◽

Large Scale ◽

Common Property ◽

Poor People ◽

Rural Poor ◽

Economic Implications ◽

Common Property Resources ◽

The Status

A study of the status of Common Property Resources (CPRs) in the coastal areas of Orissa, India, was made during 1989–90 to investigate privatization of land and its socio-economic implications for the rural poor.The proportion of CPR land to the total area of the villages was 20%, and the persons per hectare of CPR land numbered 70. High density of population in these areas imparts tremendous pressure on the natural resources. The area of the CPR lands in the villages has declined by 40% since ad 1950.The main cause of decline of CPRs is privatization. Transfer of CPR land to poor people through various social welfare programmes for their private use, and illegal occupation of the CPR land leading to subsequent legalization, were two important factors which resulted in large-scale privatization. The rural poor depend on CPRs for food, fodder, and fuel, in a variety of ways. Due to privatization, they have collectively lost a significant part of their source of livelihood in recent years.

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The effect of communication on individual preferences for common property resources: A case study of two Canadian First Nations

Land Use Policy ◽

10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.07.007 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 58 ◽

pp. 70-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

William Nikolakis ◽

Sonia Akter ◽

Harry Nelson

Keyword(s):

First Nations ◽

Common Property ◽

Common Property Resources ◽

Individual Preferences

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