Browsing by Author "Edwards, Victoria M."

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The Commons in an Age of Global Transition: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities
(2004) Edwards, Victoria M.
"Tourism is the worlds largest employer, accounting for 10% of jobs worldwide (WTO, 1999). There are over 30,000 protected areas around the world, covering about 10% of the land surface(IUCN, 2002). Protected area management is moving towards a more integrated form of management, which recognises the social and economic needs of the worlds finest areas and seeks to provide long term income streams and support social cohesion through active but sustainable use of resources. Ecotourism - 'responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well- being of local people' (The Ecotourism Society, 1991) - is often cited as a panacea for incorporating the principles of sustainable development in protected area management. However, few examples exist worldwide to substantiate this claim. In reality, ecotourism struggles to provide social and economic empowerment locally and fails to secure proper protection of the local and global environment. Current analysis of ecotourism provides a useful checklist of interconnected principles for more successful initiatives, but no overall framework of analysis or theory. This paper argues that applying common property theory to the application of ecotourism can help to establish more rigorous, multi-layered analysis that identifies the institutional demands of community based ecotourism (CBE). The paper draws on existing literature on ecotourism and several new case studies from developed and developing countries around the world. It focuses on the governance of CBE initiatives, particularly the interaction between local stakeholders and government and the role that third party non-governmental organisations can play in brokering appropriate institutional arrangements. The paper concludes by offering future research directions."
Developing an Analytical Framework for Multiple-Use Commons
(1996) Edwards, Victoria M.; Steins, Nathalie A.
"Much of the work conducted on common property resources has tended to focus on relatively undeveloped commons, where the imperative is to establish coordinated action between a single type of user of the resource. There are some exceptions to this. For example, Gupta examined the stratified social structure in Rajasthan and explained how it affected commons in terms of the different expectations of the different classes of users and the different animals that they depastured. Nevertheless, whilst his work covered different classes of commoners with different animals, it focused on a single use: that of grazing. As traditional commons in developing countries evolve, research which explains the persistence of commons with multiple ownership, use and management It structures will become increasingly relevant as a foundation for the theory of complex common property regimes. This paper attempts to extend the simple analytical framework put forward by Oakerson and developed by Blaikie & Brookfield , Ostrom, and Tang, for application in more complex multiple-use common property resource situations in developed countries. As such, the framework must be capable of facilitating analysis of resource systems which support multiple types of uses by multiple types of communities/groups. Initial research suggests that six essential components must be incorporated in the framework. First, the physical and technological characteristics of the resource must be analysed with respect to different uses. Second, the multiple-use framework must facilitate analysis of the different communities involved in the use and management of the common property resource. Third, the framework should focus the researcher on how different types of users respond to different institutional arrangements through analysis of 'context-bound' factors. Fourth, the framework must comprise a multiple-level analytical tool in order to further an understanding of institutional evolution and the progression of institutional reform through different levels of the institutional arrangements. Fifth, the framework should incorporate different rule categories, in a generic fashion, at different levels of analysis. Finally, the framework must be capable of repetition through a succession of chosen time periods."
Managing the Commons: A Conceptual Model for Analysis of Institutional Change and Its Application to the Management of Common Land in the New Forest (Manuscript Draft)
(1994) Edwards, Victoria M.
"This thesis will examine the control and management of common land in England and Wales. Peculiar to most common-pool resources, common land in England is often held by a private landowner: in some cases an individual, but in most cases a private organisation. However, rights to use the land are held by 'commoners'. In this respect, the problems encountered in the management of commons in England involve all the complex issues of managing a common property resource. The thesis will address, in particular, the type of institutional arrangements which might be employed to help manage common land and will investigate the circumstances in which local, self-governing organisations might be able to ensure the long-term viability of common land. By analysing the management of common land in the New Forest, the thesis will examine the factors which affect the performance of the governing organisations and question the way in which government intervention affects the operation of these organisations."
The New Forest Commons, Hampshire: Horse-riders, Mountain-bike Riders, Free-riders
(1995) Edwards, Victoria M.
"The New Forest Commons in England are neither new nor entirely forested. Established in 1079 by William the Conqueror, the New Forest Commons cover around 38,000 hectares of unenclosed ancient woodlands, timber enclosures, open grasslands, heather moorland, valley mires and settlements. The land is owned by the Crown but has been subject to rights of common users for over a thousand years. The predominant right is that of grazing ponies, cattle and donkeys; although rights for the collection of timber and turf still exist. The New Forest has a complex institutional arrangement, with management input from national and local statutory bodies. The Verderers Court', with representatives from government agencies and elected representatives of some 500 'commoners' of the New Forest have increased: horse-riding, mountain-biking, picniking, walking, wildlife watching and conservation. Such activities, which are potentially imcompatable with the grazing use of the commons, pose one of the greatest threats to the commons' future. Whilst few of the participant groups have any property right to the commons, they all seek increased involvement in the management of the New Forest. This paper questions whether the existing institutional arrangements for managing the New Forest commons are sufficient to cope with such pressures."
Platforms for Collective Action in Multiple-Use CPRs
(1998) Steins, Nathalie A.; Edwards, Victoria M.
"Collective action processes in complex, multiple use common-pool resources (CPRs) have only recently become a focus of study. When CPRs evolve into more complex systems, resource use by separate user groups becomes increasingly interdependent. This implies, amongst others, that the institutional framework governing resource use has to be re-negotiated to avoid adverse impacts associated with the increased access of any new stakeholders, such as overexploitation, alienation of traditional users and inter-user conflicts. "World-wide experiences in the field of extension science suggest that the establishment of 'platforms for resource use negotiation' is a way of dealing with complex natural resource management problems. A platform is defined as a decision-making body (voluntary or statutory) comprising different stakeholders who perceive the same resource management problem, realise their interdependence for solving it, and come together to agree on action strategies for solving the problem (Roling, 1994). "This paper sets the scene for panel discussion on the potential of local platforms for resource use negotiation in facilitating collective action in the management of complex, multiple use CPRs. The paper has five objectives. First, we identify what we mean by 'collective action' in the context of this paper. Second, we discuss the importance of collective action in complex, multiple use CPRs. Third, we introduce the concept of 'platforms for resource use negotiation' to co-ordinate collective action by multiple users. Fourth, we address a number of issues that emerge from evidence in the field regarding the role and potential of local platforms in the management of complex, multiple-use CPRs. Finally, we raise five discussion statements related to the effectiveness of local platforms to co-ordinate collective action in complex, multiple-use scenarios. The latter will form the basis for the panel discussion."
Re-Designing the Principles: An Interactive Perspective to CPR Theory
(2000) Steins, Nathalie A.; Röling, Niels; Edwards, Victoria M.
"The concepts and frameworks developed in common-pool resource (CPR) theory are increasingly being applied to problems associated with the management of complex CPRs at local and global level. Furthermore, existing frameworks are increasingly being adopted by organisations such as the World Bank as tools for crafting sustainable CPR use through collective action. The paper argues that CPR theory is not sufficiently developed to justify these practices and proposes an alternative perspective. "Based on a critical examination of CPR theory and empirical work conducted in the British, Irish and Dutch coastal waters, the paper argues that the definition of the rational, atomised actor underlying CPR theory is too limited to explain collective action processes. Instead, actors should be regarded as nested collectifs, whose strategies in the collective action arena are constantly reshaped. Second, the use of a static strategic model of rationality is insufficient to appreciate the shaping of collective action (or free-riding). Nested collectifs use different social and material means to achieve their objectives. In trying to enrol other collectifs in collective actions aimed at realising their projects, different forms of strategic and communicative rationality emerge. Third, the use of pre-defined categories and design principles diverts attention from (i) the stakeholders' constructions of collective resource management, and (ii) the influence of contextual factors, and therefore limits the explanatory power of CPR theory. Furthermore, a danger inherent in the design principles is that they are picked up as blueprints for the development of policies and intervention programmes for successful CPR management. "If CPR theory is to be used as a foundation for the analysis of complex CPRs or as a conceptual framework in pursuing the idea that collective action is a powerful alternative to deal with complex resource management problems, a radical reconstruction of its ontological foundation is needed. The paper proposes an interactive approach to the study and facilitation of complex CPR management. In this new approach, attention is shifted to the way actors (or nested collectifs ) construct collective resource management and the analysis of internal and contextual factors that shape the action strategies they adopt. In this analytical process, co-operation, free-riding and rationality are outcomes of the interplay and trials of strength amongst the different collectifs with a stake in the CPR, and their mobilisation of social and material resources. In view of the increasing reliance on collective action to solve complex resource management problems, the paper recommends that a praxeology (a theory that informs practice) for CPR theory needs urgent development. In this context, user platforms have much to offer to negotiate collective CPR use and management."
The Role of Contextual Factors in Common Pool Resource Analysis
(1998) Edwards, Victoria M.; Steins, Nathalie A.
Authors' Introduction: "It is recognised that well-established rules are a necessary, but not sufficient condition of successful collective action (see Barrett, 1991; Eyborsson, 1995; Steins, 1995). Successful co-operation depends largely on the response of individual actors, influenced by incentives derived from both inside and outside the management regime. Contextual factors are one set of such factors and include dynamic forces based locally and remote from the resource management regime: they are constituted in the user groups' social, cultural, economic, political, technological and institutional environment and can have an important part to play in establishing the choice sets from which common property users can select strategies (Edwards & Steins, 1996; Steins, 1997). In this respect, they are important in determining the evolution of decision-making arrangements for managing common pool resources (CPRs). "Contextual factors define (i) what is physically, legally, economically and socially feasible in terms of the supply of products and services from a resource and (ii) what is economically, socially and culturally desirable, by establishing the demand factor. As a result, the choice sets related to use of the resource system are expanded in terms of (i) the number and types of users; and (ii) the type and extent of use. In addition, contextual factors often redefine choice sets related to revision of the decision-making arrangements governing the resource (see Feeny, 1988; Edwards, 1996; Barrett, 1991). Lack of knowledge of contextual factors can lead analysts to make simplified judgments about the state of management of the resource. The paper advises researchers to focus on the choice sets available to individual users of the resource, in terms of (i) products and services demanded of the resource, (ii) the different decision-making arrangements possible and (III) different action strategies, and tracing back the derivation of these choice sets to contextual factors. This has particular relevance in multiple-use CPRs, where there is more than one type of user group and analysis must address expected differentials in the adoption of individual strategies according to use of the CPR."