Browsing by Author "Vanderlinden, Jean-Paul"

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Climatic Variability and Cooperation in Rangeland Management: A Case Study from Niger
(2002) McCarthy, Nancy; Vanderlinden, Jean-Paul
"In this paper, we develop an empirical model of an agro-pastoral system subject to high climatic risk to test the impact of rainfall variability on livestock densities, land allocation patterns and herd mobility observed at the community level. Also, because grazing land is a common-pool resource, we determine the impact of cooperation on these decision variables. To capture different abilities of communities to manage these externalities, we construct indices comprised of factors considered to affect the costliness of achieving successful cooperation found in the collective action literature. We then test hypotheses regarding the impact of rainfall variability and cooperation using data collected in a semi-arid region of Niger. Results indicate that rainfall variability first leads to higher and then lower stock densities, indicating that benefits of accumulating large herds in variable environments are eventually offset by the higher risks of low production and higher mortality. Communities with characteristics hypothesized to favor cooperation have lower stock densities and greater herd mobility. Neither cooperation nor rainfall variability has a significant impact on the proportion of land allocated to crops vs. common pastures."
The Impact of Cooperation on Stock Densities and Mobility: A Case Study from Niger
(2001) McCarthy, Nancy; Vanderlinden, Jean-Paul
"Since 1993, the government of Niger has begun implementing a new rural code that attempts to redefine the access, use, and management of natural resources in Niger. Successful implementation requires that the importance of environmental variability and the use of land for both agricultural and pastoral activities contribute to a new definition of land tenure in Niger. The purpose of this paper is therefore twofold: to contribute, using quantitative methods, to the common-pool rangeland/ mobility debate and to contribute to a better understanding of the situation in Niger-a prerequisite for developing changes in the land tenure system that benefits all users. A short review of the literature specific to Niger is presented in the second section. This is followed by a review of the theoretical literature on common property, resource management, mobility, and risk, leading to a proposed model of pastoral production systems. In the third section, we discuss survey methodology and present descriptive statistics for sample communities. Results from model estimation are presented in the fourth section. We conclude by discussing policy implications and extensions to the existing model."