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Abstract:
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"Community-based management of natural resources has been one of the central concerns in conservation of ecosystems. However, rural communities are very often composed of households that vary in their social and economic attributes and in the governance of natural resources. In particular, households might differ in their governance patterns of forest systems depending upon their reliance upon a resource and upon their social bonds with one another within a community.
"A community from the Brazilian Amazon in which most of households has experienced the same change in land tenure of forest will be studied. This community is comprised of 39 households and the villagers are native peasant who are related through strong kinship ties and co-parenthood system. Before privatization, these people used to have access to forest ecosystem but not control over it. By 1986 when the forest became officially a private area, each household has gained legal access and control over a forest lot and each of them has also developed its own governance system. The goal of this study is to analyze whether rules of use and rules of access among households differ depending upon: (i) household economic reliance upon a resource; and (ii) social ties within and between households. Household interviews were administered to collect information about both socio-economic attributes and sets of rules towards forest use.
"The analysis focuses on four main consumptive products from the forest: a native fruit (piquia), land for agriculture, timber, and land for pasture. Four levels of social ties among individuals within a community will be considered: Level 1--first degree of consanguinity (parents and children); Level 2--second degree of consanguinity (nephews, nieces, grandparents, aunts and uncles, in-laws); Level 3--co-parents (co-fathers and co-mothers); and Level 4--acquaintances.
"Preliminary results indicate that rules of use and rules of access to resources are different depending upon degree of economic dependency on a resource and the degree of relationship among individuals. The boundaries of a user group will be more permeable when it deals with subsistence-oriented products (Level 1, 2, 3, and 4). In contrast, market-oriented products will be related to a less permeable user group, composed mostly by household members, and in some cases, other kin-related members (Level 1 and eventually Level 2 but neither Level 3 nor Level 4).
"Thus, variation in governance among households within a community is likely to occur not only because of individualization of a resource but also due to consumptive dependency on a resource and the degrees of social ties between and within households."
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