Tribal Grazing in Botswana and the Tragedy of the Commons

Abstract

"Common property (or pool) resources (CPR) have been much studied and are quite controversial, especially when CPR's which have been managed effectively for long periods of time by various groups throughout the world, are suddenly converted to private property in the interest of increased 'economic efficiency'. While much has been contributed to the understanding of CPR's and their management, the issue of efficiency is far from settled. It is the intent of this paper to examine the case of grazing policy in Botswana and the factors that contribute to efficiency and/or inefficiency in both the private property and common property solutions. The organization of the paper will be to describe the pre-independence system of range land control, the factors that necessitated a change and the theory and workings of the subsequent Tribal Grazing Lands Programme (TGLP). The consequences of the TGLP will then be discussed in light of more recent theoretical developments followed by policy recommendations and directions for further study."