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Conference Paper Community Economies in a Global Marketplace(2004) Rivera Gutiérrez, Alberto; Ratner, Blake D."Despite substantial scholarship documenting the continued relevance of common property resource management systems, many policy officials continue to view such traditional modes of organization as vestiges of the past, out of sync with a modernizing, global economy. This paper examines cases of popular mobilization in two post-conflict societies that aim at once to reassert the value of community and the viability of community economies where local livelihoods depend on constituting and maintaining a commons. Recent policy reforms addressing forests in Guatemala and fisheries in Cambodia have each responded to local demands by curtailing commercial concessions in favor of community management of common- pool resources. In this paper, we assess and compare the experiences of two members of the Association of Forest Cooperatives of the Petén (ACOFOP) in Guatemala, and two fishing villages of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) in Cambodia, highlighting the links between community economies and sustainability, the way community economies seek to engage the market on terms that do not sacrifice their commons, and the role of the state in influencing the prospects for establishing and maintaining community economies."Conference Paper La Propiedad Comunal y el Acceso a los Recursos Naturales: El Caso de los Zapotecos de la Sierra Juarez de Oaxaca, Mexico(2004) Morales, Mario Fernando Ramos"Los pueblos y comunidades indígenas de México tenemos una forma muy particular de relacionarnos con nuestros respectivos territorios y los recursos naturales que se encuentran en ellas. Esta relación depende de dos principios fundamentales, por un lado nuestra propia visón del mundo, nuestra cosmovisión, que genera un tipo de normas morales que regula la relación del hombre con la naturaleza, y por el otro lado, de un tipo especial de organización social comunitaria, que no solo regula las relaciones entre los hombre de una comunidad, de un pueblo, sino también regula las relaciones con el territorio y los recursos naturales. Ambos elementos; la cosmovisión y la forma de organización social comunitaria generan, entre otros mecanismos e instituciones comunitarias, lo que podemos llamar un sistema normativo que regula el acceso, uso, control y conservación de los recursos naturales que hay en los territorios comunales de los pueblos y comunidades Zapotecos de la Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca. "Este texto busca compartir con todos los asistentes al congreso, las reflexiones que, un grupo de profesionistas de la Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca, venimos realizando desde hace más de diez años sobre los dos puntos ya señalados arriba, además de otros aspectos de la vida de los pueblos y comunidades indígenas de la Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca. "El tema de los sistemas normativos que regulan el acceso a los recursos naturales en los sistemas de propiedad comunal, es de fundamental importancia en el umbral del siglo XXI, frente a las emergencias ambientales, ante las crisis constantes no solo de valores sino sociales, políticos y económicos del mundo moderno , las instituciones comunales cobran mayor importancia, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que la mayor parte de la tierra en México es propiedad social SINORAYURC 2 y la mayor parte de ésta se encuentra en manos de Indígenas, en donde, no por casualidad, se encuentra la mayor riqueza biológica en buen estado de conservación. "Un solo ejemplo, el estado de Oaxaca, considerado de los más pobres de México, con una población mayoritariamente indígena, es a su vez, uno de los cuatro estados con mayor riqueza biológica. ¿ Cuales son las condiciones que han permitido la conservación de los recursos naturales en condiciones de pobreza extrema ?"Conference Paper Two-Dimensional Maps in Multi-Dimensional Worlds(2004) Roth, Robin"Mapping is fast becoming a tool of critical importance for communities rushing to render legible their longstanding claims to common property resources. Motivating the move to map is the need to have accurate representations of community needs and management practices in order to obtain more secure land tenure. However, the spatiality of local land tenure arrangements and land use practices are more varied, dynamic and multiple than are mapped two-dimensional zones of resource use and rights. The conventional tools of mapping, which map abstract space and render a complex configuration of social-ecological relationships in two-dimensional form, can have unforeseen consequences. Instead of describing already existing land use and management, community based mapping can prescribe changes in how residents manage their land, effectively becoming not only a tool for securing land tenure but also a tool for the spatial re- organization of land use and management. "This paper is based on research conducted in the mountains of Northern Thailand and examines a community based mapping project designed to help increase land security for villagers facing the establishment of a National Park. The case shows how mapping techniques that fix and simplify fluid and complex associations can become prescriptive and can actually change how people think about and manage their land. In this case, mapping promoted a change from communal to private property management and made static once flexible land use patterns. The paper does not advocate for the abandonment of two-dimensional mapping, but recommends a multi-mapping strategy to better illuminate the spatial complexity of community resource use and management. The combination of modern mapping technology and multi- media has the potential to overcome the constraints of mapping in two- dimensions."Conference Paper The Struggle of the Small-Scale Fisherfold of Masinloc and Oyon Bay for Good Governance in a Protected Seascape(2004) Vera, Cesar Allan"From dynamite fishers to coal-fired power plants to fishcages, the fisherfolks of Masinloc and Oyon Bay have remained vigilant in their effort to protect and manage their coastal resources of Masinloc and Oyon Bay. They have faced many challenges and they expect more to come in the future. They owe their life to the sea and their fellow fishers. They find hope and inspiration in the eyes of their children frolicking in the waters. Their struggle has been personal. They have dedicated their lives to save their environment. Neo-liberal politicians often speak of creating a policy environment conducive for business. It is about time that a policy environment be created which is conducive to such value formation."Conference Paper 'One Hand Can't Clap': Combining Scientific and Local Knowledge for Improved Caribbean Fisheries Management(2004) Grant, Sandra; Berkes, Fikret"Migratory marine resources pose a challenge to common property theory. A given fish stock (e.g. a tuna species) may be used by coastal and offshore fisheries, by small and large-scale harvesters, and more than one nation. The movement of the stock makes it difficult to develop shared values and mutually agreeable rules among the users who can monitor one anothers behaviour and impose sanctions. Migratory resources pose cross-boundary issues. It may be necessary to have commercial fishery quotas enforced by government authorities, as community-based solutions would not be effective. In the case of resources fished by several nation states, international institutions are needed. Such resources pose cooperation and enforcement problems that cannot be solved at the local or national levels. "A case in point is the migratory pelagic fish caught by the fishers of Gouyave, Grenada, West Indies. The International Commission for Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) reported that Atlantic Blue Marlin (Makaira nigricans), Atlantic White Marlin (apturus albidus), and Atlantic Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fish stocks are overexploited. The ICCAT adopted management measures to rebuild these stocks, which requires countries throughout the region to reduce landing levels to those in 1996. Stock assessments and management strategies were based solely on scientific assessment. "The new regulations impact livelihoods in the fishing community of Gouyave. Fishers, stakeholders, and community members disagree with the proposed plan to reduce landings of these species. Based on their local knowledge and technological experimentation, they argue they have information to contribute to the assessment of the status of the pelagic fishery that would be important for management planning. They argue that the government should take a more holistic approach to managing large pelagic species, and that ICCATs objective of rebuilding stocks cannot be achieved without causing much economic hardship on the community. Stakeholders note that to ensure sustainability of the fishery and the community, management strategies could include: (1) maintaining economic viability of the fishery; (2) monitoring the bait fishery; (3) maintaining proper quality control to ensure fish export; and (4) considering alternative livelihood options. "Much could be done to improve Caribbean fisheries planning and decision-making by creating opportunities for management that are participatory and cross-scale. In our case study, there are three levels of management: community (Gouvaye), the nation state (Grenada) and regional/international (ICCAT). While the national and regional levels are well coordinated, the community level of management, and the knowledge held by fishers, is rarely taken into account. Decision-making can be improved by creating a platform that facilitates adaptive learning, and sharing of scientific and local knowledge amongst the stakeholders. This grounded platform needs to be created first at the national level through participatory processes, and then used as a means to inform decisions at regional and international levels."Conference Paper La Política Gubernamental para el Manejo del Parque Nacional 'La Malinch': Una Visión Etnográfica desde el Interior de las Instituciones Ambientalistas(2004) Castro Pérez, FranciscoFrom pages 7-8: "En este contexto poco satisfactorio, al margen de lo planteado en el proyecto de investigación etnográfica, surgió una invitación de la Subsecretaria de Ecología, para que yo pudiera prestar mis servicios profesionales, orientando las acciones que esta dependencia realiza en materia de conservación de las áreas naturales protegidas del estado de Puebla, y de manera especial, en el caso del Parque Nacional 'La Malinche'" "Este vínculo laboral, establecido entre abril del 2003 y febrero del 2004, me permitió conocer 'desde adentro' la dinámica de la planeación y la gestión ambiental de las dependencias públicas federales, estatales y municipales, involucradas en tal tarea, la injerencia de los partidos políticos en las políticas de manejo del Parque, y en la asignación de los recursos provenientes de los Programas de Empleo Temporal (PET), y las organizaciones y líderes sociales relacionados con el aprovechamiento de los recursos forestales. "En este documento, lo que hago es construir una reflexión, lo más ordenada y rigurosa posible, sobre la política ambiental de las dependencias de gobierno del estado de Puebla con respecto al Parque Nacional 'La Malinche', y la contrasto someramente con las formas de administración que ejerce en esta ANP, el gobierno del estado de Tlaxcala. "Me parece, que las condiciones de conservación ecosistémica, que guarda La Malintzi, en el territorio poblano y el territorio tlaxcalteca, así como la exasperación o la paz social que se vive con la gente de uno y otro estado, tienen que explicarse, en buena medida, en función de la percepción que tienen las autoridades con respecto a la montaña y los nahuas, así como de las modalidades de manejo y administración que han ejercido en esta ANP desde 1996 (cuando el gobierno federal transfirió a ambos estados la administración del Parque), hasta la actualidad. "Evidentemente, este análisis es parcial, en la medida que mi contacto con las instituciones de gobierno, al estar nuevamente fuera de ellas, se ha modificado, y tendrá un corte definitivo en los próximos meses, donde se integrará a los resultados generales del proyecto. De cualquier modo, mediante este documento, hago pública mi reflexión antropológica sobre la información obtenida mediante un año de trabajo etnográfico, realizado en el interior de una dependencia estatal dedicada a la conservación ambiental y el desarrollo social del estado de Puebla, donde contribuí con ideas y sugerencias."Conference Paper Studying Scholarly Communication: Can Commons Research and the IAD Framework Help Illuminate Complex Dilemmas?(2004) Hess, Charlotte; Ostrom, Elinor"This paper presents a framework for analyzing the complex resource of scholarly communication as a commons. Previously we have argued that the dilemmas associated with managing shared information are quite similar to those associated with managing natural and human-constructed common-pool resources (CPRs), where we can observe how the development of new technologies has changed the structure and processes involved in managing these types of resources over time. We concluded that collective action and institutional design play key roles in shaping economic and social aspects of information. "However, applying insights from the CPR literature on physical resource management to information management highlights the complexity of the issues involved in managing these particular processes and outcomes: there are many, diverse participants in producing and consuming information who often have conflicting interests; the nature of production and provision is often difficult to analyze and describe with the kind of specificity that is required to manage these processes effectively; digital technologies continue to evolve and are not always well-understood; production and consumption occurs in local and global arenas. "Whereas earlier we focused on applying the language, definitions, methodology, and outcomes of research on common-pool resources to understanding information management, in this paper we will extend and refine this analysis to develop a framework for analyzing the governance issues that arise from scholarly communication and the implications for further research."Conference Paper Evolving Spaces in Landscape Management: Linking Spatial Information for Effective Decision-Making(2004) Ravindranath, R.; Singh, Subrata"Community, in the policy context, is defined on the basis of fixed in place socio-political unit having residential proximity to the resource or according to state recognized political units. With the boundaries drawn at the village level and the custodial rights of the common lands vested with various departments of the state, it is difficult on the part of the communities to manage such resources. With the advent of participatory forest management powers have been devolved to the communities for protection and use of the resources. Apart from the institutions at the village level, many of the discussions in recent times have focused on the need for nested institutions at various levels to help conserve and protect large landscapes. "The need for nested institutions emerges to resolve conflicts and work towards reshaping the boundaries to establish stable governance of the resource. Despite the regulated use of the resources by community institutions, the resources have tended to get degraded gradually. Conservation of large landscapes requires mechanisms to bring in equilibrium the demand and supply within and among the communities in the larger socio- political setting. These institutions in many circumstances feel incapacitated to understand the entire landscapes and assess the quality and the availability of the resources and therefore take decisions based on the 'who is right' and not 'what is right'. "The protection and use posits a need for 'means' to understand the entire resource base to take decisions effectively. Geographical Information System (GIS) technology is one of the widely used tools to assist in the management of larger landscapes in terms of forest conservation, pastures, water resource management and wildlife management. The integration of both spatial and non-spatial data allow users to efficiently and effectively make well-informed decisions using visual aids and three-dimensional models that simulate the environment. This paper discusses a participatory Geographic Information System (GIS) with community forest management groups in India and the importance of putting people before technology in order to make GIS a truly participatory process in landscape management. The process of dialogue can lead to better information and more transparency about community needs, strategies and the problems at stake."Conference Paper War and the Commons: Assessing the Changing Politics of Violence, Access and Entitlements in Sri Lanka(2004) Korf, Benedikt; Fünfgeld, Hartmut"This paper investigates the impacts of political violence on access to local commons and looks at local contestsover resource entitlements under the condition of warfare and post-war transition in Sri Lanka. We map out two essential trajectories of refused and contested access to commons in the highly volatile institutional setting ofwar and post-war situations: On the one hand, the political geography of war and fighting creates 'no-go zones'. These often include local commons, such as jungle, lagoon and marine resources that become places ofincreased military contest. On the other hand, threats, intimidation and violence to admit or refuse access toresources for the 'ethnic other' is utilized as an essential instrument in the local contestations over ethnic identity, historical entitlements and discourses of spatial claims. In this volatile setup, social and politicalcapital play crucial, though highly ambiguous roles for accessing the commons, and they are subject to continuous value change, depending on the political developments of the conflict. We illustrate this dynamism using two case studies of local common-pool and open-access resource systems in the war-affected east of Sri Lanka. In the first case study, we describe local contests over water distribution in a large-scale irrigation scheme located in a multi-ethnic area. In this case, farmers utilize their hydraulic positions within the irrigationset-up for both, gaining material advantages (diverting more water for irrigation) and using water as a means of power against the 'ethnic other'. Spatial access to water and land may be actively denied by physicalviolence or discouraged by intimidation. In doing so, civilians are embedded in a complex clientele network with local political and military power holders. The second case study highlights issues of changing access rights and resource use patterns in a large lagoon ecosystem. Since the lagoon was part of a militarily contested terrain during times of war, this produced severe access restrictions and security problems for local customary resource users. When overt violence came to a halt with the signing of a ceasefire and access was open again, alarge number of customary and new users started exploiting lagoon resources, which led to increasing interandintra-community tension and resource overexploitation. Both case studies illustrate the volatile, polarised and hybrid nature of local institutions which produce a governance failure. These failed institutions undermine local peace building, because they feed back into existing political grievances."Conference Paper Tale of Two Islands: An Evolution of Coastal Resources Management in the Philippines(2004) Ferrer, Elmer M."This paper is an attempt to trace the evolution of coastal resources management, and community-based coastal resources management (CBCRM) in particular, in the Philippines. It begins with reviewing written accounts of two marine reserves considered to be pioneering experiments in coastal resources management. The paper then proceeds to distinguish key features between integrated coastal management (ICM) and CBCRM as two distinct tracks/approaches to coastal resources management (CRM). The paper ends with key challenges that we face in pursuing CBCRM."