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Challenges to Proponents of Common Property Resource Systems Despairing
Voices from the Social Forests of Zimbabwe
By B Campbell, W. de Jong, M Luckert, A.Mandondo, F.Matose, N.Nemarundwe and
B Sithole
Price:  [Z$120]

Common property resource (CPR) management, or community-based management
or forest resources, I receiving much attention.  Part of this attention is due to the
world wide trend to devolve forest management to local communities.We suggest
that there is a fir degree of misplaced optimism about CPR systems.In investigating
common property issues for woodlands in communal areas in Zimbabwe, where
people rely heavily on woodland resources, we are struck by the numerous case
studies showing a breakdown of local institutions for CPR management, and the
lack of any emerging alternative institutions for such management.There are a
number of contributing factors to this phenomenon, including the lack of an
enabling policy environment, household strategies which are partly based on the
exploitation of woodland, marked and increasing differentiation of households
within communities, lack of legitimate local institutions, and various features of the
resources.  We argue that the formal rule-based systems which form the
cornerstones of the proposed CP systems are far removed from the current
institutional systems, form the cornerstones of the proposed CPR systems are far
removed from the current institutional systems, which are based on a complex of
norm-based controls, the formulation and enforcement of which are steeped in
subtle and elaborate processes.  We suggest that advocacy of CPR systems has
to be tempered with critical analysis.