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Commodifying Water in Coastal Tanzania: Natural Resource Management and Social Relations, 1926-1937

by Chau Johnson Kelly Abstract Based on a close read of colonial archives from Dar es Salaam, this article examines how the commodification and regulation of water led to friction between residents and colonial officials in Mikindani, Tanzania shortly after Britain’s acquisition of the territory. Questions of failed development and technology transfer are juxtaposed against […]

Evolving Institutional Framework for Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Mozambique: A Case Study from the Choa Highlands

by Pekka Virtanen Abstract An increased role of local communities in natural resource management has recently been widely advocated as a solution to the problem of environmental degradation in the Third World. This conclusion is based on a broad debate on the role of endogenous institutions in which academics, politicians and practitioners working in southern […]

Participatory Natural Resource Management in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe: What Role for Customary Law?

by Jennifer Mohamed-Katerere Abstract A widely held assumption about environmental management is that its success is dependent upon its relationship to the political process. This is expressed in the emerging but as yet inadequately defined concept of “environmental governance.” A recurring issue, in practice and in the literature, is the value and role of traditional […]

The Organizational Structures for Community-Based Natural Resources Management in Southern Africa

by Bruce Campbell and Sheona Shackleton Abstract Throughout Southern Africa there has been a move to decentralize natural resource management (NRM). Decentralization has taken many forms, resulting in different organizational structures for NRM. Fourteen case studies from eight countries can be classed into four types, depending on the key organizations for NRM: (1) district-level organizations; […]

Can We Be Engineers of Property Rights to Natural Resources? Some Evidence of Difficulties from the Rural Areas of Zimbabwe

by M. K. Luckert Abstract The desire for research to be policy relevant has caused many social science studies to have “engineering” dimensions. With respect to the engineering of property rights, economic approaches indicate that we require knowledge regarding the makeup of current property rights structures, how changes to current structures affect the use and […]

Transforming Traditional Institutions for Sustainable Natural Resource Management: History, Narratives and Evidence from Zimbabwe’s Communal Areas

by Dale Dore Abstract A major question that has emerged from the research and discourse on community-based natural resource management in southern Africa is whether traditional rules comply with generally accepted principles of common property management. In other words: do traditional institutions offer a solution for the sustainable management of natural resources held in common? […]