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Property rights and renewable natural resources degradation in North‐Western Ghana
Author(s) -
Bakang J. A.,
Garforth C. J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1328(199806)10:4<501::aid-jid541>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - property rights , land degradation , natural resource , environmental degradation , land tenure , renewable resource , common pool resource , natural resource economics , arid , natural resource management , natural (archaeology) , resource (disambiguation) , land use , environmental resource management , property (philosophy) , business , economics , renewable energy , ecology , geography , political science , law , agriculture , computer science , microeconomics , computer network , philosophy , archaeology , epistemology , biology
Using a case study approach to determine whether any particular resource rights regime and/or the level of security of land tenure are responsible for renewable natural resources (RNR) degradation, this paper argues that the continued use of irrelevant ‘Western’ concepts to describe the dynamic traditional land tenure system among the Dagaaba inhabitants of the region obscures important RNR management problems associated with the dynamic ecology of semi‐arid environments. Degradation has more to do with the fragile environment with which the resource users have to cope. Institutional recognition and support for the traditional land tenure system is advocated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.