Premium
“Then it's clear who owns the trees”: Common Property and Private Control in the Social Forest in a Zimbabwean Resettlement Area 1
Author(s) -
Goebel Allison
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1999.tb00381.x
Subject(s) - woodland , private property , context (archaeology) , land tenure , government (linguistics) , common pool resource , geography , property rights , business , economic growth , natural resource economics , environmental resource management , environmental planning , agriculture , economics , ecology , market economy , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , microeconomics , biology
The woodlands in the Resettlement Areas of post‐Independence Zimbabwe are under severe stress. The recent Land Tenure Commission (Rukuni 1994), identified the problem as the common property management system in the woodlands, and recommended a change to private tenure. The government of Zimbabwe has accepted this recommendation. This paper explores the common property woodland management system in a case study of a Model A resettlement scheme in order to consider this policy shift. Key institutional inadequacies and widespread “poaching” of resources by neighboring communities emerge as the major micro causes for deforestation in common property areas. In addition, private control in some areas of the woodlands appears to have positive effects. While these dynamics at first appear to support the shift to private tenure, doubts emerge when the woodland management system is placed in historical cultural context, and the poaching problem is seen as an aspect of the macro context of overall inequity in land and resource distribution.