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Private Property Rights and Forest Preservation in Karnataka Western Ghats, India: Comment
Author(s) -
Lélé Sharachchandra
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1242934
Subject(s) - citation , energy (signal processing) , library science , property rights , computer science , political science , mathematics , law , statistics
The hilly tract of Uttara Kannada district in the Western Ghats of India has been famous for its arecanut and spice orchards for several centuries. The cultivators have evolved complex horticultural practices to maintain productivity under conditions of high rainfall, hilly terrain, and leached soils. Theso/practices include the intensive application of tree leaves as mulch and of leaf-mold and dung as manure, materials that are obtained directly or indirectly from the forests surrounding the orchards. Special forest privileges were granted to the arecanut orchard owners by the British in the 1890s for this purpose. The privileges, a rare compromise in state monopoly ownership of forest resources, allow arecanut cultivator.~ to collect leaves, fuelwood, grass, and other products for personal use only. Specific forest plots, called wppinahettas, were demarcated, and ri~hts to their use were unalienably linked to specific arecanut orchard plots (rather than vested in individuals). Recent concern over forest loss and degradation in the Western Ghats region has drawn attention to the conditions of the soppinabettas with their peculiar institutional form. Bhat and Huffaker (henceforth BH) constructed a bioeconomic model to predict whether the complete privatization of these forests will lead to their preservation. I present a brief critique of their effort.