ISSN 1020-3133 Legal bases for the management of forest resources as COMMUNITY FORESTRY 14 common property NOTE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations COMMUNITY FORESTRY NOTE 14 LEGAL BASES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FOREST RESOURCES AS COMMON PROPERTY by John W. Bruce FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1999 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy- ing or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Information Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100, Rome, Italy. © FAO 1999 Foreword An understanding of the impact that different private, communal and state management systems have on both the utilization and conservation of forest resources and the welfare of local communities is essential to sustainable development. State and national authorities in many different regions of the world are currently decentralizing the management of forest reserves. There is growing interest in employing a more participatory, collabora- tive form of management as a strategy for forest conservation. The challenge is to enable both local communities and nations to benefit from goods and services that improve livelihoods, without compro- mising long-term resource and development goals. In order to have a greater understanding of the possibilities offered by different tenure and management arrangements for forest resources, the Community Forestry Unit (CFU) has been involved since the early 1990's in identifying the conditions under which the communal management of forests is a viable approach. It has become clear that management systems entail intricate relationships between village groups and local institutions, between local traditions and national laws that govern the forest, and between governments and local people. This study is part of a series of documents on forest and tree management. It addresses legal issues that arise in common property forestry, that is, when the right to use the forest and its products is vested in a community rather than individuals. It explores the experience of local communities and those who work with them to provide secure access to natural resources, and focuses on the question of how best to lay solid legal foundations for common property forestry. Related publications concerned with tenure, insti- tutional and legal analysis, and communal management are presented on page 127 at the back of this publication. Support and funding for Legal bases for the management of forest resources as common property was provided by the multidonor Trust Fund, the Forests, Trees and People Programme (FTPP). FTPP works to increase social and economic equity and improve well-being, especially that of the poor, through the support of collaborative and sustainable management of trees, forests and other natural resources. Lennart Ljungman Director, Forestry Policy and Planning Division Forestry Department FOREWORD iii Table of Contents FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES AND BOXES ............................................................................................................vii ACRONYMS............................................................................................................................viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................ix INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1. PROBLEM: THE LEGAL VULNERABILITY OF COMMON PROPERTY ..............................................3 þ The new optimism ..........................................................................................................3 þ Common property regimes and competition for resources ......................................................6 þ The sources of legal vulnerability ......................................................................................7 CHAPTER 2. LEGAL BASES IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY-BASED TENURE SYSTEMS ......................................11 þ Indigenous community-based tenure systems ....................................................................11 þ Landscapes and their tenure niches ..................................................................................12 þ The evolution of indigenous common property ..................................................................14 CHAPTER 3. LEGAL BASES IN NATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEMS ....................................................................21 þ National statutes and common property law......................................................................21 þ The colonial inheritance ................................................................................................22 þ Latin America: diversification and indigenization................................................................25 þ Africa: common property in an era of law reform ..............................................................29 þ South and Southeast Asia: contractual and property solutions ..............................................36 þ After communism: finding a niche for common property ......................................................44 þ The Near East: Islamic and secular solutions ......................................................................47 þ The variety of approaches: an explanatory model ..............................................................49 CHAPTER 4. COMMON PROPERTY CONFLICTS AND THEIR RESOLUTION....................................................53 þ Conflict and the creation of common property....................................................................54 The Alto Jura in Brazil ....................................................................................................56 The Chimanes Forest in Bolivia ........................................................................................56 The Awá Indian Territory in Ecuador..................................................................................56 TABLE OF CONTENTS v þ Common property disputes ............................................................................................57 Disputes over exclusion ..................................................................................................57 Collective choice disputes ..............................................................................................57 Disputes over rules concerning use ..................................................................................58 Disputes between communities and the state over the role of the state......................................59 þ Coping with conflict, resolving disputes ............................................................................60 CHAPTER 5. GUIDELINES: LEGAL CHANGE AND STRATEGIES ..................................................................67 þ A review ....................................................................................................................67 þ Securing common property under national law ................................................................68 þ Community strategies for securing common property ..........................................................71 þ Managing conflict over common property ........................................................................74 þ Conclusion ..................................................................................................................74 APPENDIXES: COUNTRY CASE STUDIES..........................................................................................75 A. The English commons ....................................................................................................75 B. Tanzania’s experience with village ownership ....................................................................77 C. India’s Joint Forestry Management programme ................................................................83 D. The Philippines’ Communal Forest Stewardship Certificates ..................................................89 E. Guatemala: ejido forestry in an unfriendly legal environment ..............................................93 F. Mexico: ejido forestry with a constitutional mandate ..........................................................95 G. Guinea: property rights reform and community forest management ......................................99 H. China: decollectivization and community forestry..............................................................103 I. Albania: towards local government and village forestry ....................................................109 J. Syria: Islamic law and community resource management ..................................................113