Innovation in Natural Resource Management: The Role of Property Rights and Collective Action in Developing Countries (International Food Policy Research Institute) - Softcover

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth

9780801871436: Innovation in Natural Resource Management: The Role of Property Rights and Collective Action in Developing Countries (International Food Policy Research Institute)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801871433 ISBN 13: 9780801871436

Publisher: International Food Policy Research Institute, 2002

International agricultural research is expanding beyond the development of annual crop technologies for individual farms to the development of longer-term natural resource management techniques for entire landscapes. But technologies or practices with a long lag time between investment and returns are unlikely to be adopted by farmers unless they have secure rights to the underlying resources (property rights). Similarly, technologies that span multiple farms are unlikely to be adopted unless neighbors and groups work together (collective action). But little is known about the way property rights and collective action in developing countries mediate the adoption of technologies by farmers and groups.

To address this information gap, this volume brings together international experts in economics, sociology, and natural resource management to examine the links among property rights, collective action, and technological change for a variety of technologies across a range of community contexts in the developing world. Authors focus on the reciprocal relationships between community institutions and technologies, the role of property rights in conflicts between crop and livestock production systems, and the way that collective action differs across landscapes. A conceptual framework, methodological approaches, and "best bet"practices are presented to help guide future research.

Researchers, policy analysts, and students interested in the links between environmental sustainability, economic growth, equity and poverty alleviation, and technology adoption will benefit from this volume.

Contributors: George Arab, Michael Bannister, Regina Birner, Ana Milena de la Cruz, Simeon Ehui, Sarah Gavian, Gustave Gintzburger, Mar�a del Pilar Guerrero, Hasantha Gunaweera, Peter Hazell, Khalil Jani, Anna Knox, Nancy McCarthy, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Woudyalew Mulatu, Thomas Nordblom, Onyango Okello, Keijiro Otsuka, John Pender, Frank Place, Jonathan Rae, Helle Munk Ravnborg, Sara J. Scherr, Glenn R. Smucker, Brent Swallow, Kimberly A. Swallow, Jon D. Unruh, Justine Wangila, Olaf Westermann, and T. Anderson White.

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About the Author:

Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Anna Knox is assistant coordinator of the Participatory Research and Gender Analysis Program of the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT). Frank Place is an economist at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF). Brent Swallow is principal economist and program leader for Natural Resource Problems, Priorities and Policies at ICRAF.

Review:

The authors of this excellent book have sought to reach beyond narrow ways of thinking about property rights and collective action. They have succeeded in bringing together outstanding studies from many parts of the world. Their theoretical work provides a good understanding of the linkage between property rights, collective action, and technologies related to natural resource management. The case studies do an excellent job of illustrating the major arguments in their theoretical framework. Both scholars and practitioners will find something of value in this book.

(Elinor Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Government, and Codirector, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University)

This well researched volume takes the research agenda on property rights, collective action, and natural resource management a significant step forward by demonstrating not just the importance of these issues but alsotheir complex nature. The contributors to this volume demonstrate that when it comes to policymaking, conventional wisdom provides at best a point of departure, but rarely the full answers to the issues arising in implementation. I find this one of the best source books for both ideas and empirical evidence in research on natural resource management and how it is shaped by economic, cultural, and technological factors.

(Goran Hyden, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Florida)

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