Private Versus Common Property Forests: Forest Conditions and Tenure in a Honduran Community

Establishing secure tenure is widely recognized as a fundamental component of sustainable forest management. Policy-makers generally prefer privatization to achieve these ends, although common property institutions may also be appropriate. But if common property tenure is insecure and fails to control exploitation, theory predicts that private tenure should lead to better forest conditions. In this case study of a western Honduras community, forest mensuration data were collected from four private forests and two relatively open access common property forests. Statistical analyses failed to find consistent, significant differences in vegetation structure or soils related to tenure. Notable contrasts between forests reflected historical conditions and owner preferences. Neither form of tenure appeared to emphasize concerns for sustainable management, and ongoing processes of change constrained the possibility for limiting common property forest exploitation. The study adds to others which show that the outcomes of private or common property tenure relate substantially to the socioeconomic, political, and ecological context.     

Common Property and Conservation: The Potential for Effective Communal Forest Management Within a National Park in Mexico

Common property regimes may contribute to environmental conservationand offer a complementary institutional model to state-run protected areas. The potential conservation value of common property management is of particular significance in Mexico, where a large majority of forests are held communally. Systems of common property management often exist in a context of close institutional overlap with state institutions. This project assessed the function of a common property regime nested within Lagunas de Montebello National Park (PNLM) in Chiapas, Mexico. We documented forest status and analyzed common property forest management institutions following severe fires that threatened forest conservation. Forests managed by the common property regime are less intact than federal forests, yet still moderately conserved, and many attributes necessary for common property management are functional, despite the recent fire crisis. Yet external authorities contest common property management by local institutions, resulting in limited joint management by the national park and the community. Formalization and expansion of de facto cooperation between the federal and community institutions may enhance forest conservation within PNLM.     

The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-two years later

Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons model predicts the eventual overexploitation or degradation of all resources used in common. Given this unambiguous prediction, a surprising number of cases exist in which users have been able to restrict access to the resource and establish rules among themselves for its sustainable use. To assess the evidence, we first define common-property resources and present a taxonomy of property-rights regimes in which such resources may be held. Evidence accumulated over the last twenty-two years indicates that private, state, andcommunal property are all potentially viable resource management options. A more complete theory than Hardin's should incorporate institutional arrangements and cultural factors to provide for better analysis and prediction.     

Fragmentation,Cooperation and Power: Institutional Dynamics in Natural Resource Governance in North-Western Namibia

Contemporary theoretical accounts of common pool resource management assume that communities are able to develop institutions for sustainable resource management if they are given security of access and appropriate rights of management. In recent years comprehensive legal reforms of communal rural resource management in Namibia have sought to create an institutional framework linking the sustainable use of natural resources (game, water, forest) and rural development. The state, however, ceded rights to rural communities in an ambiguous and fragmented manner, creating a number of instances of overlapping property rights and different legal conditions for different natural resources. Nowadays communities grapple with the challenge of developing institutions for these resource-centered “new commons”. This paper describes the process of local institutional development, focusing on the challenges arising from the necessity to define group boundaries, the issues arising from monitoring and sanctioning within newly defined institutions, and the ideological underpinnings of different trajectories of communal resource management.     

森林景观的历史变域研究进展

历史变域概念产生于20世纪90年代,是森林生态系统管理的重要概念之一,可以为生态系统管理提供参考和目标。总结了历史变域领域近期的研究热点:火烧的历史变域研究从定量化火烧特征开始,进而探讨火烧特征的影响因素,并且从火烧特征的单一影响因素向多影响因素、从单一尺度向多时空尺度研究发展;森林景观历史变域研究由描述景观的单一结构特征深入到揭示综合结构特征及功能特征。方法的新进展包括:评估历史数据的误差、探索采样和数据分析方法、重视火疤木数据的多时空特征、以及发掘整合多种来源的历史数据。模拟自然干扰的森林管理是历史变域概念的重要应用之一,最近的研究集中在为森林管理提供更加全面的模拟自然干扰的干扰参数,并且强调这些参数的空间异质性;同时,该管理模式也面临挑战和质疑:气候变化条件下历史变域的概念是否仍旧适用?森林管理是否能够真正达到自然干扰的效果?分析了我国的研究现状,提出发展建议。     

Transforming Institutions among Pastoralists: Inequality and Land Privatization

This article analyzes how a community of Samburu pastoralists in Kenya transformed their land tenure system from communal to private ownership. It demonstrates the dynamic nature of institutional change processes by examining exogenous and endogenous factors that created conditions conducive to change. Inequalities and conflicting interests among different social groups provided impetus for change as well as ammunition to attack or defend common property. Privatization emerged from conflict among social groups, predicated on the relative power positions of the parties—positions that shifted over time in response to strategic actions of individuals and groups. In turn, the adoption of private property altered social relationships, creating new norms regarding land ownership, individual rights, and authority. [Keywords: institutions, Africa, pastoralism, property rights, social norms]     

Conifer Cover Increase in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Frequency,Rates, and Spatial Variation

Extensive fires in recent decades in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) garnered much attention for causing a significant decrease in the extent of conifer forest cover. Meanwhile, conifer forests in unburned parts of the GYE have continued to increase in extent and density. Conifer cover increase has been well documented by repeat historical photography, but the average rate of increase and the spatial variation remain unquantified. We examined changes in conifer cover across biophysical gradients in the GYE based on stratified random samples from aerial photographs. The percent conifer cover for samples in 1971 and 1999 was quantified to determine the frequency and rate of conifer cover change. A slight majority of samples (56%) showed no change, whereas increases (22%) were balanced by decreases (22%). However, among samples that were not recently burned or logged, or already closed-canopy, nearly 40% increased in conifer cover, at an average annual rate of 0.22%. We quantified significant variability in the frequency and rate of conifer cover increase across gradients of elevation, aspect, vegetation type, and proximity to nearby conifer forest. The most dynamic locations were low density conifer woodlands on northerly aspects at lower elevations, with average annual rates of increase up to 0.51%. This study is significant because it demonstrates that rates of conifer cover increase vary across biophysical gradients, an important consideration for management of dynamic forest ecosystems. Improved understanding of this variability helps us to better understand what factors ultimately cause conifer cover increase. It is also a critical step towards accurate quantification of the magnitude of carbon uptake by conifer cover increase.     

Individualized Pastureland Use: Responses of Herders to Institutional Arrangements in Pastoral China

This paper analyzes increasingly individualized herding behavior after the implementation of a grazing ban policy in northern China based on empirical research in 12 pastoralist villages. The findings reveal that de-collectivization of pastureland has not necessarily led to direct changes in individual land use strategies. Instead, a wider institutional context influenced by the implementation of a grazing ban has led to more individualized herding and increased short-term considerations of profit maximization in the study area, both of which are seen to undermine the sustainable use of pastureland. Based on our observations of herder responses to privatization, the grazing ban and a short experiment with lifting the grazing ban, we propose that the special characteristics of grassland and pastoralism call for institutions that facilitate locally originated pasture land use practice (e.g., co-operative herding, self-organized management) instead of exclusive reliance on a rigidly defined private property regime focused on fixed property boundaries.     

Patterns of loss and regeneration of tropical dry forest in Madagascar: the social institutional context

Loss of tropical forests and changes in land-use/land-cover are of growing concern worldwide. Although knowledge exists about the institutional context in which tropical forest loss is embedded, little is known about the role of social institutions in influencing regeneration of tropical forests. In the present study we used Landsat images from southern Madagascar from three different years (1984, 1993 and 2000) and covering 5500 km(2), and made a time-series analysis of three distinct large-scale patterns: 1) loss of forest cover, 2) increased forest cover, and 3) stable forest cover. Institutional characteristics underlying these three patterns were analyzed, testing the hypothesis that forest cover change is a function of strength and enforcement of local social institutions. The results showed a minor decrease of 7% total forest cover in the study area during the whole period 1984-2000, but an overall net increase of 4% during the period 1993-2000. The highest loss of forest cover occurred in a low human population density area with long distances to markets, while a stable forest cover occurred in the area with highest population density and good market access. Analyses of institutions revealed that loss of forest cover occurred mainly in areas characterized by insecure property rights, while areas with well-defined property rights showed either regenerating or stable forest cover. The results thus corroborate our hypothesis. The large-scale spontaneous regeneration dominated by native endemic species appears to be a result of a combination of changes in precipitation, migration and decreased human population and livestock grazing pressure, but under conditions of maintained and well-defined property rights. Our study emphasizes the large capacity of a semi-arid system to spontaneously regenerate, triggered by decreased pressures, but where existing social institutions mitigate other drivers of deforestation and alternative land-use.     

生态产品价值实现模式应用场景及其运行机制——基于典型案例文本数据的实证分析

因地制宜选择实现模式是建立健全生态产品价值实现机制、践行"两山理论"的重要举措。利用自然资源部和生态环境部推介的生态产品价值实现典型案例文本词频数据,采用随机森林分析方法,从自然资本、生态服务和参与主体三个角度,实证总结了不同价值实现模式的应用场景及其运行机制。研究表明:生态产业化经营模式主要是用于农地自然资本,通过市场手段激励农户等经营主体参与,提升农地供给生态产品的功能。生态资源指标及产权交易模式主要是用于林地自然资本,通过生态权益交易,协调公共和私人部门之间的利益,以保护森林的调节服务功能。生态补偿模式主要是用于水域自然资本,通过建立受益者和保护者之间的补偿机制,提升水域的调节和供给服务功能。生态修复及价值提升模式主要是用于废弃工矿用地自然资本,通过政府部门和市场主体联合开展修复整治,提升废弃工矿用地的文化服务和供给功能。研究结果为因地制宜建立生态产品价值实现推进机制提供政策参考。     

Comparing forest structure and biodiversity on private and public land: secondary tropical dry forests in Costa Rica

Secondary forests constitute a substantial proportion of tropical forestlands. These forests occur on both public and private lands and different underlying environmental variables and management regimes may affect post‐abandonment successional processes and resultant forest structure and biodiversity. We examined whether differences in ownership led to differences in forest structure, tree diversity, and tree species composition across a gradient of soil fertility and forest age. We collected soil samples and surveyed all trees in 82 public and 66 private 0.1‐ha forest plots arrayed across forest age and soil gradients in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. We found that soil fertility appeared to drive the spatial structure of public vs. private ownership; public conservation lands appeared to be non‐randomly located on areas of lower soil fertility. On private lands, areas of crops/pasture appeared to be non‐randomly located on higher soil fertility areas while forests occupied areas of lower soil fertility. We found that forest structure and tree species diversity did not differ significantly between public and private ownership. However, public and private forests differed in tree species composition: 11 percent were more prevalent in public forest and 7 percent were more prevalent in private forest. Swietenia macrophylla, Cedrela odorata, and Astronium graveolens were more prevalent in public forests likely because public forests provide stronger protection for these highly prized timber species. Guazuma ulmifolia was the most abundant tree in private forests likely because this species is widely consumed and dispersed by cattle. Furthermore, some compositional differences appear to result from soil fertility differences due to non‐random placement of public and private land holdings with respect to soil fertility. Land ownership creates a distinctive species composition signature that is likely the result of differences in soil fertility and management between the ownership types. Both biophysical and social variables should be considered to advance understanding of tropical secondary forest structure and biodiversity.     

Divergent Fire Regimes in Two Contrasting Mediterranean Chestnut Forest Landscapes

Humans have historically played a critical role in the management of Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) through traditional fire use. Although chestnut forests are widespread across the Mediterranean Basin, little is known about their historical fire regimes. Our goal here is to generate testable hypotheses about the drivers of fire regime dynamics in chestnut dominated ecosystems. To examine anthropogenic fire management we selected two sites in Spain that have similar biophysical characteristics but divergent levels of economic development and fire management policies. Fire regime-landscape feedbacks were characterized through a pilot dendroecological study, official fire statistics, aerial photography and forest inventory data. Our results suggest that fire incidence in both sites has increased since the pre-industrial era but fire season, fire size, and forest structure have changed to a greater extent in the more developed site. These changes are probably driven by the decline in annual anthropogenic burning of litterfall by local communities at the more developed site during the non-vegetative season.     

Clearcutting Maine: Implications for the Theory of Common Property Resources

One of the basic tenets of the theory of common property resources is that private property rights work to conserve natural resources. There is growing evidence, however, that some large forest owners in Maine are cutting their forests heavily, using poor-quality silviculture techniques. This overexploitation is being done by paper companies, forest contractors, and some private land owners, who are being motivated by very different sets of factors. This article explores the reasons that private owners of forest resources are overexploiting their own lands and the implications of this for the theory of common property resources. Secure private property rights alone will not be enough to conserve resources and do away with externalities when the owners are operating in a system demanding constant short-term profits, where they are producing undifferentiated commodities in a highly competitive market, where the future value of slow-growing resources is very low, and where harvesting has so many ramifying biological and social effects.     

Modelling Associations between Public Understanding,Engagement and Forest Conditions in the Inland Northwest,USA

Opinions about public lands and the actions of private non-industrial forest owners in the western United States play important roles in forested landscape management as both public and private forests face increasing risks from large wildfires, pests and disease. This work presents the responses from two surveys, a random-sample telephone survey of more than 1500 residents and a mail survey targeting owners of parcels with 10 or more acres of forest. These surveys were conducted in three counties (Wallowa, Union, and Baker) in northeast Oregon, USA. We analyze these survey data using structural equation models in order to assess how individual characteristics and understanding of forest management issues affect perceptions about forest conditions and risks associated with declining forest health on public lands. We test whether forest understanding is informed by background, beliefs, and experiences, and whether as an intervening variable it is associated with views about forest conditions on publicly managed forests. Individual background characteristics such as age, gender and county of residence have significant direct or indirect effects on our measurement of understanding. Controlling for background factors, we found that forest owners with higher self-assessed understanding, and more education about forest management, tend to hold more pessimistic views about forest conditions. Based on our results we argue that self-assessed understanding, interest in learning, and willingness to engage in extension activities together have leverage to affect perceptions about the risks posed by declining forest conditions on public lands, influence land owner actions, and affect support for public policies. These results also have broader implications for management of forested landscapes on public and private lands amidst changing demographics in rural communities across the Inland Northwest where migration may significantly alter the composition of forest owner goals, understanding, and support for various management actions.     

Expert thinking and environmental institutions

The paper explores environmental institutions that facilitate the trial and error search for sustainable development. The argumentation refers to four case studies of environmental management in the US, Europe, and China. To diagnose the institutional constraints of environmental management, the studies focus on the mental models with which experts understand environmental problems and justify their efforts to fix the problems. As such, the mental models also reflect the institutional rules that constrain expert actions. Design principles for novel environmental institutions are developed on the basis of institutional theory and case study findings. In conclusion, implications of the proposed institutional arrangements for the public role of experts are discussed.     

Presidential Address 1988 After the first 200 years: The future of ecology and ecologists in Australia

This Address examines the current concerns of ecologists. There is instability in the organization of science at a political level, in funding bodies, and in organizations such as CSIRO and tertiary education institutions. There is less funding for research and development in Australia than in other developed countries, mainly because of poor funding from the private sector, and funds available to the new Australian Research Council are small in relation to applications for support. These factors affect career opportunities for ecologists, although students continue to be attracted to the area. The state of the Australian environment leaves much to be desired, with widespread land degradation (including erosion and salination), deterioration in water quality, and disease in natural ecosystems; many species are endangered, and there is concern about forest management. Widespread environmental problems occur despite the fact that, for more than a century, those concerned with land management have been educated in tertiary institutions. More might be done to equip graduates better for solving Australian problems, for informing the public about methods which can be used to correct environmental degradation, and for disseminating research results more directly to managers. While all scientists should emphasize the importance of basic research, it is argued that more recognition should be given to the application of science to management. Among positive aspect of the present climate are a government commitment to increase numbers in senior school years and in tertiary institutions; entry of graduates into consulting work; use of conservation strategies to enhance interaction between ecology and industry as illustrated by mining, agriculture and forestry; increased activity by organizations which raise funds from the private sector; definition of research priorities; and the identification which Australians have with an image of the countryside. With this framework of closer links between ecology, practical problem-solving, and support from industry and the private sector, it is argued that significant progress will be made in the years ahead.     

Institutional Development in the Face of Complexity: Developing Rules for Managing Forest Resources

The ability to develop institutions is constrained by human capacity to cope with complexity. But complexity is multidimensional and it is not clear which forms of complexity present the greatest challenges for institutional development. In the context of natural resources, the predictability of resource availability affects expectations that an individual or group will be able to capture the benefits of management. In addition, incomplete understanding of cause-and-effect relationships creates uncertainty about the consequences of alternative management options. These features influence calculations about resource management. The importance of resource complexity relative to various social, political, and institutional factors known to influence collective choice remains an open question. We evaluate the relative importance of several forms of resource complexity and characteristics of resource users for the development of rules for management for forest products in Indiana.     

Criticizing and Reforming Segregated Facilities for Persons with Disabilities

In this paper, we critically appraise institutions for people with disabilities, from residential facilities to outpatient clinics to social organizations. While recognizing that a just and inclusive society would reject virtually all segregated institutional arrangements, we argue that in contemporary American society, some people with disabilities may have needs that at this time can best be met by institutional arrangements. We propose ways of reforming institutions to make them less isolating, coercive, and stigmatizing, and to provide forms of social support the larger society denies many people with disabilities. Although these reforms far fall far short of abolition, they draw heavily on the work of disability scholars and advocates who call for the complete replacement of institutional arrangements with systems of supported living. The consideration of non-ideal-solutions is useful not only in reforming existing institutional arrangements, but in bringing disability scholarship and advocacy to bear on bioethics, which has paid little attention to institutions for people with disabilities. We intend this paper to redress the neglect within mainstream bioethics of the complex ethical problems posed by institutions.     

辽宁省集体林权制度改革探讨

集体林权制度改革促进了林农的增收,为林业带来了新的发展.本文在分析集体林权和集体林权制度概念的基础上,详细介绍了辽宁省集体林权制度改革的过程、特点和取得的成效,分析了改革研究的现状和不足,并对今后辽宁省集体林权制度的改革重点和研究方向进行了展望.辽宁省集体林权制度改革具有分类改革、分区突破以及主体改革和配套改革相结合的特点.截至2009年底,辽宁省集体林权制度的主体改革基本完成,工作重点转向配套改革.今后辽宁省集体林权制度改革中应着重寻求优化的经营模式来提高森林的经济、生态和社会效益,同时开展经营方式与森林生态系统功能的关系研究,利用多学科的交叉研究,为集体林权制度改革工作提供科学依据.