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Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1355770X04001755How to cite this article: BHIM ADHIKARI (2005). Poverty, property rights and collective action: understanding the distributive aspects of common property resource management.ABSTRACT. This study examines, in a developing-country context, the contribution of community forestry to household income with particular emphasis on group heterogeneity and equity in benefit distribution. The economic analysis of householdlevel benefits reveals that poorer households are currently benefiting less in absolute terms from community forestry than less poor households. In terms of the contribution of forests to total household income, the study results suggest that the poor are actually less dependent on forests than the rich, a finding that is somewhat contradictory to results from other similar studies. The average 'poor' household obtains Nepalese rupees (Nrs) 7,756 gross income from community forest annually, while the more 'rich' households obtain on average Nrs 24,466 per year. In terms of the contribution of forests to net household income, the study results seem to suggest an inverted U-shaped relationshipas income increases dependency on forest resources may decline. Econometric analysis suggests that income from the community forests is related to socio-economic attributes and private endowments of households. Households with land and livestock assets and upper caste households gain more from the commons, while better-educated households depend less on forest resources. Female-headed households benefit less from community forests, further aggravating the inequity in distribution of benefits. The study makes a number of recommendations to improve community forestry in Nepal.

This article examines the relationship between local level heterogeneity and the likelihood of successful collective action in community-based forest management in Nepal. Economic and social heterogeneity are discussed and their effects on local level collective action considered. The study develops simple measures of inequality for key variables, and shows that there is no clear-cut impact of group heterogeneity on collective action. Forest user groups can create institutions for resource management according to their local context in order to avoid management problems created by inequalities among resource users. Perhaps the most important result is that the effects of heterogeneity can be highly variable, and the recommendation is that systems of governance need to be flexible to allow adaptation of management regimes to local conditions.

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Economic factors are an important direct and indirect driver of desertification and land degradation, associated with market failures and the lack of appropriate economic policies to address these failures. Hence, economic and political instruments and mechanisms are required to modify the market in such a way that it encourages land owners to invest in sustainable land management (SLM) options and thereby help to combat land degradation. This article synthesizes the economic aspects of land degradation, first in a rather general way. It then discusses existing valuation methods used to assign economic values to land degradation including the resulting problems which in turn hamper costbenefit analyses. Finally, based on these points a brief review is given of potential financial mechanisms to combat land degradation and promote SLM. The paper argues that valuation of the economic costs of land degradation and desertification would increase awareness of the extent of the land degradation phenomenon and its impacts on rural development and agriculture. This could also be a useful tool for decision-making on sectoral orientations for development assistance targeted at desertification, land degradation and drought.

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