New rules are not rules: Privatization of pastoral commons and local attempts at curtailment in southwest Madagascar

Abstract

This paper examines the case of indigenous privatization of the important fodder tree samata (Euphorbia stenoclada) and concurrent legal curtailment of this privatization among the Tanalana people of southwest Madagascar from a long-term perspective. Applying a framework for institutional change to empirical data derived from interviews conducted in 20 villages in the Mahafaly Plateau region, the study explores the process and mechanisms involved in creating and asserting private property rights to this common pool resource on the one hand, and the process of curtailment on the other. Implementation of the curtailing institutions is hampered by (1) the low bargaining power of village communities versus privatizers, which stems from the users' preference for avoiding open conflicts and laissez faire ideology, (2) the low social acceptance and internalization of new curtailment rules, which are perceived as contradictory to customary resource privatization rights and the ideology of personal freedom restricted only by ancestral rules-in-use, and (3) ineffective self-governance and enforcement mechanisms based on pro-active monitoring of local users. Stressing the interplay between ideology and bargaining power in the context-specific constellation of actors, this paper contributes to the understanding of the transformation of property rights and institutional change in self-organized, traditional societies.Keywords: common pool resources, community-based management, institutional change, property rights, privatization 618 Johanna Friederike Goetter and Regina Neudert Acknowledgment: We would like to thank all interviewees, our research assistants Andrianjohary Léopold Clément and Eltos Lazandrainy Fahamaro, our colleagues at BTU for fruitful feedback, as well as three anonymous reviewers for their critical and insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper. This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the project SuLaMa (Sustainable Land Management in southwestern Madagascar).

Which form of agreement works for communitybased management? A case study from southwestern Madagascar

“…If conservationists are interested in supporting collective action for sustainable resource management on local levels, they have to be aware of long periods of rule negotiation (Berkes 2004, Goetter andNeudert 2016). Even when the moment of establishing a rule arrives, it is important to remember that existing rules are constantly being renegotiated.…”

“…It is difficult to find the right form of agreements for CBM and also to identify the right level to anchor the CBM association. Each level is problematic in different ways : (i) A COBA association consisting of voluntary members of one or more fokontany (Model Ia and b), excludes other resource users (Pollini and Lassoie 2011), (ii) a CO-BA association consisting of all people in a fokontany (fokontanyfokonolona) (Model II) contradicts the trans-fokontany resource use philosophy (Goetter and Neudert 2016), and (iii) a COBA association on the commune or clan level (Modell III) is not action orientating for the local people in their daily behaviour (Kull 2002, Blanc-Pamard andFauroux 2004). The optimal solution would be to establish a dina on the commune and fokontany level based on a rule of ancestor or taboo that includes at least all Tanalana clans and is reinforced annually by a titike that obliges other ethnic groups to follow the agreement.…”

History and the Commons: A necessary conversation

“…Some differences undoubtedly remain, but to a greater or lesser extent, all the papers share these basic features. Although Goetter and Neudert certainly depart from the strong historical flavour of the other three papers, their study of institutional change in the pastoral communities of southwest Madagascar does come right to the centre of the motivation of the workshop and this special issue (Goetter and Neudert 2016). In close relation with this, the third and last feature linking together all the articles relates to their attention to often neglected topics in the commons literature -most notably institutional change.…”

“…In contrast with the relative success exhibited by the cases analysed by Bonan and De Moor et al, the articles by Goetter and Neudert (2016) and Largo-Jiménez (2016) explore the inability of certain collective institutions to satisfactorily respond to the challenges they face over time. In their analysis of privatisation of pasture lands in Madagascar, Goetter and Neudert flesh out much of the 'tragedy of the commons' as originally (and often wrongly) depicted by Hardin in his seminal 1968 paper: the inevitable transformation of an open-access situation into a new governance regime where private property rights prevail at the expense of alternative community-based arrangements.…”

The explanatory power of silent comics: An assessment in the context of knowledge transfer and agricultural extension to rural communities in southwestern Madagascar

“…However, the over-exploitation of natural stands of this species has become a growing problem. Goetter et al [41] showed that improper cutting can damage or even kill silver thicket plants that meanwhile show a mortality rate of about 13–22%, particularly within and around villages. Hence, recommendations that were intended to be communicated through comics considered a cutting only at the branch level (Fig 2B) without damage to the trunk or apical meristems while ensuring sufficient time between harvest events for tree regeneration [42].…”