Towards an Analytical Framework for Assessing Property Rights to Natural Resources: A Case Study in the Communal Areas of Zimbabwe

A taxonomy for describing property rights to natural resources is described and applied in a Zimbabwean case study. The taxonomy allows: tenures to be systematically compared and contrasted; incentives for natural resource management to be identified; and the evolution of tenure to natural resources to be assessed. In the case study, we find: key differences between tenure types, all termed "communal"; a wide range of tenure arrangements that transcend concepts of "tree" and "land tenure"; information suggesting that the promotion of tree planting may work on some tenure types, but is likely to fail on others; and that the evolution of indigenous tenure to natural resources seems to have been somewhat immune from external changes in institutional systems. Prospects for further theoretical and empirical advances are discussed within the context of the property rights framework presented.incentives, natural resources, property rights framework/taxonomy, tenure, Zimbabwe, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Biomedical Terminologies and Ontologies: Enabling Biomedical Semantic Interoperability and Standards in Europe

In the management of biomedical data, vocabularies such as ontologies and terminologies (O/Ts) are used for (i) domain knowledge representation and (ii) interoperability. The knowledge representation role supports the automated reasoning on, and analysis of, data annotated with O/Ts. At an interoperability level, the use of a communal vocabulary standard for a particular domain is essential for large data repositories and information management systems to communicate consistently with one other. Consequently, the interoperability benefit of selecting a particular O/T as a standard for data exchange purposes is often seen by the end-user as a function of the number of applications using that vocabulary (and, by extension, the size of the user base). Furthermore, the adoption of an O/T as an interoperability standard requires confidence in its stability and guaranteed continuity as a resource

Community Management of Natural Resources in Africa: Impacts, Experiences and Future Directions

More than twenty years have passed since community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) rose to prominence in different parts of Africa as a strategy for rural development, local empowerment, and conservation. Led by new ideas about the merits of decentralized, collective resource governance regimes, and creative field experiments such as Zimbabwe's CAMPFIRE, these community-based approaches evolved in a wide range of ecological, political, and social contexts across Africa. This review provides an unprecedented pan-African synthesis of CBNRM, drawing on multiple authors and a wide range of documented experiences from Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Africa. The review discusses the degree to which CBNRM has met poverty alleviation, economic development and nature conservation objectives. In its concluding chapter, the report suggests a way forward for strengthening CBNRM and addressing key challenges in the years ahead

Barriers, control and identity in health information seeking among African American women

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information within healthcare systems and the internet. The findings indicate that the internet may be a valuable tool for accessing health information among lower income African American women if barriers are reduced. Recommendations are made that may assist health providers in improving health information seeking outcomes of African American women

The Commons Concept and Intellectual Property Rights Regime: Whither Plant Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge?

[Excerpt] The classification of plant genetic resources (PGRs) as the common heritage of humankind continues to generate controversies. The debate is between developing countries that are the primary sources of these resources and industrialized, biotechnologically advanced countries that appropriate and utilize PGRs as raw materials for various commercial products, such as medicine, seed variety, or pesticides. Scholars of diverse backgrounds express various opinions on whether PGRs obtained from plants found within a territory of a sovereign state should properly be designated “common heritage of humankind” or regarded as part of the “commons,” and therefore freely accessible. The debate also extends to and challenges the status of traditional knowledge on the uses of PGRs. The dominant but not necessarily the correct view is that such knowledge is information in the public domain, incapable of private ownership or control

Creative Gardens: Towards Digital Commons

date-added: 2015-03-04 03:12:21 +0000 date-modified: 2015-04-01 06:49:53 +0000date-added: 2015-03-04 03:12:21 +0000 date-modified: 2015-04-01 06:49:53 +0000This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, CreativeWorks London Hub, grant AH/J005142/1, and the European Regional Development Fund, London Creative and Digital Fusion

A Hidden Resource: Household-led Rural Water Supply in Ethiopia

Self supply as a strategy for WASH is defined as "improvement to water supplies delivered largely or wholly through user investment usually at household level." The two research studies reported on in this paper examined self supply in rural Ethiopia, gaining insights on the performance of existing family wells, factors that affect the decision of families to build their own wells and the way they use them, and elements of the enabling environment that can be targeted to promote self supply

Integrated land and water management: policy and institutional issues

Namibia is known to be the most arid country south of the Sahara. Average annual rainfall is not only relatively low in most parts of the country, it is also highly variable. Only 8 per cent of the country receives enough rain during a normal rainy season to practice rainfed cultivation. At the same time between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the population depend on subsistence agro-pastoralism in non-freehold or communal areas. Against the background of rising unemployment, the livelihoods of the majority of these people are likely to depend on natural resources in the foreseeable future. Natural resources generally are under considerable strain. As the rural population increases, so is the demand for natural resources, land and water specifically. Dependency on subsistence farming which is the result of large scale rural poverty exacerbates the problem. Large parts of the country are stocked injudiciously, resulting in overgrazing and water is frequently overabstracted, leading to declining water tables (MET 2005: 2). Unequal access to both land and water has prompted government to introduce reforms in these sectors. These reforms were guided by the desire to manage resources more sustainably while providing more equal access to them. In terms of NDP 2, sustainability means to use natural resources in such a way so as not to ‘compromise the ability of future generations to make use of these resources’ (NDP 2: 595). Immediately after Independence government started reform processes in the land and water sectors. However, these reforms have happened at different paces and largely independent of each other. Increasingly policy makers and development practitioners realised that land and water management needed to be integrated, as decisions about land management and land use options had a direct impact on water resources. Conversely the availability of water sets the parameters for what is possible in terms of agricultural production and other land uses. The north-central regions face a particular challenge in this regard as the region carries more livestock than it can sustain in the long run. At the same time, close to half the households do not own any livestock. Access to livestock by these households would improve their abilities to cultivate their land more efficiently in order to feed themselves and thus reduce poverty levels. But livestock are a major consumer of water. In 2000 livestock was consuming more water than the domestic sector. The figures were 77Mm3/a and 67Mm3/a respectively (Urban et al. 2003 Annex 7: 2). This situation has prompted a Project Progress Report on the Namibia Water Resources Management Review in 2003 to conclude that Given the extreme water scarcity in most parts of the country, land and water issues are closely linked. It therefore seems indispensable to mutually adjust land – and water sector reform processes (Ibid: 20). This paper will briefly look at four institutions that are central to land and water management with a view to assess the extent to which they interact. These are Communal Land Boards, Water Point Committees, Traditional Authorities and Regional Councils. A discussion of relevant policy documents and legislative instruments will investigate whether the existing policy framework provides for an integrated approach or not. Before doing this, it appears sensible to briefly situate these four institutions in the wider maze of institutions operating at regional and sub-regional level. All these institutions – important as they are in the quest to improve participation at the regional and sub-regional level – are competing for time and input fros mallscale farmers

Current marketing, supply and demand of agricultural seeds in Zimbabwe

Future agricultural growth in the communal areas of Zimbabwe must come from intensified land use. This cannot be achieved on any large scale until the needs of small-scale farmers are met with respect to agricultural technique and supporting services. Improved seeds are one of the most important techniques in this regard. The genetic quality of seed determines the potential yield and thus the productivity of complementary agricultural inputs and crop husbandry practices. Moreover, and this is of special importance for resource-poor farmers in communal areas, improved seeds can, if appropriate, make a substantial contribution to productivity independent of other inputs. In an African context, Zimbabwe has a reputation for a very high standard of agricultural research and for a highly efficient private seed industry - the largest of its kind in Africa. This working paper examines the equity function of seed supply in Zimbabwe, and analyses the extent to which improved seeds are delivered of the types and quantities required by communal farmers in a timely manner to appropriate locations, and at affordable prices. Standard textbooks on rural development in Africa pay little attention to agricultural seed in their discussion of input supply systems. Written material on agricultural research and seed production in Zimbabwe is indeed very limited and scattered. The information used in this report is primarily based on interviews of key persons within the industry and surveys in two communal areas, Silobela and Chiduku, covering 70 households. The author has been a research associate at Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies (ZIDS) during the period from 1989 to 1991, involved in a research project entitled "The Role of the Seed - Prospects for Food Security and Sustainable Development in Communal Areas of Zimbabwe". ZIDS has provided a fruitful and highly conducive environment for discussion, for which I am very grateful. I particularly appreciate the support that I received from the head of department, Sam Moyo, and research colleagues Ismir Sunga and Roger Mponde. I am indebted to the ZIDS secretarial, administrative and library staffs for the excellent assistance they have given me