The Commons in Transition

The paper analyses the institutional dynamics surrounding common-pool resources in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe. It is conceived in close conjunction with the case studies reported in the four preceding papers in this series. The purpose of this paper is to frame the individual case inquiries, compare the findings from the four plus two additional case studies, and relate those to broader agrarian and environmental changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The comparative assessment suggests that resource governance has shifted from the previously dominant legal and administrative state hierarchies towards markets. In addition, state power has moved from central governments towards local authorities. The waning and decentralisation of state power has caused the emergence of significant gaps between property legislation and rights-in-practice, which have been particularly stark in weak states. The discrepancy between legal texts and rights-in-practice leads to the exclusion of public and collective interests in favour of private interests in CPR management. It finds its environmental expression in the declining use of water control systems, widespread destruction of water infrastructure, and unfettered conversion of agricultural land for urban sprawl. Thus, the findings attest to the central role of distributive issues in postsocialist privatisation and suggest an additional dimension of distributive conflict: different rights and obligations associated with resources. They also suggest the need for postsocialist governments to be actively involved in the management of common-pool resources for the protection of public and collective interests.Industrial Organization,

REDD+ on the rocks? Conflict over forest and politics of justice in Vietnam

In Vietnam, villagers involved in a REDD+ (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) pilot protect areas with rocks which have barely a tree on them. The apparent paradox indicates how actual practices differ from general ideas about REDD+ due to ongoing conflict over forest, and how contestations over the meaning of justice are a core element in negotiations over REDD+. We explore these politics of justice by examining how the actors involved in the REDD+ pilot negotiate the particular subjects, dimensions, and authority of justice considered relevant, and show how politics of justice are implicit to practical decisions in project implementation. Contestations over the meaning of justice are an important element in the practices and processes constituting REDD+ at global, national and local levels, challenging uniform definitions of forest justice and how forests ought to be managed

Single-molecule fluorescence studies of Protein Folding and Molecular Chaperones

Folding of newly synthesized proteins is an essential part of protein biosynthesis and misfolding can result in protein aggregation which can also lead to several severe diseases. Protein folding is a highly heterogeneous process and rarely populated intermediate states may play an important role. Single-molecule techniques are ideally suited to resolve these heterogeneities. In this thesis, I have employed a variety of single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy techniques to study protein folding using model systems on different levels of complexity. The acidic compact state (A state) of Myo- globin is used as a model system of a protein folding intermediate and is studied by a combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and several fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. Using two-focus fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), it is shown that the A state is less compact than the native state of myoglobin, but not as expanded as the fully unfolded state. The analysis of exposed hydrophobic regions in the acidic structures generated by the MD simulations reveals poten- tial candidates involved in the aggregation processes of myoglobin in the acidic compact state. These results contribute to the understanding of disease-related fibril formation which may lead ultimately to better treatments for these diseases. A huge machinery of specialized proteins, the molecular chaperones, has evolved to assist protein folding in the cell. Using single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, I have studied several members of this machinery. Single-pair fluorescence resonance energy transfer (spFRET) experiments probed the conformation of the mitochondrial heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), Ssc1, in different stages along its functional cycle. Ssc1 has a very defined conformation in the ATP state with closely docked domains but shows significantly more heterogeneity in the presence of ADP. This heterogeneity is due to binding and release of ADP. The nucleotide-free state has less inter-domain contacts than the ATP or ADP-bound states. However, the addition of a substrate protein decreases the interaction between the domains even further simultaneously closing the substrate binding lid, showing that substrate binding plays an active role in the remodeling of Ssc1. This behavior is strikingly different than in DnaK, the major bacterial Hsp70. In DnaK, complete domain undocking in the presence of ADP was observed, followed by a slight re-compaction upon substrate binding. These differences may reflect tuning of Ssc1 to meet specific functions, i.e. protein import into mitochondria, in addition to protein folding. Ssc1 requires the assistance of several cofactors depending on the specific task at hand. The results of spFRET experiments suggest that the cofactors modulate the conformation of Ssc1 to enable it to perform tasks as different as protein import and protein folding. Downstream of Hsp70 in the chaperone network, the GroEL/ES complex is a highly specialized molecular machine that is essential for folding of a large subset of proteins. The criteria that distin- guish proteins requiring the assistance of GroEL are not completely understood yet. It is shown here that GroEL plays an active role in the folding of double-mutant maltose binding protein (DM-MBP). DM-MBP assumes a kinetically trapped intermediate state when folding spontaneously, and GroEL rescues DM-MBP by the introduction of entropic constraints. These findings suggest that proteins with a tendency to populate kinetically trapped intermediates require GroEL assistance for folding. The capacity of GroEL to rescue proteins from such folding traps may explain the unique role of GroEL within the cellular chaperone machinery

The commons in transition

"The paper analyses the institutional dynamics surrounding common-pool resources in post socialist Central and Eastern Europe. It is conceived in close conjunction with the case studies reported in the four preceding papers in this series. The purpose of this paper is to frame the individual case inquiries, compare the findings from the four plus two additional case studies, and relate those to broader agrarian and environmental changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The comparative assessment suggests that resource governance has shifted from the previously dominant legal and administrative state hierarchies towards markets. In addition, state power has moved from central governments towards local authorities. The waning and decentralization of state power has caused the emergence of significant gaps between property legislation and rights-in-practice, which have been particularly stark in weak states. The discrepancy between legal texts and rights-in-practice leads to the exclusion of public and collective interests in favor of private interests in CPR management. It finds its environmental expression in the declining use of water control systems, widespread destruction of water infrastructure, and unfettered conversion of agricultural land for urban sprawl. Thus, the findings attest to the central role of distributive issues in post socialist privatization and suggest an additional dimension of distributive conflict: different rights and obligations associated with resources. They also suggest the need for post socialist governments to be actively involved in the management of common-pool resources for the protection of public and collective interests." (author's abstract)Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert die institutionelle Dynamik in Zusammenhang mit den 'common-pool resources' in den postsozialistischen Ländern Mittel- und Osteuropas. Der Beitrag steht in engem Zusammenhang mit den Fallstudien, die in den vorhergegangenen Papieren in dieser Reihe vorgestellt wurden. Der Zweck dieser Arbeit ist es, einen Rahmen für die einzelnen Untersuchungen zu bieten, die Ergebnisse der Fallstudien zu vergleichen und diese auf die landwirtschaftlichen und klimatischen Veränderungen in Zentral- und Osteuropa zu beziehen. Die vergleichende Einschätzung zeigt, dass 'resource government' sich von den vorher dominierenden legalen und administrativen staatlichen Hierarchien in Richtung zu den Märkten verschoben hat. Zusätzlich ist die staatliche Macht von der Zentralverwaltung auf die lokalen Behörden übergegangen. Das Abnehmen und die Dezentralisierung der staatlichen Macht hat das Aufkommen bedeutender Lücken zwischen Eigentumsgesetzgebung und der Rechtspraxis verursacht, die in den schwachen Staaten besonders groß sind. Die Diskrepanz zwischen den Rechtsgrundlagen und der Rechtspraxis führt zu dem Ausschluss der allgemeinen und kollektiven Interessen zugunsten der privaten Interessen im Bereich des 'common pool resource'-Management. Seinen Ausdruck findet dies etwa im sinkenden Gebrauch von Wasserkontrollsystemen, in der weitverbreiteten Zerstörung der Wasserinfrastruktur und in der ungehinderten Umwandlung des Ackerlandes für die Ausbreitung der Städte. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, wie notwendig es für die postsozialistischen Regierungen ist, sich aktiv in das Management der 'common pool resources' einzumischen, um so einen Beitrag zum Schutz öffentlicher und kollektiver Interessen zu leisten. (ICDÜbers

Institutional options for the protection of open space: evidence from Poland

"This paper seeks to contribute to the development of institutional options for the management of public goods in Central and Eastern Europe. It assesses the potential of different governance structures, including administrative hierarchies, market approaches, and efforts at local non-market co-ordination. The paper examines the management of public goods in Central and Eastern Europe through a study of open space management and urban sprawl in a semi-urban county near Warsaw, Poland. The protection of open space poses significant challenges to semi-urban land management, as its benefits cannot be captured by individual entities and accrue as much to urban residents as to local people. The concrete institutional options investigated comprehend the use of land registers for monitoring land conversion, establishment of land trusts in part financed by a development gains tax, and technical and organisational support for local environmental organisations. The evaluation of options builds on an analysis of causes underlying rapid land conversion in the past decade. The causal analysis demonstrates that privatisation and decentralisation have evoked the radical changes in land use. The demand for housing land motivated farmers to sell semi-urban land, as the state could not enforce its legal oversight over land use. Land conversion was driven by local alliances of farmers eager to "cash in" on their newly acquired rights of alienation, a broader rural society primarily interested in economic development, and local authorities lured by increasing tax revenues." [author's abstract

Capitalist Expansion and the Decline of Common Property Ecosystems: Lessons from China, Vietnam and India

This article identifies some of the multiple processes of capitalist development through which access to common property resources and their utility for communities are undermined. Three sites in upland Asia demonstrate how patterns of exclusion are mediated by the unique and selective trajectories through which capital expands, resulting in a decline of common property ecosystems. The process is mediated by economic stress, ecological degradation and political processes such as state-sanctioned enclosure. The first case study from Shaoguan, South China, indicates how rapid capitalist industrialization has depleted the aquatic resource base, undermining the livelihoods of fishing households yet to be absorbed into the urban working class. At the second site, in Phu Yen, Vietnam, capitalist development is limited. However, indirect articulations between capitalism on the lowlands and the peasant economy of the uplands is driving the commercialization of agriculture and fishing and undermining the utility of communal river and lake ecosystems. In the third site, Buxa in West Bengal, India, there is only selective capitalist development, but patterns of resource extraction established during the colonial period and contemporary neoliberal ‘conservation’ agendas have directly excluded communities from forest resources. Restrictions on access oblige them to contribute subsidized labour to local enterprises. The article thus shows how communities which are differentially integrated into the global economy are excluded from natural resources through complex means

SDG16: peace, justice and strong institutions - a political ecology perspective

This chapter assesses the implications of UN SDG 16: ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ for both forests and people. Particular focus is placed on three thematic areas: 1) peace and the reduction of armed conflict, 2) the rule of law, accountability, transparency, and access to justice and 3) inclusiveness and participation. Conflict is widely variable in its effects, and may either prevent agricultural expansion or drive illicit crop production, and foster migration in or out of forested areas; while peace is often accompanied by state-supported mining and expansion of commercial crops. Regarding rule of law, forest policy in many countries favours political elite, large-scale industry actors and international trade. Hence, if SDG implementation strengthens state institutions, the ‘rule of law’ and transparency linked with international trade, it is likely to reinforce existing inequalities, unless it is counter-balanced with legal reforms that strengthen local rights to land and resources. While there has been much recent progress in promoting ‘participatory’ forest management, this is often tightly controlled by the state, contributing to local administrative burdens without redistributing power and benefits. In sum, the impacts of SDG 16 on forests and people depend on how it shapes power and resource distribution