2.2 Globalisation, Culture and the Commons

Culture has been a relatively unexplored factor in common property scholarship - acknowledged as important but analytically operationalised in diffuse and amorphous ways. Globalisation provides a rich palette on which to examine the relationship between culture and commons management and use since it has "fast-forwarded" aspects of this relationship and made them more discrete. The evolution of institutions in their normative dimensions would be at the core of this sub-theme.

It would also be examined whether globalisation produces new forms of cultural dominance. The dominance of professional science in an "epistemic community" of scholars, policy-makers, NGOs and aid agencies would be considered; this consideration being extended to include the historicity of concepts of common property themselves. The time scale permitted by cultures for a given people to think is crucial. Concepts of stewardship, inter-generation equity and sustainability would be examined.

Under this sub-theme the following topics could be considered, again with "Commons" issues being the emphasis:

2.3 "Protected Areas" in Constituting the Commons

The "protected area" approach has been one of the two "mainstream" strategies for conservation (the other being species conservation). The historical perspectives of how protected areas came about and what purpose they serve will be interrogated while the effectiveness of protected areas management will be investigated. For example in some areas there exists different policy sets and departments dealing with different resources (fisheries, forestry and wildlife) and yet it is the same people expected to the various policy sets and departments in their interaction with resources.

For urban, industrialised societies it remains a principal mode of the use of nature, and is held out as a paradigm for the developing world. In Africa, its impact on land use and state appropriations of nature has been profound. Recently, PA advocates have begun to reach out to more people-centred approaches but this initiative from ecological scholarship has had little impact from social scientists and the inclusion of this topic in the IASCP conference could be usefully instructive.

Papers to be submitted under this sub-theme are expected to link up local-level issues with globalisation and explore the linkages of protected areas and development programs in comparison to people. There is need to rethink protected areas in the age of globalisation by going beyond wildlife resources.

Topics to be considered under this sub-theme could include:

2.4 Land and Resource Tenure Reform and the Commons in an Era of Globalisation.

Land and resource tenure has long been an important issue for common property scholarship, because common property regimes are always imbedded within wider sets of property relations. These encompassing regimes of access and entitlement to resources help to define the character of specific arrangements for the use of common pool resources. Prospects for the enhanced management of CPRs are often linked to the dynamics of change in land and resource tenure systems, whether these are at the level of national laws and policies or in more local contexts.

Globalisation has introduced new pressures into national and local contexts. In particular, the perceived need for national economies to attract foreign investments, together with an increased role for the private sector in development, have led to renewed attention being given to issues regarding the clarification and stabilisation of common property regimes in the livelihood of the rural poor. The rights of indigenous people to resources should be examined.

Land and agrarian reform is back on the policy agendas of many countries across the globe. There is need to examine the widening of the definition of land and agrarian reform. In Africa, in particular, recent years have seen a large number of new constitutions, land laws and land policies being developed, debated and implemented. What impact have these had on the livelihoods of local communities?

Similarly in the water sector, common objectives often highlighted in new water Acts for reforming the sector include: promotion of equality in access to water for all citizens; decentralisation of water management to the catchment level; increase stakeholder involvement in water management; and making of the sector self financing by instituting full cost recovery measures. But, how successful have been these measures in facilitating the improvement of the livelihoods of the rural poor, and to what extent have equity issues been addressed?

Specific issues and topics, which may arise under this sub-theme, are as follows:

2.5 New Analytic Tools for Common Property Resource Management.

The past two decades have witnessed the increased use of computer applications designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, and analysis of spatially referenced data for solving resource management problems, among others. Also, recent technological improvements such as Internet access have also meant access to a lot of satellite images and other GIS compatible resource management data at global, regional, and local levels.

Factors inhibiting the extended use of these technologies include: prohibitive costs; the lack of technical know-how; lack of access to the technology; and the inability to keep pace with the new developments in the computer world as a whole.

Specific issues and topics that could arise under this sub-theme include:

2.6 Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Integrity of Commons and Emerging Regimes of Intellectual Property Rights in a Globalising World.

The meaning of 'indigenous' remains contested to the present day. However, despite the contestation on the concept, it has implications on issues to do with time, place-specific and personal experiences of particular people within given cultural settings. Many socio-economic cultural processes such as oral education, gender relations, and other social differentiations are essential in managing what are in effect common pool resources. Experts in most traditional or near traditional societies are recognised as such within the confines of the communities they are in. They derive their legitimacy within the general context of their environs even when they are recognised in areas that are far away from their own societies.

Societies organise environmental data based on their experiences and people from different societies create specific taxonomies, classifications, propositions and explanatory frameworks on general and specific environmental processes. The information thus obtained over long periods of observation shapes local perspectives on the environment as societies get to intimately know phenomena in their locales, and attach meanings, values and attitudes to them.

The discussion under this sub-theme will acknowledge the similarities between contemporary knowledge systems and IKS. Case studies of both knowledge systems would be most ideal to highlight the similarities. IKS will be discussed as a form of commons in itself and as a tool for use in the integrity of common property. Reference to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) article on IKS is necessary in framing the discussion at global level and interface with intellectual property rights.

Issues of culture, regimes and governance, informal trade of resource materials at different levels will be examined. In most developing countries, especially in Africa, groups become the repositories of the knowledge gained from the processes mentioned here. Hence knowledge, skills and strategies for resource management are often group assets even though monopolisation of some of the knowledge by individuals or sects tends to develop.

The interactive knowledge of the environment and the common property nature of the knowledge used in managing natural resources in most rural societies is under serious challenge from individually based knowledge systems, deriving from industrial systems based on patents and related systems. The conference needs to present the issues and challenges faced especially in managing the commons and promoting their social and biophysical integrity in rural environs.

The following topics could be pertinent:

2.7 Trans-boundary natural resource management and the commons

Trans-boundary natural resource management (TBNRM) refers to the process of co-operation across boundaries that enhance the management of natural resources for the benefit of all stakeholders. This perspective has of late come into the limelight because of increased competition over natural resources by users of various levels - community, national, or global level. For example, some major rivers are jointly shared among states and may supply adequate supplies of good quality water, which may be an essential element for the survival, economic welfare, and prosperity of these states. However, if unused water gradually becomes scarce, then water extracted by a user means lack of water for the other resulting in competition over the resource, which may subsequently lead to conflict. Similarly, both human and animal populations migrate across or straddle political boundaries and this has, in some cases led to conflicts and even mobilisation of armed forces. The new perspective calls for the creation of common policies, legislation, laws and governance that are in harmony with the concept of trans-boundary natural resource management. Case study approaches to TBNRM CPRs of water, fisheries and migratory wildlife are most appropriate in this discussion. Trans-boundary cultural issues, participation, policy and institutions, tourism circuits around TBNRs, water/wetlands and and other wildlife-based activities from the different regions are pertinent. Issues of conflicting land uses, legal framework and local stakeholder perspectives should be interrogated.

The following issues could be considered under this sub-theme:

Reference

Finger, Matthias, (1999). "Globalisation and Governance." Policy Matters, Issue No. 6, December, pp. 1-9.