The 9th Biennial Conference of the IASCP is scheduled to be held during the period of 17 - 21 June 2002 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The IASCP is an association of scholars and practitioners with an analytic focus on the management and use of common property resources, including institutional, political, economic, ecological, cultural and historical factors which influence common property arrangements.
Call for Papers
Practitioners, academics, scholars and anyone interested in the study of common property issues and globalisation are invited to participate in the conference. IASCP encourages interested people to submit panel, individual paper and poster abstracts not exceeding 500 words by no later than October 31st 2001 to the Secretariat at the following e-mail address; iascp@cass.org.zw. Final papers should be submitted by April 1st 2002 in Microsoft word or word perfect as an e-mail attachment.
Conference Theme: 'The Commons in an Age of Globalisation'
Globalisation is a pervasive characteristic of the new millennium and highly topical in terms of the attention now being given it in the social and ecological sciences. It is seen as the latest stage of a process where technological, economic, ecological, cultural and military trends, traditionally observable on a geographically limited scale and scope, are extended to the entire globe, leading to the emergence of new players with new and different (power) relationships among them. For the 'developing world', the asymmetrical power dimensions of these relationships are of particular relevance, not only in terms of the cultural and conceptual hegemony associated with globalisation.
The conference theme should be addressed from a broader perspective, not restricted to natural resources management, but to include issues of governance, economic systems and hidden values, tourism and global ideology. The central concepts of cultural diversity, marginalisation, and globalisation deserve attention in this global debate. There are issues of diversity and uniformity, scale issues and nested hierarchies that globalisation as a concept implies which ought to be addressed. Under globalisation, whose interest does the state serve and what are the related implications on traditional resource and intellectual property rights? A major challenge is the use of practical cases that offer practical solutions to the global debate on globalisation and the commons.
Sub-themes
1. Globalisation, Governance and the Commons
Structure, organisation and relationships would be foci for this
sub-theme. How do governance perspectives, e.g. Regime Theory and Global
Governance, affect Common Property Theory? The nature of governance, the
centre-periphery relations, both at sub-national and supra-national
levels and the shifting role of the nation state and issues related to
Common Property under globalisation should receive attention. The
match/mismatch of jurisdictional scale with ecological and functional
scale should also be examined.
2. Globalisation, Culture and the Commons
Culture has been a relatively unexplored factor in common property
scholarship. As such, globalisation provides a rich palette on which to
examine the relationship between culture and commons management and use.
What role does a deep understanding of culture and globalisation play in
common property management and use? Concepts of stewardship,
inter-generation equity and sustainability, cultural homogenisation will
be examined.
3. "Protected Areas" in Constituting the Commons
The "Protected Area" (PA) approach has been one of the two "mainstream"
strategies for conservation (the other being species conservation). For
urban and 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. PA advocates have begun to reach out to more
people-centred approaches but this initiative has had little impact from
social scientists and an ecological perspective. Papers in this sub-theme
are expected to link up local-level issues with globalisation and explore
the linkages of Pas and development programs in comparison to people.
There is need to rethink protected areas in the age of globalisation by
going beyond wildlife resources.
4. Land/Water and Resource Tenure and the Commons in an Era of Globalisation.
Land/water tenure has long been an important issue for common property
scholarship because common property regimes are always imbedded within
wider sets of property relations. Globalisation has introduced new
pressures into national and local contexts. What form does land/water
reform and resource tenure take under globalisation and what impact does
this have on CPRs? Examine how globalisation impacts on existing forms of
tenure and the form of integration between customary law, traditional
authority, gender and statutory law. In what ways do all these
encompassing regimes of access and entitlement to resources help to
define the character of specific arrangements for the use of common
property resources? Pay particular attention to promotion of equality in
access to resources for all citizens, decentralisation/devolution of
resource management and increasing stakeholder involvement in resource
management. What is the effect of such measures in facilitating the
improvement of livelihoods of rural poor and to what extent are equity
issues addressed?
5. New Analytic Tools for Common Property Resource Management
The past two decades have witnessed technological improvements and the
increased use of computer applications (GIS, Remote Sensing, internet and
satellite imaging) designed to support the capture, management,
manipulation, and analysis of spatially referenced data for solving
resource management problems, among others. What role does technology
play and what factors inhibit the use and application of these new
analytic tools for Common Property Resource management and use? Issues of
cost and access to technology, data sharing and standardisation for
different users and ethical considerations are key.
6. Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Integrity of Commons and Emerging
Regimes of Intellectual Property
Rights in a Globalising World.
The meaning of indigenous remains contested, but however it has
implications on issues to do with time, place-specific and personal
experiences of particular people within given cultural settings. Case
material should highlight social differentiations in common pool resource
management, the role of indigenous knowledge systems and their
contribution to the future integrity of the commons (e.g. the Aborigines
as a distinct ethnic group). How does the social organisation of
knowledge systems, indigenous knowledge systems and intellectual property
rights impact on the sustainable use and management of the commons?
International conventions, bio-piracy issues, the role of diverse
knowledge systems and prospects for sustainable natural resource
management ought to be discussed.
7. Trans-boundary natural resource management and the commons
Co-operation across boundaries that enhance the management of natural
resources for the benefit of all stakeholders (TBNRM) has of late come
into the limelight because of increased competition over natural
resources by users of various levels; community, national, regional and
international. What form should policy making, legislation, laws and
governance between national boundaries under globalisation take for
effective co-management of CPRs? The TBNRM perspective calls for the
creation of common policies, legislation, laws and governance that are in
harmony.
Detailed information on the theme and sub-themes can be accessed on the
IASCP website;
www.indiana.edu/~iascp/2002.html while hard copies of the same can be
requested from:
The Secretariat,
IASCP/ CASS
5 Aberdeen Road,
P.O Box A1333,
Avondale,
Harare,
Zimbabwe.
Telephone: 263-4-303 080/15
Fax: 263-4-307 720
IASCP@cass.org.zw