Author: James S. Krueger

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 726

ISBN-13:

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A broad literature in natural resource management establishes how community-based institutions can manage some natural resources well, but this literature has not fully considered the social context of management institutions and their history of interactions with state law. The dissertation applies a legal pluralism framework and engages the debate about whether legal pluralism -- the multiplicity and overlap of local authorities in resource management -- leads to (dis)incentives to conserve. In specific the dissertation asks: what factors or problem areas of legal pluralism might be associated with more (or less) sustainable land, forest, and water management? This question is explored in four micro cases of legal pluralism in Meru, Kenya. Each micro case focuses on a different set of institutions and a different sustainability outcome. The case studies are: chiefs and erosion control, elders' councils and tree-cutting regulations, land committees and decisions to set aside hilltop forest reserves, and resource user groups and watershed maintenance. The case studies highlight different social institutions and their interaction with the Kenyan state from the time of British colonialism to the present day. Each of the cases involves miraa farmers -- their natural resource decisions, their compliance with state law, and their participation in non-state institutions and stakeholder forums. Miraa farming provides an interesting context for this study because miraa is a legal but often criticized stimulant crop that has been ignored (or threatened) by state law. It is thus open to community-level management under customary authorities. A major conclusion of the research is that greater semi-autonomy and greater allowances for systems of moral rewards in social institutions can, under the right conditions, greatly augment the state's sustainability policies, despite introducing complexity and multiplicity in resource management. A second major conclusion is that it is not necessary for each resource to have one owner or a single dominant set of rules. The history of attempts to fit resources to the "one owner" model has been one of unnecessary antagonism between state law and social institutions at the neighborhood level.

Download or read book Legal Pluralism and Its Impact on Sustainability written by James S. Krueger and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A broad literature in natural resource management establishes how community-based institutions can manage some natural resources well, but this literature has not fully considered the social context of management institutions and their history of interactions with state law. The dissertation applies a legal pluralism framework and engages the debate about whether legal pluralism -- the multiplicity and overlap of local authorities in resource management -- leads to (dis)incentives to conserve. In specific the dissertation asks: what factors or problem areas of legal pluralism might be associated with more (or less) sustainable land, forest, and water management? This question is explored in four micro cases of legal pluralism in Meru, Kenya. Each micro case focuses on a different set of institutions and a different sustainability outcome. The case studies are: chiefs and erosion control, elders' councils and tree-cutting regulations, land committees and decisions to set aside hilltop forest reserves, and resource user groups and watershed maintenance. The case studies highlight different social institutions and their interaction with the Kenyan state from the time of British colonialism to the present day. Each of the cases involves miraa farmers -- their natural resource decisions, their compliance with state law, and their participation in non-state institutions and stakeholder forums. Miraa farming provides an interesting context for this study because miraa is a legal but often criticized stimulant crop that has been ignored (or threatened) by state law. It is thus open to community-level management under customary authorities. A major conclusion of the research is that greater semi-autonomy and greater allowances for systems of moral rewards in social institutions can, under the right conditions, greatly augment the state's sustainability policies, despite introducing complexity and multiplicity in resource management. A second major conclusion is that it is not necessary for each resource to have one owner or a single dominant set of rules. The history of attempts to fit resources to the "one owner" model has been one of unnecessary antagonism between state law and social institutions at the neighborhood level.