Seminar on Common Property Resources Management  

Reported by Jabin Tahmina Haque

Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators has organized an in-house seminar on Common Property Resources Management on Saturday, October 17, 2009. Mohammad Abdul Baten, research associate of the organisation, has presented a paper titled” Property Rights in Mangroves of the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: Dynamics Between Conservation and Conversion”.The study will further be presented at South-East Asian Water Environment Symposium; going to be held at AIT, Bangkok from 28 to 30th October, 2009.The study has revealed that unclear property right is considered as one of the main causes of mangrove destruction. After the presentation, a simple discussion section was apprehended. Key research persons of the organisation expressed their insightful comments and suggestion in this regards. In his speech, Rashed Al Mahmood Titumir (Chairman of the Organisation), viewed the study as a useful one and it has an important implication for common property management such as fisheries, forest in Bangladesh to avoid resource degradation. Finally, the participants suggested that the study might be replicated in terms of common property resources management and related land use practices in Bangladesh. The study results can be incorporated in policy guidelines for a sustainable natural resource management.    

ABSTRACT 

Mangroves represent an important source of livelihood for many poor people across the world. However, insufficient policy responses relating to mangrove conservation, combined with the lack of clearly defined property rights contribute extensively to the conversion of mangroves to alternative uses, in particular shrimp aquaculture. By employing a qualitative participatory research approach the case study explores how different institutions in Indonesia shape the local property rights regime in mangroves. The results show that the interplay between formal and informal institutions involved in defining property rights, along with the lack of coordination among responsible government agencies, has resulted in the clearing of one of the largest Nypah forests in the world for shrimp pond construction. The study suggests that the current problem of mangrove destruction will not be solved merely by declaring the Mahakam delta as a protected area or by assigning full ownership rights to the local people. On the contrary, the study suggests that the coordination and enforcement mechanisms should be enhanced in such ways that they simultaneously address both local peoples’ needs as well as ecosystem integrity.