Vernooy, R. 200. Seeds that Give: Participatory plant breeding. IDRC. ISBN 1-55250-014-4. 100 pp.Today’s agriculture is like a huge inverted pyramid; globally, it rests on a precariously narrow base. Less than three percent of the 250 000 plant varieties available to agriculture are in use today. The top-down system of agricultural research, where farmers are seen merely as recipients of research rather than as participants in it, has contributed to this dependence on a relatively few plant varieties. This trend, and the increasing industrialization of agriculture, are key factors in what can only be called genetic erosion.A new approach to agricultural research and development is needed in order to conserve agricultural diversity, improve crops, and produce food of quality for all. This publication examines this new approach to agricultural research in light of 10 years of support by IDRC for projects promote agricultural biodiversity and participatory plant breeding. It examines key issues in detail, from the research questions, design of on-farm research to farmers’ and plant breeders’ rights. It argues for the development of new, supportive policies and legislation. A series of project stories illustrates how farmers and plant breeders are working together in remote regions from the Andes to the Himalayas and beyond. Analysing the results — both the successes and the shortcomings — of a decade of research, the author comes up with a series of specific recommendations for governments and organizations involved in agricultural research and development. Finally the author takes a speculative look 10 years into the future of participatory plant breeding.This book also serves as the focal point for an IDRC thematic web site on participatory plant breeding: www.idrc.ca/seeds. The full text is available online and leads the reader into a virtual web of resources that explores a decade of research on agrobiodiversity and participatory plant breeding.

Cárdenas, J.C. 2003. Rethinking Local Commons Dilemmas: Lessons from Experimental Economics in the Field. A shorter version of this paper was published in Isham, J., T. Kelly and S. Ramaswamy (Eds). Social Capital, Economic Development and the Environment, Edward Elgar Publishing. 2002. Northampton. Related papers in English and SpanishA rather recent development in economics is the formal study of how human groups device ways of governing the coordination of actions that produce externalities without the need of a Leviathan with perfect information and costless ways of enforcing rules, or without the need to individualize the property rights over the resource to allow the invisible hand to coordinate choices and results. Social Capital is one of the terms proposed by leading authors like Putnam (1993) to explain those mechanisms (e.g. norms or rules) that groups use to govern themselves. Self-Governance Institutions has been an alternative notion proposed by others like Ostrom (1990). Or a synonymous, Community Governance (Bowles, 1999) which also conveys the same notion. In general, economic analysis is now recognizing that individuals may put in place selfgoverned material and non-material incentives, which induce changes in behavior from self-oriented actions to group-oriented ones, which may produce social outcomes that are superior than those resulting from the purely selfish and short-sighted behavior of individuals. Usually these institutional arrangements achieve the result of correcting the failures of externalities without the intervention of an external agent or the rearrangement of property rights. In particular, the academic debate over the best prediction about the behavior of people that use a Common-Pool Resource (CPR), and the recommended policy approaches to the CPR dilemma have undergone a very interesting evolution throughout the last 3 decades of the past century, since the emergence of at least two seminal contributions; Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968) and his reflections on the lack of individual property rights over resources under joint access; and Mancur Olson’s Logic of Collective Action (1965) on the difficulties for large and homogenous groups to achieve the voluntary provision of a public good. The empirical evidence on groups using common-pool resources, dating back for centuries, and still today remaining inconclusive, supports in many cases and rejects in many others the different hypotheses available today. Why in some cases groups succeed collectively in managing a resource for which they have joint access, while in similar situations other groups drive the resource closer to exhaustion and socially undesirable results? Why some individuals do act in these situations according to the theoretical prediction of the homo-economicus while others do not? Further, why do the same individuals do confirm the self-regarding maximizing behavior in competitive market institutions while showing other-regarding preferences under situations that generate outcomes that affect negatively others? The fact that these questions remain unsolved should challenge the way the problem of commons dilemmas is taught and studied in the economics profession, and in how it transpires to policy making debates. However, much of the teaching of this particular problem is done without much of the new theoretical, empirical and experimental contributions that have emerged since Hardin’s tragedy prediction. Today the problem of the commons is still presented to students as a free-rider problem where the individual rationality of those extracting the resource and the lack of private or state ownership of the resource would drive the common-pool to yields that are socially sub-optimal, and eventually to exhaustion. At best, some authors seem to acknowledge the difference in rights and rules between open access and common property. Nevertheless, the introductory level teaching ignores in most cases the possibility of groups devising endogenously institutions for self-management and control, or the possibility of human preferences that involve the welfare or actions of others inducing people to act more cooperative. Further, much of the policy textbook recipes still remain within the two orthodox approaches of assigning individual property rights to the resource (market approach), or transferring all property and control to the government for (state approach) a socially efficient management to emerge. However, a long and rich path has been covered by many social and natural scientists that explore the factors that drive human behavior when facing a CPR dilemma. This paper wants to respond to this concern in two ways. One, by providing in sections 2 and 3 elements from recent advances in the analysis of CPRs that could be easily introduced into the teaching and policy design regarding the social dilemmas arising from the use of commons. In particular, it will highlight the lack of importance given to community governance solutions and the focusing on the state and the market solutions, at least in the teaching and policy design arenas. The second contribution to the concerns mentioned is a set of results (Section 4) from field economic experiments conducted in actual CPR settings in rural locations; the results provide empirical evidence of some of the new developments in the literature, questioning much of the conventional views about these dilemmas and human behavior. Further, the methodological approach of applying experimental economics in the field and in the classroom might bring to the economics profession some lessons and challenges about participatory research and teaching techniques where the participants (villagers or students) become active part of the analysis and not mere subjects that produce data, as usually seen in the conventional literature, teaching and research.

Meinzen-Dick, R., L R. Brown, H. Feldstein, and A. Quisumbing. 1997. Gender, Property Rights, And Natural Resources. Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Discussion Paper No. 29.This paper analyzes the ways in which gender issues affect property rights and the use of natural resources in developing countries. It examines the informal practices of resource use, usually involving multiple uses by multiple users. Traditional systems of access to land, water, and trees reflect complex dynamics among community members that must be understood in order to design successful policy interventions concerning natural resources. Drawing on examples from developing countries worldwide, the paper identifies broad patterns in how property rights are determined. It discusses the effects of privatization and commoditization of resources, and it identifies key issues to consider in the context of proposed resource management programs.

Groenfeldt. D. 2004. Water Development and Spiritual Values in Western and Indigenous Societies. Indigenous Water Initiative.The spiritual connection to water that indigenous societies maintain as an integral aspect of their culture is a basis for countless water conflicts with outside, predominantly Western forces of development. While Western cultural values do give some attention to a spiritual dimension of water, it is very much a minority view. The dominant value system determining how water is utilized in Western culture is basically an economic one. In indigenous societies the situation is reversed. The dominant cultural perspective places great importance on spiritual aspects of water and water bodies. Internal debates revolving around development options nonetheless often reflect economic considerations promoted by the outside dominant society. More explicit understanding of indigenous value systems by the Western world would help relieve cultural pressure on indigenous societies, and, to the extent the West might emulate indigenous notions of humanity's role vis a vis nature, could benefit the cause of sustainable development worldwide.

Lastarria-Cornhiel, S. and Jolyne Melmed-Sanjak.1999. Land Tenancy in Asia, Africa and Latin America: A Look to the Past and a View to the Future. Working Paper 27. Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin. 76 p.This literature review focuses on recent and contemporary tenancy structures in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Tenancy for purposes of this review is broadly defined to include different leasing arrangements such sharecropping, labor tenancy, fixed cash rentals, and reverse leasing. We have limited our discussion to private leasing of agricultural land, thereby ignoring issues pertaining to leasing of public, forest, and other noncrop lands. The purpose of this literature review is to provide a basis for evaluation of the desirability, feasibility, and potential content of regulatory guidelines for lease agreements that might permit the land-lease market to operate effectively. The works discussed herein are both theoretical and empirical. We have attempted to locate the most recent literature on tenancy for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. If contemporary literature is scarce or if historical developments are useful to understanding current tenancy trends, references and inclusion of recent past experiences and dynamics are included. As can be expected, the availability of studies on tenancy in the three regions is quite different.

Meinzen-Dick, R., A. Knox, F. Place, and B. Swallow (Eds.) 2002. Innovation in Natural Resource Management The Role of Property Rights and Collective Action in Developing Countries. John Hopkins. University Press.International agricultural research is expanding beyond the development of annual crop technologies for individual farms to the development of longer-term natural resource management techniques for entire landscapes. But technologies or practices with a long lag time between investment and returns are unlikely to be adopted by farmers unless they have secure rights to the underlying resources (property rights). Similarly, technologies that span multiple farms are unlikely to be adopted unless neighbors and groups work together (collective action). But little is known about the way property rights and collective action in developing countries mediate the adoption of technologies by farmers and groups. To address this information gap, this volume brings together international experts in economics, sociology, and natural resource management to examine the links among property rights, collective action, and technological change for a variety of technologies across a range of community contexts in the developing world. Authors focus on the reciprocal relationships between community institutions and technologies, the role of property rights in conflicts between crop and livestock production systems, and the way that collective action differs across landscapes. A conceptual framework, methodological approaches, and "best bet" practices are presented to help guide future research.Researchers, policy analysts, and students interested in the links between environmental sustainability, economic growth, equity and poverty alleviation, and technology adoption will benefit from this volume.

Nefzaoui, A. Y. Saadani, H. Jallouli, N. Raggad, A. Jemai avec Grigory Lazarev. 2003. Guide Operationnel Pour L’elaboration Et La Mise En Œuvre De Plan De Developpement Participatif Avec Les Communautes Agro-Pastotrales. Equipe d’appui Mashreq/Maghreb. Projet De Developpement Agropastoral Et De Promotion Des Initiatives Locales Dans Le Sud Est (PRODESUD). INRAT/FIDA/ICARDA.Le guide opérationnel rappelle et indique la logique des différentes étapes à franchir pour atteindre les objectifs de la planification locale concertée. Il laisse à l’équipe opérationnelle une marge de manœuvre et d’adaptation au contexte spécifique de chacune des communautés impliquées. Sur la base d’un test méthodologique, conduit par une équipe de conseillers en méthodologie en étroite concertation avec l’équipe du projet, la communauté, le personnel du Commissariat régional au développement agricole (CRDA) et d’autres partenaires, une première version a été élaborée et a servi de support de formation de l’équipe du projet composé des facilitateurs/animateurs, des spécialistes matières ainsi que du personnel du CRDA. La version finale du guide a été ensuite élaborée en tenant compte des différents commentaires ainsi que du premier travail engagé par l’équipe du projet dans une nouvelle Unité socio-territoriale (UST), avec l’appui des conseillers en méthodologie. La structure du guide et sa présentation suivent pratiquement les différentes séquences méthodologiques telles qu’elles ont été réellement vécues au moment de leur exécution. Cette référence devrait aider l’équipe du projet à retrouver facilement l’expérience q’elle a vécu lors de la formation sur le terrain.

Lastarria-Cornhiel, S. and R. Wheeler.1998. Gender, Ethnicity, and Landed Property in Albania. Working Paper 18.. Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin. 48 p.Methods used to privatize state property attest to Albania's commitment to a democratic and egalitarian society: farmland was distributed to the households working on the ex-collectives and state farms, and housing was sold at a nominal price to the families occupying it. There are social issues, however, that influence not only the potential role of property ownership in the development of a democratic society, but also the true workability of some persons' political and economic opportunities. This paper examines two of these social issues: gender and ethnicity. Assuming that property ownership is a necessary condition for establishing a democratic market economy, the potential denial to exercise those rights for a significant proportion of the population on the basis of gender or ethnicity could undermine Albania's attempts to establish a democratic society and dynamic market economy based on equal opportunity.

Bagré, A. S., H. Bary, A. Ouattara, M. Ouédraogo, D. Thiéba, T. Hilhorst, and G. Baltissen. (Eds) 2003. Challenges for a viable decentralisation process in rual Burkina Faso. Groupe de Recherche et Action sur le Foncier. Bulletin 356, Royal Tropical Institutie (KIT) Publishers, Amsterdam. 64 p. ISBN 9068328433.This bulletin focuses on access to land and natural resources, particulary by groups with the least political muscle, and considers the opportunities and risks that rural decentralisation poses for management of these resources at the local level. Going beyond the specifics of the current progress of decentralisation in Burkina Faso, the studies in this publication also deal with themes relevant to other West African countries, and reflect upon the role that devolutionary processes play in natural resource management and local economies.

Lastarria-Cornhiel, S. and G. Barnes. 1999. Formalizing Informality: The Praedial Registration System in Peru. Research Paper 131. Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin. 53 p.The Praedial Property Registration system has been presented as an alternative system to traditional registries for the formalization of immovable property. Much of the earlier design and pilot work for the Praedial Property Registration system was done by the Peruvian private organization, Instituto Libertad y Democracia (ILD). They claim that in Peru they "have formalized over 150,000 properties much more quickly, and at dramatically less costs, than traditional titling and registration programs" in three-and-a-half years during the early 1990s. This property formalization system has been trademarked as PROFORM. It is being offered to other countries as a quick and inexpensive way to convert informal property in the hands of a large proportion of the population into legally recognized private property, and as a source of capital for the grassroots development of these countries. This study assesses the functioning of this system in Peru and its replicability in other countries. There is no easily accessible documentation on how this property formalization program has actually functioned in Peru, and it is therefore difficult for development agencies to determine its applicability elsewhere. This assessment of the Registro Predial in Peru is an attempt to document the functioning of an important component of this formalization program. The study examines different aspects of property formalization and related institutions and processes. The scope of this assessment, therefore, includes not only the Registro Predial registration system, but also the titling process (prior to registration) and the credit worthiness and credit opportunities for titled and registered property in both urban and rural areas in Lima that fall under the jurisdiction of the Registro Predial. The study also examines the concepts and legal framework of titling, registration, ownership rights, and possession rights within the Peruvian context.