COURSE OUTLINE
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMON POOL
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Professor: Renaud LAPEYRE
Academic Year 2015/2016: Spring semester
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
After working for more than a year in Namibia (Africa) in a community-based association (NACOBTA) which
assists communities in managing and using their natural resources through tourism, I did complete my PhD
in 2009 about common-pool resources (CPR) and tourism in 2 rural areas in Namibia (with a comparison
with South Africa). Thereafter, I stayed two years in Kenya, working on a research project (experiment) about
water and sanitation in rural villages. I now work at IDDRI on the political economy analysis of market-based
instruments for biodiversity, especially in Indonesia (payments for environmental services). I currently
coordinate the EU-Funded INVALUABLE research project.
COURSE OUTLINE
Session 1: Common-pool resources (CPR): introduction, definition
Description:
After introducing the course, methods and grading system, this session will introduce definitions and
concepts of natural resources, natural capital, GDP of the poor, and most importantly the importance of
natural capital and natural resources for livelihoods in poor rural developing economies.
Recommended readings:
 WRI (2005), World Resources 2005 – The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight
Poverty, World Resources Institute (WRI), Washington, 266p.
Session 2: The potential over-exploitation (the ‘Tragedy’): theory
and empirical illustration
Description:
This second session will theoretically define common pool resources (CPR), show their importance for rural
households, give several empirical examples and finally demonstrate the potential rapid over-exploitation of
CPR by profit-maximizing actors (displaying both theory – e.g. game theory, or Garrett Hardin, and case
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COURSE OUTLINE
studies; e.g. the northern atlantic cod, bluefin tuna, elephants). Overall, this session will provide students
with a theoretical framework to understand issues dealt with in this course (efficiency, sustainability,
redistribution, etc.).
Recommended readings:
 Baland, J.M, Platteau, J.P. (1996), Halting Degradations of Natural Resources: Is there a Role for
Rural Communities?, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
 Hardin, G. (1968), “The Tragedy of the Commons”, Science, vol. 162, Issue 3859, pp.1243-1248
Session 3: The potential solutions to the tragedy of CPR: Crafting
institutions at the national and local level, especially property rights.
Description:
After theoretically defining what ‘institutions’ are, this course will present the model of 4 levels of institutions
(O.E. Williamson); It will subsequently define property rights over land and natural resources (see Bromley,
Alchian & Demsetz, Pejovitch, etc.) and will analyse the role of property rights in a human society in
particular with regards to CPR exploitation and development (generating revenues).
Recommended readings:
 Alchian, A., Demsetz, H., 1973, “The Property Right Paradigm”, Journal of Economic History, Vol 33,
N°1, pp.16-27.
 Gibson, C. (1999), Politicians and Poachers. The Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 245 pp.
Session 4: The private property right normative view
Description:
This session will focus on the normative (evolutionist) view of proponents of the emergence and enforcement
of private property rights over land and natural resources (Chicago school). According to these scientists,
private property rights allow sustainable exploitation of natural resources and foster economic benefits and
development through greater investment. The Coase theorem for better natural resource allocation with
property rights will be presented (no mathematics). We will present theory and empirical cases provided by
Demsetz (1967) for the trade of fur by the Montagnes Indians around Quebec or will present more recent
examples about fisheries (pacific Halibut). In all cases, the session will discuss the benefits and costs of
crafting and enforcing private property rights in CPR situations. This session will finally analyse and discuss
the views of the new resource economics (NRE) school (Fred Smith, Terry Andersen) and ‘free-market
environmentalism’ proponents. It will provide students with empirical examples of these views, e.g. Rhino
conservation in private concessions or wildlife conservation in Southern Africa, and will discuss the hotly
debated CITES and the role of banning rhino and elephant ivory trade versus liberalizing it with property
rights over wildlife.
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COURSE OUTLINE
Presentation of the first ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 Boudreaux, K. (2005), “The role of Property Rights as an Institution: Implications for Development
Policy”, Mercatus Policy Series, Policy Primer n°2, Mercatus Center, George Mason University.
Session 5: An alternative view: the Common Property School:
Ostrom, Agrawal and others
Description:
This session will present Ostrom views on the possibility of CPR sound management through the devolution
of property rights to community groups, rather than through the sole enforcement of private property rights.
We will present critics of the private property right school and will show that privatization is not compulsory in
order to avoid the ‘tragedy’ and foster development. In this latter case we will show that investment and
development is not strongly related with private property rights, for example in African contexts. We will
analyse the theory of the ‘bundles of rights’ (Ostrom & Schlager) so as to analyse the different types of rights
over resources and thus will show that securization does not automatically mean privatization. This will be
applied to empirical cases for several natural resources (Abalone fisheries in Australia, forest resources in
Guatemala). This will in fine prove that there is no dichotomy between private property and public property
over CPR, but rather a continuum of different types of rights over CPR allocated to different actors, going
from privatization, to several different community rights (enter right, use right, management right, proprietor
right and finally ownership right) and to State property.
Presentation of ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 Schlager, E., Ostrom, E. (1992), “Property-Rights Regimes and Natural Resources: A Conceptual
Analysis”, Land Economics, n°68(3), pp.249-262
Session 6: Governance structures in CPR: definition and typology,
and presentation of the transaction costs theory
Description:
Following Oliver E. Williamson, once property rights have been crafted and enforced, several institutional
arrangements can emerge for each type of property right. In this session we will define what ‘governance
structures’ are in CPR. In this regard, we will briefly present the new institutionalist theory of transaction
costs, as applied to natural resources (Bittmer & Wittmer, John Mburu in Kenya). The session will
subsequently propose a typology of all possible governance structures which potentially emerge to regulate
CPR (Birner and Wittmer, 2004), depending on local communities’ capacity, a well as State’s and NGOs’
capacity.
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COURSE OUTLINE
Presentation of ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 Adhikari, B., Lovett, J.C. (2006), “Transaction costs and community-based natural resource
management in Nepal”, Journal of Environmental Management, n°78, pp.5-15
 Behera, B., Engel, S. (2006), “Institutional analysis of evolution of joint forest management in India: A
new institutional economics approach”, Forest Policy and Economics, n°8, pp.350-362.
Session 7-9: One possible governance structure: how communitybased natural resource management (CBNRM) can contribute to
CPR management and poverty alleviation, and the link with national
States.
Description:
CBNRM programmes have gained much political support (e.g. the World Bank) in the 1990’s. This
community model was indeed thought to contribute simultaneously to natural resources conservation and
poverty alleviation in rural and coastal areas. Against this backdrop, we analyse in these 3 sessions the
characteristics, conditions and limits of such CBNRM structures in particular in light with the theory of
collective action (Olsen). Building on scientific articles, grey literature and NGOs’ reports, we will further
present several cases studies to provide examples of success and failure in CBNRM for several types of
resources in different geographical contexts. We will show examples of community-state partnerships for
forestry in India and Nepal.
Possibly two (2) outside presenters from implementing NGOs and research will come here and expose
community-based natural resource management programmes they lead or analyse (to be confirmed)
Presentation of ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 Lauren Persha,Arun Agrawal,Ashwini Chhatre (2011) Social and Ecological Synergy: Local
Rulemaking, Forest Livelihoods, and Biodiversity Conservation, , SCIENCE, 331 (1606)
Session 10: Hybrid Governance: How the private sector can partner
with communities and the State to sustainably use natural
resources and foster rural development
Description:
This session will analyse relations between the private sector and the State on the one side and local
communities on the other side. On the one side, we will theoretically present structures as private
concessions and commercialization in National Parks (NP) and conservation concessions, and will study
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COURSE OUTLINE
related cases in Zambia, South Africa (SANParks), Kenya and Australia. On the other hand, we will present
examples of payments for ecosystem services, where private sector partners pay communities to conserve
wildlife. Illustration will be presented with a case from Tanzania.
Presentation of ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 Gladman Thondhlana, Sheona Shackleton and Edwin Muchapondwa (2011), Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Park and its land, claimants: a pre- and post-land claim conservation and development history,
Environ. Res. Lett. 6
Session 11: A case study of several CPR management structures
simultaneously: the Namibian programme and the possibility for
poverty alleviation
Description:
Building on our professional as well as academic experience in Namibia we will present in details the
Namibian situation. This session will help understand the whole continuum of CPR management structures
which regulate CPR and foster sustainable development in Namibia.
Presentation of ‘exposés’
Recommended readings:
 LAPEYRE, R., 2011, “Governance Structures and the Distribution of Tourism Income in Namibian
Communal Lands: a New Institutional Framework”, Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale
Geografie, 102(3), pp.304-315
Session 12: Summary of key messages (Video Session)
Description:
Building on a long video, this session will propose a real local case where students will collectively be asked
to solve a problem related to CPR overexploitation and subsequent better management. As a result, it will
conclude this course by highlighting key messages.
Recommended readings: TBD
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