INFORMAL PRESENTATIONS:

Economic and Institutional Options for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Northwest Syria
by A. Rodríguez (ICARDA)

Rangeland Rehabilitation Investment and Property Rights in Syria: A Community Modeling Approach
by T.S. Nordblom, M. Nasser, T. Bendaoud, T. Ngaido, F. Shomo, J. Rae, G. Arab, N. Murad, N. Chaherli, and G. Gintzburger (ICARDA)

ECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT IN NORTHWEST SYRIA. by A. Rodríguez (ICARDA)

The rapid expansion of the use of tube wells in Syria during the end of the 1980s and early 1990s has made possible the cultivation of wheat and summer crops where barley and small ruminant production systems had been customary. However, the irrigation era is threatened by declining water tables, increasing extraction costs and decreasing water quality. It is estimated that only 30 to 40 percent of the groundwater used in agriculture is rechargeable. Farmers are aware of this imbalance and appear to be resigned to eventually returning to rain-fed agriculture. The search for new sources of water, i.e. more well-drilling, is perceived as a rational response to increasing water scarcity. Cooperative irrigation scheduling or water-sharing arrangements are not currently present for the users of this common-property resource. The non-cooperative behavior was discussed in open-ended interviews with farmers in a transect from 200 to 350 mm annual rainfall in northwestern Syria. The absence of an efficient monitoring system for irrigation practices, the land-tenure and water-rights situation, and farmers' perceptions and attitudes, explain (in part) the constraints to cooperation. Current economic incentives to produce agricultural commodities, tilting preferences to the present rather than future value of water, compound the unsustainable choices made by farmers.

RANGELAND REHABILITATION INVESTMENT AND PROPERTY RIGHTS IN SYRIA: A COMMUNITY MODELING APPROACH. by T.S. Nordblom, M. Nasser, T. Bendaoud, T. Ngaido, F. Shomo, J. Rae, G. Arab, N. Murad, N. Chaherli, and G. Gintzburger (ICARDA)

Since 1995, the government of the Syrian Arab Republic has banned barley cultivation on lands receiving less than 200 mm mean annual rainfall in favor of implementing technical improvements in the form of rangeland shrub reserves. This policy affects the welfare of the local communities, which heavily relied on barley for providing cheap feed to their herds. This policy has also changed farmers' resource allocation strategies and investment options.

We quantify investment prospects for range development under several policy and property rights scenarios in a case study of one clan-community area of 32,900 hectares occupied in winter and spring by some 200 Bedouin households and their 26,000 sheep. The economics of government-controlled shrub plantations, requiring guards and massive fences, are contrasted with those of community controlled ones in quantitative simulation modeling. These scenarios are combined with options for cultivation of barley on 5,000 hectares in pockets of relatively deep soil where the practice had been sustained for many years until recently banned.

PROPERTY RIGHTS, COLLECTIVE ACTION AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. by Peter Hazell, Anna Knox and Ruth Meinzen-Dick (IFPRI)

The literature addressing constraints and enabling factors for rural technology adoption have largely focused on their direct effects on crop technologies. The conceptual framework presented in this paper argues that examining the interactive relationship between property rights, collective action and traditionally identified constraints is particularly relevant when assessing the dynamics affecting the uptake of natural resource management (NRM) technologies, which are often targeted to common pool resources. In contrast to many crop technologies like HYV seeds or fertilizers, NRM technologies tend to embody greater and more varying degrees of temporal and spatial externalities. These externalities have implications for assessing the relative significance of property rights versus collective action for improving resource management practices. The paper further explores how the structure of property rights and collective action shape the efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability of technological outcomes thereby enriching our understanding of different technologies' contributions to poverty alleviation.

LAND TENURIAL SYSTEMS AND THE ADOPTION OF MUCUNA PLANTED FALLOWS IN THE DERIVED SAVANNAS OF WEST AFRICA. by Victor M. Manyong (1) and A.V. Houndekon (2)

1. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria
2. Institut National de Recherche Agricole du Benin(INRAB), Cotonou, Rep. du Benin

An improved resource management system that incorporates velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) to address declining soil fertility and weed infestation was introduced to the small scale farmers in a densely populated area of the derived savannas in Benin Republic (West Africa). Six years after the introduction of the technology, an adoption study was conducted on about 280 farmers to assess the factors driving the adoption process. Results from probit analysis indicated that security on land was among the factors that significantly affect the adoption. The security on land factor had the highest marginal effect (0.84%) on the probability of adoption, just behind the frequency of weeding factor (1.37%). Sensitivity analysis on land policy indicated that security on land for all farmers would result in a little increase (+6.2%) on the adoption rate, probably because most fields that received the new technology already belonged to the farmers. However, any policy that does not secure property rights on land for all would result in a deep drop (-73.4%) on the adoption rate. Results also showed that the most important determinant factor for the adoption, i.e. increasing weeding during a cropping season, would favourably affect the adoption of velvet bean only if farmers had full security on degraded land. These findings are likely to explain the predominance of land tenurial systems that secure property rights on land such as the traditional acquisition of land through inheritance and the gradual development of land markets (purchasing and renting), the effects of which were to facilitate a quick spread of the mucuna planted fallows in the derived savannas of Benin Republic (West Africa).

THE IMPACT OF LAND TENURE ON MOUNTAIN TERRACE MAINTENANCE IN YEMEN. by Mohammed Al-Sanabani (1), Aden Aw-Hassan (2), and Abdul Rahman Bamatraf(3)

1. University of Sana's, Yemen
2. ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria
3. Agricutrural Research and Extension Authority, Damar, Yemen

The highlands of Yemen are characterised by their stone-wall terraces which were built with indigenous knowledge and local resources. These terraces represent over 40 percent of the country's arable land and provide employment for over 50 percent of the rural population. Farmers have diligently managed these mountain terraces as part of complex farming systems. However, recent socio-economic changes have lead to the abandonment, neglect and deterioration of terraces.

The paper describes the land tenure systems and property rights in the Western Escarpment of the Yemeni highlands, and analyses the impact of land tenure arrangements on the farmer's willingness to maintain terraces. The paper reveals a variety of land tenure arrangements in the study area which determine access to and utilization of crop and rangelands. The implications of these tenure systems for land improvement is analysed. A key finding is that lack of clarity in the responsibility between tenants and land owners for terrace maintenance and cost sharing is contributing to deterioration of the terraces.

PROPERTY RIGHTS AND SALINITY MANAGEMENT (Lessons Learned From the Rechna Doab, Punjab, Pakistan). by Waqar A. Jehangir (IIMI)

For purposes of this paper, property rights are defined as the rights and entitlement of land owners, owner-cum-tenants (OCT) and tenant farms regarding the right to (a) exclude others from one's property, (b) occupy and derive beneficial use, (c) convey; and (d) bequeath. These property rights allow the owners, OCT, and tenants to use and manage their land in ways that fit their needs.

This paper provides a discussion on results of a study carried out in the Rechna Doab, Punjab, Pakistan. The paper examines the impact of property rights on the choice of technology for reclaiming the lands from the problem of salinity/sodicity and measures the level of efficiency in land utilization by these tenurial classes in the Rechna Doab. This paper makes use of both the primary data collected from 443 farms in the Rechna Doab, along with secondary data from the Agricultural Census report of Pakistan for the year 1990. Estimates are made regarding the operational distribution of tenurial classes in the Rechna Doab across different districts and their relationship with unused cultivable lands. The spatial and temporal relationship between cropping intensity and the size of holding as well as the influence of the level of irrigation on the cropping intensity are also explained.

The owner farms are defined as the farm category in which the operators own the land. The owners have the right to make decisions regarding the choice of the crop, use of chemical amendments and the amount of inputs used. On the tenant farms, the entire area is taken from their household(s) against a fixed rent in cash/kind or a share in produce. The tenants are not sure that they will be able keep the same land under their tenancy and are often times not interested in using the chemical inputs to improve the soil characteristics. Regarding the OCT farms, the operator household owns a part of the area and the remaining is taken from the other household(s) against rent or share of produce.

The study reveals that the property rights affect the farmers' choice of chemical for salinity/sodicity management. The results show that 57 percent of the owner farms 26 percent of the OCT and 17 percent of the tenant farms used the chemical inputs to reclaim their lands. The regression results of the log linear functional form revealed that in the case of wheat and cotton crops, constant returns to scale prevail on the owner farms while decreasing returns to scale are observed on the OCT and tenant farms in the Rechna Doab. The yields from cotton are estimated to be 7 percent and 16 percent more and the net returns 13 percent and 22 percent more on the owner farms as compared to the OCT and tenant farms, respectively. The inefficiency indices show that cropping intensity on the owner, OCT and tenant farms in the Rechna Doab can be improved by 28.7 percent, 28.3 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES, LAND CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND RISK MANAGEMENT: DO PROPERTY RIGHTS CONSTRAIN FARMERS STRATEGIES IN LOW RAINFALL AREAS OF JORDAN? by Karim Neshiewat, Mahmoud Salem, and Tidiane Ngaido (ICARDA)

HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES, LAND CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND RISK MANAGEMENT: DO PROPERTY RIGHTS CONSTRAIN FARMERS STRATEGIES IN LOW RAINFALL AREAS OF MOROCCO? by Mohamed Boughlala, Fatima Nassif and Tidiane Ngaido (ICARDA)

HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES, LAND CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND RISK MANAGEMENT: DO PROPERTY RIGHTS CONSTRAIN FARMERS STRATEGIES IN LOW RAINFALL AREAS OF TUNISIA? by Mohamed Salah Bachta, Marouane Al Abassi and Tidiane Ngaido (ICARDA)

Property rights' constraints are frequently raised in research and policy debates about adoption of new improved varieties and sustainable resource management practices in low rainfall areas of West Asia and North Africa. Providing tenure security to these farmers will enhance their ability to cope with environmental variability and induce them to invest in improved varieties and sustainable resource management practices. The property rights study presently being carried out by IFPRI and ICARDA under the Mashreq and Maghreb project and funded by IFAD and AFESD is investigating the links between property rights and adoption of technology. Household, field and crop questionnaires were conducted to capture the effects of property rights according to household land holding portfolio, income generating strategies, field characteristics and type of crop.

THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF ALTERNATIVE LAND TENURE CONTRACTS IN A MIXED CROP-LIVESTOCK SYSTEM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA by Sarah Gavian and Simeon Ehui (ILRI)

In this paper we test the hypothesis that land held under varying configurations of property rights will be farmed at different levels of efficiency. Production data was collected from 477 plots in a mixed farming system in the Ethiopian highlands. Interspatial measures of total factor productivity, based on the Divisia index, were used to test the relative efficiency of three informal and less secure land contracts (rented, share-cropped and borrowed) relative to lands held under formal contract with the Ethiopian government. Although the informally-contracted lands are farmed 7% to 16% less efficiently, the analysis indicates that farmers of such lands actually apply inputs more, rather than less, intensively. The gap in total factor productivity thus results from the inferior quality of inputs rather than a lack of incentive to allocate inputs to mixed crop-livestock farming. The widespread insecurity of rural land in Ethiopia suggests the need for more stable, enforceable leases to all rural farm land, whether allocated by government or informally transferred between farmers.

PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ALLEY FARMING TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA by Akin Adesina, Jonas Chianu, and David Mbila (IITA)

Alley farming is a technology for natural resource management developed at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as an alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture practiced by farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa. However the level of adoption has been lower than expected. One of the issues that has been raised as limiting the adoption of the technology is inappropriate property rights. While inappropriate property rights have been noted as a major factor limiting the adoption of the alley farming technology, such observations are rarely based on detailed field studies. In 1996, a detailed three-country study was conducted to assess the level and rate of adoption, and the extent of farmer adaptation of the technology. Geo-referenced surveys were done with a sample of 1400 farmers across different agroecological zones of Cameroon, Benin and Nigeria.

One of the issues investigated in this study was the role of property rights (i.e, land and tree tenure) in influencing the adoption of alley farming technology. Results do not support the generalized view that land tenure is a major factor limiting the adoption of this natural resource management technology. Farmers have a bundle of tenurial rights across their fields and they differentiate which fields on which they adopt tree-based technologies. Alley farming has also been noted as not likely to be adopted by women because of their lack of land rights that allows planting of trees. Analysis from our study does not support this generalized view. Private tree rights were investigated and results show that majority of farmers have conducive tree rights for adoption of agroforestry-based technologies. Contrary to previous studies, we observed rather encouraging levels of adoption of alley farming technology, especially in northwest and south-west Cameroon, south-east Nigeria, and Benin. However, across the three countries, farmers have made significant modifications in the technology. Results show that alley farming technology is being adapted by farmers, and adopted especially in areas with certain preconditions such as declining soil fertility, fuel wood scarcity, fodder scarcity and erosion. Land and tree tenure are not the major factors limiting the adoption of alley farming technologies.

THE ROLE OF TENURE IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TREES AT THE COMMUNITY AND FARM LEVELS: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSES FROM EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA by Frank Place (ICRAF) and Keijero Otsuka (IFPRI)

This paper investigates the effect of several tenure-related variables on tree management at the community and farm scales using data from Uganda and Malawi. Community-level analyses were made on 64 sites in east-central Uganda (parishes) and 57 sites throughout Malawi (census enumeration areas). Tree cover was estimated for the entire site landscape at two points in time from aerial photographs, from 1960-1995 for Uganda and from 1972-1996 for Malawi. In Uganda, the focus was on the impact of exogenous property rights regimes (e.g. mailo land, customary land, etc.) on the change in tree cover. In Malawi, virtually all sampled land was customary land and the analysis focused on the impact of endogenous customary marraige and inheritance patterns on tree custodianship. The effect of the tenure variables are quantified through the use of economietric estimation models which control for the effects of other socio-economic and ecological variables.

The results at the community level are augmented by data on tree planting practices collected at the household level. Data from an ongoing work by IFPRI/ICRAF is used along with previously analyzed material from a joint Land Tenure Center/ICRAF study in the same countries. Among the tenure variables examined at the household are: perceived rights over trees and land, gender differences in rights, land disputes, mode of land acquisition, and the nature of land holdings (e.g. farm size, degree of fragmentation). Tenure impacts are tested using logit regression models on the incidence of different tree planting strategies. The results show that although some tenure variables are important factors at each scale, non-tenure factors often have greater impact on tree management.

LAND TENURE AND THE ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY IN RURAL HAITI by Glenn Smucker (1), T. Anderson White (2), and Michael Bannister (3)

1. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
2. The World Bank
3. Pan American Development Foundation, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge concerning relationships between land tenure and agricultural intensification in Haiti. It reviews land tenure types, especially those pertinent to small farmers, and describes the interplay of both formal and informal systems in access to land. This synthesis lays the groundwork for reassessing the role of land tenure as a factor in farmer decision making, land management strategies, and adoption of new technologies. Review and reinterpretation of this body of evidence suggests new lines of inquiry, fruitful areas for policy research and practical applications to interventions geared to promote investments by small farmers.

Review of the data on land tenure calls seriously into question certain conventional assumptions based on formal security of tenure as a precondition for investment, or the imperative of short term gain as a condition of small farmer investment and technology adoption, or the assumption that collective adoption of landscape management practices -- such as watershed management -- must necessarily be rooted in direct benefits to landowners. This analysis also raises questions about a broader range of assumptions encountered in the literature on peasantries and development policy, including alleged cultural constraints on investment such as peasant individualism, amoral familism, and the absence of long range planning horizons. The Haitian data point clearly to both short and long range risk management as primordial factors in peasant decision making. Security may well be the overriding factor in investment decisions; however, this security is not defined by formalized instruments of control over land such as surveys or updated title. Rather, peasant farmers act to protect themselves from a broader context of social insecurity going far beyond land tenure arrangements and the normal risks of rainfed agriculture on degraded sites. To accommodate this pervasive insecurity, Haitian peasants maneuver precariously within a mixed tenure system, an elaborate informal system of access to land, labor and capital, and sophisticated management of social capital to compensate for the extreme scarcity of financial capital. The pivotal constraints on peasant investment are social uncertainty not security of tenure, and stability of access to land rather than its formal legal status.

The problem with the formal system is its prohibitive expense, and its inability to protect peasant interests. The duly established formal system has long proved vulnerable to interference by politicians and other power holders. Formal land tenure insecurity is a direct consequence of weakly developed institution of government, and the virtual absence of a functioning judiciary able to ensure due process in a court of law. In this context, creative maneuvers within the informal system have proved far more effective in diluting risk and fostering adoption of technology. Agricultural and investment policies which do not confront these issues are doomed to failure.

ACTION SECTORS USED TO ACCESS CATTLE FEEDS DURING THE INTENSIFICATION OF CATTLE PRODUCTION: A CASE STUDY OF A VILLAGE IN KENYA'S COAST PROVINCE by Kimberly Swallow (ILRI)

There is general agreement in the literature on livestock production that one of the major problems currently faced by sub-Saharan African livestock holders is accessing feed for their livestock in situations of increasing scarcity of land and decreasing means of access to feed resources through the public-action sector. Examples of feed resources accessed through the public-action sector include land that was held in common by a group as well as crop by-products and natural vegetation on neighbors' fallowed fields access to which was gained through membership in a group such that there was no need to develop bilateral relationships with individuals. Much of the literature on the intensification of livestock feeding techniques, however, focuses movement from one techno-institutional extreme to another: movement from public-domain herder-grazing to private-domain fodder production for use in stall-feeding. This case study of one village in Kenya's Coast Province offers insight into cattle holders' range of choice between these two extremes. Understanding this range of choice is important for planning development assistance for two reasons. First, the majority of cattle holders in a significant number of sub-Saharan African communities may choose to remain between the two extremes for some time. Thus techno-institutional assistance targeted to this range of choice rather than just the extremes would be of benefit to this group. Second, the choices in the middle of the range are the counter-factuals that cattle holders use to assess their willingnesses to accept the benefits and costs of the most intensive extreme which is the only current techno-institutional solution being offered to them--that of stall-feeding planted forages and purchased concentrates.

The village case study included single-visit interviews of all 132 homesteads in the village. Longitudinal monitoring was done for 105 weeks between 1992 and 1994 with the eight out of 37 cattle-holding homesteads in the village that reported any use of stall-feeding during the single-visit interviews. Data collection and analysis focused on the eight homesteads that participated in the longitudinal monitoring exercise--their choice of cattle enterprise, feeding technique, feed utilization, source of feed item, and the means by which feeds were accessed. Cattle enterprises were categorized as multiple-output and commercial-dairying enterprises. Commercial dairying enterprises largely supplied the local village market even though the milk supply deficit area of urban Mombasa lay only some 50 kilometers from the village along largely paved roads. The cattle-feeding techniques used were herder-grazing, tethered-grazing, and stall-feeding, as well as combinations thereof. The types of feeds used were categorized as natural vegetation, crop and tree by-products and residues, specialized planted cattle feeds, and specialized purchased cattle feeds. There was great variation within a single homesteads during the 105 weeks of longitudinal monitoring in use of the cattle feeding techniques and feed types.

Although all land in the vicinity of the case-study village had been included in the compulsory land-registration program implemented in the 1970's, it was by no means the case that all feeds were accessed through the private-action sector that possession of a title deed might support. Neither was it true that all feeds were accessed through the public-action sector that tradition might support. Of the three cattle-feeding techniques, use of others' feed sources was greatest for the most number of case-study homesteads for the cattle-feeding technique that had been in wide-spread use the longest: herder-grazing. There was great variation among the homesteads in use of others' land for tethered-grazing and stall-feeding.

It was found that the majority of interactions over access to feed sources were not conducted in the customary fashion through the public-action sector. Rather, they were conducted through bargaining transactions that represented the grey area between the three collectively-defined action sectors: private, public, and collective. The private action-sector was defined as the sector in which as a rule permission needed to be asked and quid pro quo payment was made for use of a feed item. The public-action sector was defined as the sector in which permission never needed to be asked. And, the collective-action sector was defined as the sector in which permission was needed but no quid pro quo payment was made. One reason that most transactions took place in the grey area between the three collectively-defined action sectors is that in the general situation of change in the village, there was confusion about which collectives' domains included the use of others' resources for the customary herder-grazing as well as the newer tethered-grazing and supplemental-stall-feeding techniques. The national governmental collective--represented locally by the assistant chief of the village's sub-location--was a potential collective for governing access to cattle feeds since the title deeds that individuals held were issued by that collective, but de facto privatization of property would require the private cost of fencing or monitoring property borders which the majority were not willing to bear. There was also confusion about the identity of the customary collective of the village. To fill this vacuum of collective support and constraint on individuals' use of others' land and feeds for cattle-feeding techniques, individuals made bilateral arrangements among themselves at their own cost. Individuals' abilities to alter and bear these costs were dependent on their personal networks, local sources of power, and wealth. One factor that the adoption of commercial dairying based on the supplemental stall-feeding technique was the greater tendency for interactions over feeds for enterprises to be conducted in the collective- or private-action sectors, or the grey are between them. The factors that affected the capacity of the village choose and implement institutions to define action sectors for transactions over land and feeds are analyzed and implications for policy examined.

PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN RANGELAND MANAGEMENT, SYRIA by J. Rae, G. Arab, K. Jani, T. Nordblom, G. Gintzburger, and T. Ngaido (ICARDA)

Technology adoption rather implies that the technologies developed for natural resource management, for whatever resource that might be, are the technologies that should be transferred given the property rights situation. It is important to clarify here that adoption has a broader meaning of technological innovation and adaptation by those individuals, groups or governments wanting to invest in their natural resource base. Past development intervention, particularly in rangeland management, has tended to be technologically-led with many aspects reminiscent of the "turn-key" contracts in industry; adoption has been understood in it's narrow sense and the intricacies of property rights have played less than a prominent role. For investment in natural resources to take place the investor or investors need appropriate property rights within a system that is both transparent and widely accepted at the local level. As to what property rights would provide sufficient incentive for resource enhancement there are two important factors that should be examined, one is the nature of the resource itself, and the other is the historical legacy of property rights in the country or region being considered. This paper examines this relationship between technology adoption and property rights within the context of rangeland management in Syria.

Investment in the Syrian rangelands has for the past forty years been dominated by the State and channelled through highly interventionist programs largely informed by "the tragedy of the commons debate". As will become clear in the discussion below, policy advice derived from this debate has been to centralise the control and regulation of rangelands and intervention programs. The results of these past interventions have drawn into question the rationale behind this form of pastoral administration. What is becoming clear from the current debates on dynamic ecosystems theory (DET) and common pool resource theory (CPRT) is that the objective to enhance and maintain dry rangelands is better facilitated through a devolved system of property rights that provide greater incentive for local participation and investment.

This paper examines the Syrian State's pastoral administration in terms of structure and property rights. This is followed by a critical analysis of the State-sponsored private initiatives that have focused on encouraging those cultivating in the steppe to plant a proportion of their area with shrubs; this approach produced meagre results and some of the reasons behind this are examined. More ambitious have been the public programs that have attempted to plant vast areas of the steppe with forage shrubs; the initial venture at the end of the 1960s faded without note though the more recent program of public plantations has met with some preliminary success. As the plantations are at the core of current policy, these are examined to some extent. This concludes the review of the formal administration and discussion then turns to the informal or tribal system of common property regulation. Here it is found that despite a lack of formal recognition, the State continues to participate and sanction informal property rights. It is then suggested that Syria is in a unique position to forge a new integrative and dynamic administration that could well facilitate sustained and real development in the steppe. A provisional framework for examining the possible avenues for rangeland technology adoption is then presented.

ASSESSING COLLECTIVE ACTION USING SPATIAL HOUSEHOLD DATA by Brent Swallow, Justine Wangila, Negussie Tesfaemichael, Onyango Okello and Russell Kruska (ILRI)

Using geographic information techniques to process household data can be useful for relating the behavior of households to their market access, the characteristics and behavior of their neighbors, and to the structure and function of local ecosystems. Such an approach can be useful for research into the use and management of irrigation systems, wetlands, forests, watersheds, wildlife, pests and diseases — virtually any situation in which externalities, public goods or mixed public-private goods have a spatial dimension.

A study of the use and impacts of livestock disease management techniques was undertaken for a pilot intervention area in southwest Ethiopia. Tools of geographic information systems and econometrics were combined to analyze how the use of a mixed public-private technique was related to position on the landscape, farmer characteristics, and the characteristics and behavior of farmers' neighbors. The results illustrate the importance of 'informal' collective action for effective pest management and the diversity of situations that occur within a particular village area.

THE MARINE CONSERVATION PROJECT FOR SAN SALVADOR: A CASE STUDY OF FISHERIES CO-MANAGEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES. by Brenda M. Katon, Robert S. Pomeroy, and Albert Salamanca

As part of its worldwide Fisheries Co-management research project, a number of case studies are being undertaken in Asia and Africa in which there is sufficient experience with fisheries co-management to begin examining its performance according to three measures: sustainability, equity and efficiency. The case study analysis makes use of the institutional analysis research framework which is designed to examine the set of institutional arrangements (rights and rules) governing the use of fishery resources and to assess the way in which these institutional arrangements affect resource users in terms of their incentives to coordinate actions with other users, to cooperate in or contribute to the formulation, implementation, or enforcement of resource management regimes, and to their methods of resolving conflicts over resource access.

In the Philippines, ICLARM has identified several case study sites, including San Salvador Island in Zambales Province. The San Salvador case study examines the creation, practical management issues, and the impacts on ecosystem health, both natural and human, of a marine reserve and sanctuary off the island's coast within the overall context of co-management. Although the study offers valuable lessons of its own, it belongs within a larger regional comparative analysis of fisheries co-management in the Philippines and Asia.

This paper will begin with a brief overview of the institutional analysis research framework. Using the research framework as an outline, this paper will present the fisheries co-management of San Salvador Island in several sections including contextual variables, incentives to cooperate and patterns of interaction, outcomes/performance indicators of co-management, synthesis, and characteristics of successful co-management institutional arrangements. The San Salvador experience demonstrates that the community can rise above the obstacles associated with an open access resource, limited budgets, and indifference to the resource situation. It offers hope to many small island communities similarly situated and aspiring for sustainable fisheries management. Encouraged by improved fish catches and public recognition of their resource management activities due to collective action, the community residents pursued collaborative efforts and renewed their confidence in their political institutions.