IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/qjiage/155539.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Albania’s Customary Rules in Natural Resource Management in the Light of Devolution Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Rama, Klodjan
  • Theesfeld, Insa

Abstract

The management of natural resources is a challenging task owing to the complexity of the resources and the benefits they provide. Nowadays there is trend to transfer some management power to local communities driven by equality and sustainability assumptions. We studied two cases of local management – forests and fisheries – in Albania, which resulted in contrasting outcomes. In the forestry case, the local community manages its resource in a sustainable way based on its customary rules supporting equal shares to members and encouraging participation in decision making procedures for common issues. In contrast, the fishery case represents an example of overexploitation and information asymmetries, where powerful actors benefit over others. We argue that disregarding the local context when implementing new sets of rules can both exacerbate the unsustainable use of natural resources and have an impact on the social power structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Rama, Klodjan & Theesfeld, Insa, 2011. "The Strengths and Weaknesses of Albania’s Customary Rules in Natural Resource Management in the Light of Devolution Policies," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 50(4), pages 1-19.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:qjiage:155539
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.155539
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/155539/files/4_Rama.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.155539?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agrawal, Arun & Gibson, Clark C., 1999. "Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 629-649, April.
    2. Upton, Caroline, 2009. ""Custom" and Contestation: Land Reform in Post-Socialist Mongolia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1400-1410, August.
    3. Theesfeld, Insa & Pirscher, Frauke (ed.), 2011. "Perspectives on institutional change - water management in Europe," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 58, number 109519.
    4. Krister Andersson & Elinor Ostrom, 2008. "Analyzing decentralized resource regimes from a polycentric perspective," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(1), pages 71-93, March.
    5. Runge, Carlisle Ford, 1986. "Common property and collective action in economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 623-635, May.
    6. Ayse Celik & Alma Shkreli, 2010. "An Analysis of Reconciliatory Mediation in Northern Albania: The Role of Customary Mediators," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(6), pages 885-914.
    7. F.W. Gatzweiler, K. Hagedorn, 2002. "The evolution of institutions in transition," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(1), pages 37-58.
    8. Pomeroy, Robert S & Berkes, Fikret, 1997. "Two to tango: The role of government in fisheries co-management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 465-480, September.
    9. Eggertsson,Thrainn, 1990. "Economic Behavior and Institutions," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521348911, October.
    10. Wheeler, Rachel, 1998. "Past And Present Land Tenure Systems In Albania: Patrilineal, Patriarchal, Family-Centered," Working Papers 12781, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Land Tenure Center.
    11. Colin Lawson & Douglas Saltmarshe, 2000. "Security and Economic Transition: Evidence from North Albania," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(1), pages 133-148.
    12. Jentoft, Svein, 1989. "Fisheries co-management , : Delegating government responsibility to fishermen's organizations," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 137-154, April.
    13. Johan F. M. Swinnen, 1999. "The political economy of land reform choices in Central and Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(3), pages 637-664, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kluvánková, Tatiana & Gežík, Veronika, 2016. "Survival of commons? Institutions for robust forest social – ecological systems," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 175-185.
    2. Edvin Zhllima & Nicolas Hayoz & Drini Imami & Iliriana Miftari, 2023. "The Evolution of Village (Self)Governance in the Context of Post‐Communist Rural Society," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 368-379.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Theesfeld, Insa & Pirscher, Frauke (ed.), 2011. "Perspectives on institutional change - water management in Europe," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 58, number 109519.
    2. Barbara Quimby & Arielle Levine, 2018. "Participation, Power, and Equity: Examining Three Key Social Dimensions of Fisheries Comanagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Fischer, Anke & Wakjira, Dereje Tadesse & Weldesemaet, Yitbarek Tibebe & Ashenafi, Zelealem Tefera, 2014. "On the Interplay of Actors in the Co-Management of Natural Resources – A Dynamic Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 158-168.
    4. Mohammad Mojibul Hoque Mozumder & Aili Pyhälä & Md. Abdul Wahab & Simo Sarkki & Petra Schneider & Mohammad Mahmudul Islam, 2020. "Governance and Power Dynamics in a Small-Scale Hilsa Shad ( Tenualosa ilisha ) Fishery: A Case Study from Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Asproudis, Elias & Filippiadis, Eleftherios, 2021. "Bargaining for Community Fishing Quotas," MPRA Paper 107409, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Wang, Yahua & Chen, Chunliang & Araral, Eduardo, 2016. "The Effects of Migration on Collective Action in the Commons: Evidence from Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 79-93.
    7. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055, October.
    8. Edwards, Steven F., 2003. "Property rights to multi-attribute fishery resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 309-323, March.
    9. Arild Vatn, 2001. "Environmental Resources, Property Regimes, and Efficiency," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 19(5), pages 665-680, October.
    10. Tiffany H. Morrison & W. Neil Adger & Katrina Brown & Maria Carmen Lemos & Dave Huitema & Terry P. Hughes, 2017. "Mitigation and adaptation in polycentric systems: sources of power in the pursuit of collective goals," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(5), September.
    11. C. A. Etiegni & K. Irvine & M. Kooy, 2017. "Playing by whose rules? Community norms and fisheries rules in selected beaches within Lake Victoria (Kenya) co-management," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1557-1575, August.
    12. de Wit, Fronika & Mourato, João, 2022. "Governing the diverse forest: Polycentric climate governance in the Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. Nguyen Nghia Bien, 2016. "Forest Management Systems in the Uplands of Vietnam: Social, Economic and Environmental Perspectives," EEPSEA Research Report rr2016052, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Apr 2016.
    14. Abdul Halik & Marco Verweij & Achim Schlüter, 2018. "How Marine Protected Areas Are Governed: A Cultural Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-23, January.
    15. Djenontin, Ida N.S. & Zulu, Leo C., 2021. "The quest for context-relevant governance of agro-forest landscape restoration in Central Malawi: Insights from local processes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Sundström, Aksel, 2016. "Corruption and Violations of Conservation Rules: A Survey Experiment with Resource Users," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 73-83.
    17. Béné, Christophe & Belal, Emma & Baba, Malloum Ousman & Ovie, Solomon & Raji, Aminu & Malasha, Isaac & Njaya, Friday & Na Andi, Mamane & Russell, Aaron & Neiland, Arthur, 2009. "Power Struggle, Dispute and Alliance Over Local Resources: Analyzing 'Democratic' Decentralization of Natural Resources through the Lenses of Africa Inland Fisheries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 1935-1950, December.
    18. Kenrick W. Williams & Hsing-Sheng Tai, 2016. "A Multi-Tier Social-Ecological System Analysis of Protected Areas Co-Management in Belize," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, January.
    19. Purcell, S.W. & Lovatelli, A. & Pakoa, K., 2014. "Constraints and solutions for managing Pacific Island sea cucumber fisheries with an ecosystem approach," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 240-250.
    20. Brewer, T.D. & Moon, K., 2015. "Towards a functional typology of small-scale fisheries co-management informed by stakeholder perceptions: A coral reef case study," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 48-56.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:qjiage:155539. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iahubde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.