Source: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA submitted to NRP
LAND TENURE AND PROPERTY SYSTEMS: LINK BETWEEN HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0217077
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2008
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2013
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611
Performing Department
Forest Resources and Conservation
Non Technical Summary
Land tenure defines how rights to land and its associated resources are allocated, used, transferred, and extinguished. Land tenure systems are often simply classified in one of the following classes: private/individual ownership, common property, state property, and open access. Although various schools have evolved in support of one or the other of these types of property, they all are concerned with providing tenure security to the right-holders. It is broadly accepted that tenure security is a sine qua non of any property system as it establishes the incentive to invest in the land or resource. While property rights are relatively well understood and formalized in the US (although recent eminent domain and ongoing taking cases show there are still issues), this is not the case in developing countries. Land tenure systems in developing countries are poorly understood and the majority of landholdings are not formalized through a boundary survey and recorded deed or title. This means that obtaining credit from a bank using land as collateral is not an option for most people in developing countries and particularly for the poorer sectors of those societies. Since land and its associated resources are the primary assets of the rural poor, what other mechanisms (e.g. payment for environmental services) are available to alleviate poverty while still sustaining the resource base. In most of the developing countries forests are occupied by people who derive their livelihood from forest resources and products. Striking a balance between economic, conservation and social agendas underlies most sustainable development strategies. Conservation cannot be achieved by fenced parks which ignore the needs of communities who depend on the resources in the park. Likewise, land resource allocation and economic development cannot be done without considering social concerns such as equity. This picture is complicated by the fact that these social-ecological systems are continually changing through market forces, infrastructure development, globalization and shifting policy agendas. Understanding these dynamics is fundamental to addressing economic, social and conservation concerns in the 21st Century. What happens in developing countries is highly relevant to Florida in terms of global issues such as climate change, the global economy, and labor migration. To quote an anonymous reviewer of this document -people in developing countries are both the competitors and market for our agricultural products, and they are inhabitants of ecosystems that provide fundamental ecosystem services at a global scale.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1310120300040%
1316050305025%
1326050305025%
1327410300010%
Knowledge Area
132 - Weather and Climate; 131 - Alternative Uses of Land;

Subject Of Investigation
0120 - Land; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions; 7410 - General technology;

Field Of Science
3000 - Anthropology; 3050 - Law;
Goals / Objectives
The objectives of my research are as follows: (a) Develop more cost-effective, simple, and participatory methods for securing the land and resource rights of the rural poor; (b) Advance our understanding and analytical approaches to land and resource tenure. (c) Advance our understanding of dynamic social-ecological systems using a resilience framework; (d) Develop research methods for measuring effective resource governance.
Project Methods
A number of different research methods are applied to address these inter-disciplinary objectives, but for the most part they fall under applied or action research. The data come from empirically testing technical Geomatics approaches, questionnaires and interviews at the household, community and government levels, case study and comparative analysis, research of land records, analyzing secondary data, etc. In the case of studying the evolution of community based land tenure systems we have and will continue to use a mix of rapid rural appraisals with key informant input which will be cross-referenced where possible with documented information. The impact of the research can be measured by the extent to which the results are incorporated into government policy. The broadening of interdisciplinary perspectives developed and justified in this research can be measured by the extent to which other researchers and policymakers adopt this perspective and the analytical framework that accompanies it.

Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Decisionmakers, policymakers, scholars and development practitioners within the US and in developing countries. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training and professional development through participating and contributing to the following international conferences: World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, D.C (April 2013) World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, D.C (April 2012) Land Tenure Center Anniversary Conference, Madison, WI (April 2012) Annual Conference of the Global Network of Masters of Development Practice(MDP) Programs, Turrialba, Costa Rica (February 2011) XXIV Congress of International Federation of Geomatics (FIG), Sydney, Australia (April 2010) Annual Conference of Applied Anthropology, Merida, Mexico (March 2010) 10th Annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas, Gainesville, FL (May 2009)* How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results primarily disseminated via professional journals, conferences, workshops and courses that I teach at the University of Florida. The work that we do in rural communities (e.g. in Botswana) is usually reported back to them through community meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? (a) Develop cost-effective, simple and participatory methods for documenting property rights My main accomplshment under this topic was to field test an unmanned aerial system (UAS) for delineating property boundaries in Albania. This proved to be much more efficient and participatory than conventional mapping approaches and we believe much more transferable as well. (b) Advance understanding of land and resource tenure analysis The main focus of this work was in trying to understand the question of "who owns the carbon" in major tropical forests, such as in the Amazon. I gave presentations in Norway and at the World Bank on this topic and also published a paper illuminating the complexity of this question when people live in these forests and derive a livelihood from forest resources. Through this work I have provided analytical approaches to understanding resource rights and who holds these rights. (c) Advance analytical approaches to resilience of social-ecological systems Through work inSouthern Africa(Cassidy and Barnes 2012) and in the western Amazon (Perz et al 2013) we have advanced the understanding of the complex tangle of social and ecological systems. In Botswana we did this by examining household capital (financial, social, physical, natural, human) to estimate the adaptive capacity of households in poor rural communities. We also applied social network analysis techniques to investigate whether social connectednessis correlated with adaptive capacity and did not find a clear relationship except in certain circumstances.In the Amazon we have used remote sensing (Southworth et al 2011) to gain an understanding of the rate of deforestation in response to the paving of a major highway that will ultimately cross the entire South American continent. We used socio-economic interviews in 29 communities to gather dataon land and resource tenure and socio-economic status of households in these communities (Perz et al 2012). This work is on-going, but the research done from 2009-2012 has laid the foundation for a more robuts modelling approach. (d) Develop research methods to analyze resource governance My major accomplishment under this theme was to design, write and edita 14 chapter book entitled "Adaptive Cross-Scalar Governance of Natural Resources."I was responsible forevery aspect of this book and serve as lead editor and author of 3 chapters (including the Intro and Conclusion chapters).This book integrates the latest approaches to analyzing and understanding natural resource governance in developing countries and includes the experience of 19 (co)-authorsin both Southern/East Africa and Latin America. Through this work we are trying to promote the concept of adaptive governance through evidence-based tests at community and meso-levels of governance.

Publications

  • Type: Books Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Barnes, G. and B. Child, eds. Adaptive Governance of Natural Resources. Accepted for publication by Taylor and Francis, UK.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Barnes, G. 'Introduction,' in Barnes, G. and B. Child, eds. Adaptive Governance of Natural Resources. Accepted for publication by Taylor and Francis, UK.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Barnes, G. 'The Role and Dynamics of Property Rights in Natural Resource Governance,'in Barnes, G. and B. Child, eds. Adaptive Governance of Natural Resources. Accepted for publication by Taylor and Francis, UK.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: Barnes, G. 'Conclusions,' in Barnes, G. and B. Child, eds. Adaptive Governance of Natural Resources. Accepted for publication by Taylor and Francis, UK.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Barnes, G. and S. Quail (2011). Land tenure challenges in managing carbon property rights to mitigate climate change. Land Tenure Journal 2(2011): 81-103
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Cassidy, L. and G. Barnes (2012). Understanding Household Connectivity and Resilience in Marginal Rural Communities through Social Network Analysis in Habu Village, Botswana. Ecology and Society, 17(4): 11
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Perz, S., Y. Qiu, Y. Xia, J. Southworth, J. Sun, M. Marsik, K. Rocha, V. Passos, D. Rojas, G. Alarc�n, G. Barnes, C. Baraloto (2013). Trans-boundary Infrastructure and Land Cover Change: Highway Paving and Community-level Deforestation in a Tri-national Frontier in the Amazon. Land Use Policy Journal 34: 27-41
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Perz, S., A. Shenkin, G. Barnes, L. Cabrera, L. Carvalho, J. Castillo (2012). Connectivity and Resilience: A multidimensional analysis of infrastructure impacts in the Southwestern Amazon. Social Indicators Research 106 (2): 259-285
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Southworth, J., M. Marsik, Y. Qiu, S. Perz, G. Cumming, F. Stevens, K. Rocha, A. Duchelle, G. Barnes (2011). Roads as drivers of change: Trajectories across the tri-national frontier in MAP. Remote Sensing 3(5): 1047-1066
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Collomb, J.G., P. Mupeta, G. Barnes, J. Saqui, B. Child, W. Kanapaux (2010). Integrating governance and socioeconomic indicators to assess the performance of community-based natural resource management in Caprivi (Namibia) Journal of Environmental Conservation 37(3): 303 -309
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Barsimantov, J., A. Racelis, G. Barnes and M. Digiano (2010). Tenure, tourism and timber in Quintana Roo, Mexico: Land tenure changes in forest ejidos after agrarian reform. International Journal of the Commons 4(1): 293-318
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Cronkleton, P., M. A. Albornoz, G. Barnes, K. Evans and W. de Jong (2010). Social Geomatics: Participatory forest mapping to mediate resource conflict in the Bolivian Amazon. Human Ecology 38(1): 65-76
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2009 Citation: Barnes, G. (2009). The evolution and resilience of community-based land tenure in rural Mexico. Land Use Policy 26 (2): 393-400


Progress 01/01/12 to 09/30/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Organized and held a Writeshop in South Africa involving 12 people from around the world in order to write a book on Natural Resource Governance. Authors were required to submit a draft chapter prior to the Writeshop and these chapters plus a common conceptual framework was developed during the 4-day event held from December 2-5. Attended and presented a paper on "Searching for a New Land Rights Paradigm by Focusing on Community-based Natural Resource Governance" at Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington, DC. held in April 2012 Participated in a symposium celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in April 2012. Presented a paper entitled "Land Tenure and Governance: Linking People and Resources." Presented two posters at the 50th Anniversary of the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in April 2012. The first, entitled "A Social Network of Authors and Co-authors of Land Tenure Publications" traced the scholarship in land tenure and how these authors were linked and grouped. The second, entitled "Master of Sustainable Development Practice Program at the University of Florida" described the interdisciplinary program we have developed at UF through finding from the MacArthur Foundation. Organized, designed and taught (with Walter Volkmann) a two-day workshop (with Walter Volkmann) on Modern Surveying Methodologies to a group of 50 land surveying professional in Nairobi, Kenya. Coordinated and spent 3 weeks with Master of Sustainable Development Practice (MDP) students doing their summer practicum in rural communities in Botswana. Participated in a field visit and proposal development on communal property in Quintana Roo, Mexico in August, 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Academic institutions in Southern Africa. Rural communities in Botswana PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Through a USAID-funded project in community based natural resource management (CBNRM) we are broadening the traditional scope of this area of study to include natural resource governance. Materials have been developed and a draft prospectus put together for a book on Natural Resource Governance.

Publications

  • Cassidy, L. and G. Barnes (2012). Understanding Household Connectivity and Resilience in Marginal Rural Communities through Social Network Analysis in Habu Village, Botswana. Ecology and Society, 17(4): 11 Perz, S., A. Shenkin,* G. Barnes, L. Cabrera, L. Carvalho, J. Castillo (2012). Connectivity and Resilience: A multidimensional analysis of infrastructure impacts in the Southwestern Amazon. Social Indicators Research 106 (2): 259-285


Progress 10/01/10 to 09/30/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Research findings have been disseminated to the following forums and communities: International Federation of Surveyors/Geomatics (FIG) - I presented 4 papers at a FIG Congress in Sydney, Australia (April 2010) Field research results in Botswana presented to local community, government, private sector (business), NGO and research stakeholders min Maun, Botswana (May-July 2011) Presentation to Land Tenure and Disaster Units in FAO, Rome, Italy[March, 2011] Presented "Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Household Vulnerability and Resilience in Marginal Rural Communities in Botswana" at International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) XXXI Conference, St. Petersburg, FL [Feb 2011] (with L. Cassidy) Presented"The Evolution and Resilience of Ejido Land Tenure in Rural Mexico" at the Annual Conference of Applied Anthropology, Merida, Mexico [Mar 2010] Presented "Carbon as a Community based Natural Resource?" ata Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Workshop, Pretoria, South Africa [July, 2009] Keynote Address Presented "Rights-based Approaches" at a Conference on 'Bridging Conservation and Development in Latin America and Africa: Changing Contexts, Changing Strategies.' Gainesville, FL [Jan, 2009] Presented "Property rights to Carbon in the Context of Climate Change" at a Conference on "Land Governance in Support of the Millennium Development Goals: Responding to New Challenges," World Bank, Washington, D.C. [March, 2009] Presented "Communal Land/Resource Tenure in the SouthWest Amazon: Where do Carbon Rights Fit?" at 'Right, Forests and Climate Change' Conference, Oslo, Norway [Oct, 2008] PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

Impacts
I focus primarily on interdisciplinary problems associated with conservation and development in the developing world. Through this work the impacts of my projects are mainly in linking different approaches from different fields. For example, I have employed social network analysis to better understand how to enhance resilience in poor rural communities. I have also extended my work on property rights to the more general area of resource governance, especially in trying to understand carbon property rights and how this impacts some of the major initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through reducing deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). With a colleague in Geography and students in the Mastersof Development Practice (MDP) program, I helped develop a management and sustainable development plan for a small rural community in Botswana which is required for them to obtain resource rights from central government.

Publications

  • Barnes, G. and S. Quail* (2011). Land tenure challenges in managing carbon property rights to mitigate climate change. Land Tenure Journal 2(2011): 81-103
  • Southworth, J., M. Marsik, Y. Qiu, S. Perz, G. Cumming, F. Stevens*, K. Rocha*, A. Duchelle, G. Barnes (2011). Roads as drivers of change: Trajectories across the tri-national frontier in MAP. Remote Sensing 3(5): 1047-1066
  • Perz, S., L. Cabrera, L. Carvalho, J. Castillo Hurtado, and G. Barnes (2010). Global economic integration and local community resilience: New infrastructure projects and demographic change in the Southwestern Amazon. Rural Sociology 75 (2): 300-325
  • Barsimantov, J.,* A. Racelis,* G. Barnes and M. Digiano*(2010). Tenure, tourism and timber in Quintana Roo, Mexico: Land tenure changes in forest ejidos after agrarian reform. International Journal of the Commons 4(1): 293-318
  • Cronkleton, P., M. A. Albornoz, G. Barnes, K. Evans and W. de Jong (2010). Social Geomatics: Participatory forest mapping to mediate resource conflict in the Bolivian Amazon. Human Ecology 38(1): 65-76
  • Barnes, G. and S. Quail* (2010). Property rights to carbon in the context of climate change. Innovations in Land Rights Recognition, Administration, and Governance (eds. K. Deininger, C. Augustinus, S. Enemark and P. Munro-Faure), Joint Discussion Paper, World Bank, Global Land Tenure Network, International Federation of Geomatics and FAO (peer reviewed)
  • Barnes, G. (2009). Geomatics at the crossroads: Time for a new paradigm in Geomatics Education? Surveying and Land Information Science 69(2): 81-88
  • Barnes, G. (2009). The evolution and resilience of community-based land tenure in rural Mexico. Land Use Policy 26: 393-400
  • Painter, K.,* G. Barnes and T. Ankersen (2008). O desenvolvimento do direito de posse comunal de terra nas communidades Afro-Latinas (Development of communal land tenure in Afro-Latino communities), Amazonia Legal: Revista de Estudos Socio-Juridicos-Ambientais (Law Review Journal) 2 (4): 13-40
  • Mohamed, A., G. Barnes, S. Selvarajan,* A. Benjamin* and B. Wilkinson* (2011). A comparative study of Geomatics education at select Canadian and American universities. Surveying and Land Information Science Journal 71(1): 21-31
  • Perz, S., A. Shenkin,* G. Barnes, L. Cabrera, L. Carvalho, J. Castillo (2011) Connectivity and Resilience: A multidimensional analysis of infrastructure impacts in the Southwestern Amazon. Social Indicators Research, DOI: 10.1007/s11205-011-9802-0
  • Collomb, J.G.*, P. Mupeta,* G. Barnes, J. Saqui,* B. Child, W. Kanapaux* (2010). Integrating governance and socioeconomic indicators to assess the performance of community-based natural resource management in Caprivi (Namibia). Journal of Environmental Conservation 37(3): 303 -309
  • Child, B. and G. Barnes (2010). The conceptual evolution and practice of CBNRM in Southern Africa - past, present and future. Journal of Environmental Conservation 37(3): 283 -295
  • Cassidy, L.*, M. Binford, J. Southworth and G.Barnes (2010). Social and ecological factors and land-use land-cover diversity in two provinces in South-east Asia. Journal of Land Use Science 5(4): 277-306