RE looking at forest policies in Assam: facilitating reserved forests as de facto open access

Tamuli, Jitu and Choudhury, Saswati (2009): RE looking at forest policies in Assam: facilitating reserved forests as de facto open access.

Abstract

Forest is a common pool resource and share common attributes with many other resource systems which make it difficult to govern. Since forest is an open storehouse of resources, it has been subject to pressures such as encroachment, illegal felling of trees and smuggling of timber, grazing etc. Although different explanations have been put forward for degradation of forests, the nub of the present focus is that degradation of forest is mainly a property right problem. Most conflicts in forests arise due to the difficulties in clarifying the property right because different bundles of property rights, whether they are de facto or de jure, affect the incentives individuals face, the types of actions they take, and the outcomes they can achieve. The present paper, elucidates the issue of deforestation and degradation in reserved forests of Assam in the light of forest policies that have evolved in the State and how these policies have embedded scope for reserved forests to become de-facto open access.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: forests and property rights, common pool resources, deforestation
• Subjects: P - Economic Systems > P4 - Other Economic Systems > P48 - Political Economy ; Legal Institutions ; Property Rights ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Regional Studies

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