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| COLLECTIVE ACTION, PROPERTY RELATIONS AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: Case of Village Chabisa Kuria in Nepal. |
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Reference |
| Laats, Henkjan. 1998. "Collective Action, Property Relations and Natural Resource Management: Comparative Study between Two Peruvian and Nepalese Villages." Presented at "Crossing Boundaries", Seventh Conference of the International Association for Common Property, Simon Frasier University, June 10-14. Link: http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/archive/00000076/ |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| Collective action is an essential factor in the management of Chabisa Kuria’s natural resources. The village, for many centuries, has depended on a very complex system of interconnections, not only between its people but also between the different natural resource systems. The organization of a management system for an irrigation canal that provides water to several wards/villages of Village Development Committee (VDC) Phoimahadev was constructed centuries ago, and is the center of community decision making processes, which involves almost all activities which the villagers perform in relation with natural resource management. The activities and tasks which were developed to maintain optimal functioning of the irrigation system are closely interrelated to the practice of managing the farm and pasture lands and the watermill. |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spacial Boundaries: The village of Chabisa Kuria Social Boundaries: |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| Since the construction of their irrigation canal, four to five hundreds years ago, the people of Phoimahadev have maintained the canal and and formed rules and regulations for the use of the water. The irrigation management system is built on three elements: The users represented by the users committee, The Kulal, the person who is responsible for the maintenance of the canal, the name "Kulal" is also given to the canal management system, The Noralo, the person who is responsible for the water distribution at the command area level.The name also refers to the system of water distribution. Each year the Kulal is selected by all users, but always from the ward of Bajedi. People from Bajedi have taken the responsibility for this job for generations. Working as the Kulal means receiving the right to operate the communal grain mill. Not only will he receive income from the watermill, but each household also pays him every year a fixed amount of cereals for his services. The connection between the management of the irrigation canal and the watermill works very efficiently because when water does not flow through the canal the watermill immediately stops functioning, after which the Kulal will take a look at the canal to assess the nature of the problem. If it requires minor repair, he will take care of it himself, or he will inform other users the need for repair. The users’ committee will manage the labor needed and the user who is unable to participate for whatever reason is required to pay a fine as decided by the committee. |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| A Noralo sees that every user receives water fairly so that all get the water in time for transplanting rice. Each locality appoints Noralos on a rotational basis, for the services all users pay a fixed (half of what they pay to the Kulal) amount of cereals per year. Another task of the Noralo is to look after the animals of the whole community in order to optimize the use of labor, he is responsible in preventing animals from grazing on the crops. If an animal does destroy crops, the Noralo has to pay a fine himself. People are not allowed to keep animals in the homestead in august and September. Through this mechanism, people protect grasses in the village land from being cut for feeding their cattle. The Parma labor exchange system that deals with the management and distribution of labor and is responsible for the planning of all farming activities from planting to harvesting especially the rice cultivation to support the management of the irrigation system. When a person receives water on a certain day for transplanting rice, the Parma system ensures that people from other households assist during this activity, which is a response to labor and cash shortage. The village Chabisa has good paddy land and a year round irrigation system. Each household from Chabisa has been paying cereals to the nearby village of Ranchuli every year. It provides food to Ranchuli village and in exchange for this food Ranchuli needs to provide access to their forest to the people of Chabisa. |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| To avoid conflicts regarding the allocation of water, people have set certain rules as to when, by whom and at what time the rice should be transplanted. |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| Not mentioned |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| Not mentioned |
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Other Features of Institution |
| Not mentioned |
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Purpose |
| To maintain optimal functioning of the irrigation system |
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Country |
| Nepal |
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Region |
| The village of Chabisa Kuria |
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Date Of Publication |
| RS-10-14/06/1998 |
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