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| Changes Taking Place in Common Property Resource Management in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali |
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Reference |
| Moorehead, Richard: "Changes Taking Place in Common Property Resource Management in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali" in Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community Based Sustainable Development (ed) Fikret Berkes, Belhaven Press: London |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The inland Delta is one of the most important wetland areas of West Africa.About 550 mm of rain falls in the southern, upstream regions, and 250 mm in the northern, downstream parts of the delta.Common property system have developed over hundreds of year in the Niger Delta, which served to control access to resources between different ethnic groups using different production systems within the same area.One of the major characteristics of this area is the variability in the total amounts and timing of rainfall and flood levels between seasons, between years and between the delta and adjacent territories, due to which there may be considerable differences in productivity.There are five production systems in Niger delta and its surrounding drylands: semi-sedentary farmers; agro-pastoralist; agro-fishermen; transhumant fishermen and herders.The access rules governing resource use in various parts of delta were codified in the 19th century when the area was under the control of Fulani tribe.Now the Fulani rules are no longer operational, there are processes at work which are changing the common property relations in the delta |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spatial:The inland delta of the river Niger is a flood plain situated in central Mali, covering an area of approx. 40, 000 sq km.The delta bridges the Saudano-Sahelian climatic zone to the south and the Sahelian climatic zone to the north
Social:A system of resource management was imposed by the Fulani tribe called "Dina"in the 19th century.The Dina divided the area into a number of grazing territories allocated to loose Fulani clan groupings within which there were groups of :subordinate farmers and more independent farmers; farmer fishermen, and hunting and gathering fishermen.Two of the most important effects of this system were to 1)to sedentarize groups of nomadic herders and fishermen and ii) formalize grazing , fishing and farming territories in the area.
Forest, browse and wild food resources were open access property (res nullius)whereas agricultural land, pasture rights and fisheries in both the Erg and floodplains and fields of drylands were allocated as common property (res communes).
There were three types of pasture which :belonged to political heads of Fulani clan; belonged to the founding lineage groups within clans ; belonged to Fulani settlements.
Each Fulani clan set dates at which animals could enter their territory; arranged herds in the order of priority of entry, and controlled the number of animals in line with pasture availability. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| The principal Fulani manager was the "Dioro", who was the head of the founding lineage of the clan.The founding lineages were the inalienable owners of resources; heads of these lineages were called "sacrificers" with delimited territory.These lineages provided resource managers, who were called 'masters of water ' and 'masters of the land 'the positions were hereditary.Access to fishing grounds was managed by masters of water and access to fields in the drylands by the masters of the land.Stranger fishermen paid the sacrificer to sacrifice for them when they arrived in his area.They paid in kind for permission to fish or farm. The resource managers carried out their function in consultation with the council of elders comprised of heads of other lineages making up the community.The principal rule governing access to resources was that members of the community had a right to access which was essentially free or there was small tithe, while outsiders had to pay.Revenue from these sources was used by the head of the community to pay for visitors, marriages etc. and also shared between the founding and consanguine lineages of the family. |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| The most important resources in the drylands are browse and forest, millet fields, pasture during the wet season and wild food.On the floodplains fisheries, pastures, rice fields and wild foods are the main resources.
Between Aug-Oct, many of the rural inhabitants move out of the delta in search of wild food , some remain in the drylands to participate in the milet harvest.In Dec a reverse movement takes place with inhabitants moving into the floodplains for wild food.These same people then move into the most productive rice cultivating areas to take part in the harvest in Dec-Jan.Migration is one of the key strategies adpted by the rural communities to use different resources at different seasons and also to cope up with climatic risk |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| If the present trend continues, (refer:change)the better(productive) resources of the delta will become increasingly privatised, and the poor rural inhabitants will move on to marginal lands.Resources on such lands will be progressively degraded because people will use it in a very haphazard manner, since they have little choice for their livelihood.Moreover the sedentarization of some communities around the better resources will make the delta as a whole vulnerable to climatic risk |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| Gradually this system declined due to many reasons, on a general level the customary social and economic ties that bound communities together became weaker with a increasing level of conflict both within and between the rural communities as a result of which there has been a considerable change towards the ownership of resources.Open access resources were being replaced by communal property rights, and former community controlled resources were being taken over by individual households.At the same time, the state took charge of transforming the communal property regime into a state property regime.The floodplains and the Erg of Niafunke was now a public property.The state manages the majority of collective fisheries, by setting dates of herds and overseeing the allocation of fishing places.Throughout the delta, the crossing dates of herds into the flood retreat pastures are fixed through a administrative conference, and at each crossing state officials attend to keep order and collect a fee for each herd that traverses.
The state's formal ownership of all natural resources, offers the opportunity of access to resources to exploiters who, in earlier circumstances may have never had a right of entry.The imposition of administrative frontiers unrelated to customary fishing and herding territories has led to transfer of control over resources from one production to another.The major consequences that arose out of this situation is that the quality of management of the commons is declining.Cash needs within the communities are oblizing influential group to monopolize the more produvtive resources, while using revenue from their management for their individual interests.The rural poor are paying heavy tax to the state, in spite of being in need of money.
Further, the revenue from the management is being organized in such a way that no reinvestment is being made in traditional rural economies
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Purpose |
| Study of Resource Management |
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Country |
| Africa (West) |
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Region |
| Niger Delta |
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Date Of Publication |
| RS-23/04/96 |
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