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| Common property resource management in Portugal - A traditional management system "Baldios" |
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Reference |
| Brouser, R: 1995 "Baldios and common property resource management in Portugal",Unasylvia (46),FAO: Rome |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The "baldios" are an ancient tradition in Portugal.The main components of the traditional management system of the "baldios" were exclusion, zoning and allocation.The system provided a sort of social security for landless poor, who were permitted to pasture cattle and cultivate plots on a temporary basis and this was determined by the "chamados" (village council). Supervision of the implementation of the councils' ruling was entrusted to elected caretakers or"zeladores".As late as 1875, the baldios comprised of more than 4 million ha, but after the intervention of new state regime "Estado Novo" in 1933 (remained in power till 1974) the land was reduced to some 450 000 ha. The new state regime in order to strengthen the forestation, curtailed many traditional usufruct rights of the local people and forced many members to abandon herding or to emigrate.In 1966 the civil code was revised to abolish communal property and therefore the baldios ceased to exist for quite sometime.In 1974 a leftist military coup brought up this issue of baldios supporting the village councils so that they could restore their common property. Finally a law was passed in 1976 which returned the land to the original user communities |
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Coverage of the Institution |
| Such type of common property management is found in other Portugese villages too |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spatial: Campea lies 15 km west of the district capital, Vila Real, in the eastern folds of the Serra do Marao.The municipality has an area of about 2500 ha. It consists of a wide basin, with a flat bed at 750 m above sea level, and the surrounding mountains with a height of 1400 m.The mountain slopes comprise about half of the municipality's area which are officially registered as common property.
Social: The village have 12 territories, the inhabitants of each territory had their own village council.They elected a caretaker for themselves, who was supposed to look after the system within their territory.The territories were autonomous elements within the municipality.
Access to the common could be gained in several ways: a) by being a full member of the community
b) by tilling fields within the community's territory so that they be fertilized with manure
c) by renting part of their land for grazing etc |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| According to the law passed in 1976, there were two specific prerequisites:
1)The people should organize themselves in user groups, there will be a commoners assembly which would be the formal democratic representative of the villagers in common management affairs and the application of financial revenues generated on common land. the commoners assembly was required to elect a five member management council for day to day regulation of the exploitation of the commons
A provision was introduced were the state would appoint a representative to the management council (like local forest guard ).The aim was to provide technical assistance in managing the forest and also to improve relation between the forest service and the local population which had detoriorated during the state regime (refer- Int)
2)The second requirement was the recognition of the commoners' assembly and management council by the state.There was need for a process where more than one council could present itself to the state as the legal owner of a given piece of land for settlement of disputes.It was necesary to identify the groups for the restoring of the commons to their former owners |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| After 1976, the villagers organized themselves in commoners' assemblies and councils which served primarily to channel revenues from fellings in the state planted forest, to the village , where they were used for the construction of a road.Until then the villager could only be reached by mountain tracks.The villagers did not interfere with the forest management, since they were satisfied with the share of revenues they received from the forest management which was shared among other village members |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| Not reported |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| Because of the state intervention (refer-Int) there was a dramatic decline in the number of animals held in this village.Deprived of their main source of subsistence, many inhabitants left temporarily or permanently to seek alternative livelihoods. there was a restriction on sheep and goat herding, which compelled the shepherds to sell their animals and abandon animal husbandry. |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| After the 1976 law was passed the maintenance of common property came back under the control of the local comunities |
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Purpose |
| Common forest management |
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Country |
| Portugal |
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Region |
| Vlia Real:Campea |
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Date Of Publication |
| RS-1/05/96 |
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