Ecology and risk management: the case for common property

The link between traditional forms of common property, political processes, and the ecological implications of flood recession in arid lands are placed in a broader theoretical perspective in this chapter. The current development situation, in its neglect of ecology and collective tenure, typifies many of the most significant forms of conflict between modern, individual-oriented development schemes and traditional tenure systems. This neglect is a key to recent political processes. The chapter first widens the discussion to an analysis of risk management in North Africa, the Sahara, and the Middle East, and then proceeds to a discussion of the theoretical issues that seem in need of modification in light of an arid lands, risk-minimizing perspective and the insights gained from case studies. In particular, a focus on returns per unit of labor and a consideration of both environmental and political risk can deepen understanding of common property and the role of economic stratification in arid lands agriculture. -from Author