THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG

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Forest Reserves. 541 Most of the area under forest reserves is covered by indigenous forests. A significant 25% of that area in forest reserves is covered by non-forest vegetation while 9% is plantation forests. Approximately 64.63% of indigenous forests are found in gazetted Forest Reserves. 542 Section 3 (21) of the same Act also informs that all forests in Kenya, apart from those on private land and those owned by the local authorities, all other forests are vested in the state. 543 While this distinction has been made, we must point out that a large bulk of forests in Kenya fall under state ownership, yet continued degradation and extinction continue to occur in most of these reserves. This indicates a shortfall in the implementation of enforcement mechanisms. It is another pointer to the failings embedded in the statist and globalcentrict notions of biodiversity conservation in Kenya. Our analysis indicates that these shortcomings have been far reaching and somewhat reflected in the amended Forest Act, 2005. Though the Act tries to devolve some powers to local governments, local users’ notions and perceptions are still delineated. The Forests Act makes mention of a forest community, which has been defined as a group of persons who have a traditional association with the forest for purposes of livelihood, culture and religion. Usage of forests for purposes of cultural and traditional significance also requires due registration and due permission from the Director of the Kenya Forestry Service, who in turn writes to the Forest Service Board informing it of the apparent need. The Board hereafter advises the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources on subsequent action. All this shows that there are wide discretionary powers vested in the minister who can grant or refuse an application and his response to this is treated as final. We also observe that though the new Forest Act has a fair appreciation of local populations, it is still riddled with inconsistencies regarding local populations’ usage of forest biodiversity. Local institutions can not freely relate to these forest resources. Cernea notes that in order to maintain strong institutions community needs must have social organization. 544 Thus in relation to the above, we note that a form of social organization comes with the ability of such communities to take part in effective decision making especially in cases where informal institutions relating to resource usage are strong. This is clearly lacking in the Forests Act. There happens to be no requisite power granted to the local communities living around the forests to achieve such a feat. The Act also points out that sacred groves found in any state forest, nature reserve, or private forest shall not be interfered with and any person who without lawful authority fells, cuts, damages or removes any such grove or tree or 541 UNEP. 1992. Convention on Biological Diversity. Nairobi. 542 Wass, P. 1995. Opcit. 543 The Kenya Forest Act Cap 385, Section3 (21). 544 Cernea, M.M.1987.Farmer Organization and Institutional Building for Sustainable Development. Regional Development Dialogue 8:1-24. 112
egeneration thereof or biodiversity therein or abets in the commission of any such act commits an offence. 545 Armed with such power, the enforcers of the Act have every right to curtail local communities and their informal institutions relating to biodiversity. By virtue of the fact that this power also extends to private forests, is an indicator of total disregard and abuse of private biodiversity property rights. Steins and Edwards remarked that, one commonly accepted criterion for institutional development to take place is devolution of property rights to individuals who use the resource. 546 The duo mentions that social institutions that have evolved as a stream of benefits might be stronger and more durable in managing a resource system. 547 A resource system with well defined local institutions and property rights attached to it indicate the intention for some party to ensure that potential users observe any predetermined restrictions or prohibitions concerning access to and use of the resource. 548 The mere fact that institutional property rights are flawed and poorly defined may probably be interpreted to mean that local communities may never have the trust and responsibility to protect forest biodiversity. 549 In the same regard North warned that failure to define property rights in resource regimes will lead to increased transaction costs. 550 The implication here is that enforcers of formal legal regimes may turn to more stringent enforcement measures such as “fines” and “fences” in the management of forest biodiversity. This is more evident when one closely examines section 5 of the current Forest Act. Furthermore, the Act gives a detailed account on issues regarding enforcement, with far reaching powers given to the paramilitary and forest officers alike. More of these far reaching powers are further entrenched in the hands of the Director of the Forest Services under paragraph 25(1). With such power the Director of Forest Services can even enter any private registered forest in order to asses the condition thereof, or to perform any other duty he considers necessary in the circumstances. 551 This is a clear violation of rights relating to ownership of property. It is also a direct contradiction of laws regulating ownership of private resources such as land and related resources as indicated by the Land Adjudication Act. The entire amended Forests Act, gives little recognition to informal institutions and their contribution to rule enforcement among communities living near the forest biodiversity 545 The Kenya Forest Act, Section 33 (4). 546 Edwards, V.M. 1996. Managing the Commons: A Framework for the Analysis of Institutional Change and its Application to the Management of the Multiple-use Commons of theNew Forest. Research Monograph. Portsmouth, UK, University of Portsmouth. 547 Stein, N.A and V.M,Edward. 1999. Collective Action in Common Resources Management: The contribution of social constructivists Perspective to existing Theory. Society and Natural Resources 12:539-557. 548 Ibid. 549 Meinzen-Dick, R. and L.A. Jackson.1996. Multiple Uses, Multiple Users of Water Resources. Paperpresented at the 6th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property.Berkeley, California, 6-10 June 1996. 550 North, D. 1992. Transaction Costs, Institutions and Economic Performance.Ocassional Paper 3o. International Centre for Economic Growth . SanFransco: ICS Press. 551 The Kenya Forest Act Cap 385, Section 25 (1) of the laws of Kenya. 113
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INSTITUTIONAL DILEMMAS IN TROPICAL
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Dedication This work is dedicated i
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7.4 COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY ACTION AND
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UNDP United Nations Development Pro
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1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction Ken
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are mediated into the national poli
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Giddens notes that linking agency a
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foreign exchange controls made the
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and to preserve the different fores
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Map 2: Landsat ETM+ (7) satellite i
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egimes. 46 Yet national regimes gov
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Institutions and Institutionalism:
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learn that in practice, the definit
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The above revelations show the disc
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technologies. This kind of thinking
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The social movement’s notion arti
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1.8 Methodology The choice of resea
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Sources of data Data for this study
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knowledge, opinions, notions in rel
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2 Theoretical Considerations 2.1 In
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opposed to particularistic in the i
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constraints have to be applicable t
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process is a product of both extern
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position also influences actors’
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to a specific choice problem, which
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communications and authority relati
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the subsequent lack of general or s
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generally. Historical institutional
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can have remarkable consequences at
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myths and ceremonies devised by man
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In light of the above postulation,
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among inter ethnic relations. 273 D
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also important for maintaining the
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what sort of environment is left fo
Page 69 and 70: Rittberger called it “institution
Page 71 and 72: of governance. 314 For instance, fo
Page 73 and 74: and his claims. Hence it is the fun
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Page 77 and 78: environmental externality function
Page 79 and 80: Wear observes that the enhancement
Page 81 and 82: 4 Biodiversity, local decentralisat
Page 83 and 84: officials found to have dished out
Page 85 and 86: national level. At the local level
Page 87 and 88: declared a ban on felling indigenou
Page 89 and 90: 4.2 Institutionalism, local decentr
Page 91 and 92: iodiversity change been altered, bu
Page 93 and 94: We shall use the term participation
Page 95 and 96: known as community forest user grou
Page 97 and 98: 1960s and early 1970s in Europe and
Page 99 and 100: upholding of the social values and
Page 101 and 102: The social-cognitive dimension can
Page 103 and 104: as goods and certain services, and
Page 105 and 106: In summary, in this chapter we have
Page 107 and 108: This is compouded by glowing struct
Page 109 and 110: the Constitution. The Constitutiona
Page 111 and 112: far as ownership is concerned. As a
Page 113 and 114: maximum spring discharge level. 501
Page 115 and 116: During pre-colonial times, issues o
Page 117 and 118: whose boundaries could not be alter
Page 119: Although Kenya’s policy and legal
Page 123 and 124: marine and fresh water resources an
Page 125 and 126: In addition, the director of Agricu
Page 127 and 128: Gottfried suggested that natural re
Page 129 and 130: Based on the review and analysis of
Page 131 and 132: Furthermore, issues of monitoring a
Page 133 and 134: players, especially given the role
Page 135 and 136: household was 6. Adults are here de
Page 137 and 138: eadily available for the researcher
Page 139 and 140: It is imperative to appreciate that
Page 141 and 142: tragedy for the entire household, c
Page 143 and 144: Table 6.6 Why persons are named aft
Page 145 and 146: the extreme lowland side, the area
Page 147 and 148: on the forest biodiversity is neith
Page 149 and 150: settling around the Mount Elgon are
Page 151 and 152: concluding the ceremonies with the
Page 153 and 154: Gender, cropping systems and labour
Page 155 and 156: ural livelihoods, it became the foc
Page 157 and 158: espondent said that they planted su
Page 159 and 160: Like we have earlier noted, most of
Page 161 and 162: When asked how such people (Custodi
Page 163 and 164: 7 Historical and Sociological Insti
Page 165 and 166: Biodiversity and customary law in K
Page 167 and 168: education and a majority of social
Page 169 and 170: Put in the context of Kakamega, it
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with one of the Tirirki elders, the
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places, there was an array of reaso
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Further still, it was discovered th
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7.4 Collective community action and
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development of various community re
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Other scholars in the area of prope
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for instance, where common property
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8 Summary and Conclusions 8.1 Recap
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Conclusions The overall objective o
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already exits within the Luhya reso
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sense, the community conserved area
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management such as Kakamega, these
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We have already indicated that like
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prohibiting the use of natural reso
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economic and cultural values with a
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The wider and long-term implication
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will make it much more difficult to
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8.5 Summary The findings that have
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initial conditions, path dependence
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References BOOKS Adrian, P. 2003. T
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Downs, R. E. and S. P. Reyna. 1988.
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Kanyinga, K. 1994. Ethnicity, Patro
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Neisser, U. 1967. Cognitive Psychol
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Strathern, M. 2000. Environments wi
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Reardon, T and Vosti, S. A. 1995. L
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Krhoda, G. 1998. What Ails Kenya's
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Strathern, M. 1996. Potential Prope
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Colchester, M. 2003. Conservation P
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Murombedzi, J. 1998. The Evolving C
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Newspapers The Daily Nation Karura
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List of Figures and Maps Map 1 Map
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Response Codes Snakes Monkeys Frogs
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Section 3. Usage and management for
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Code How often are such ceremonies
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Section 5. Management of local know
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Code Who is responsible for growing
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Appendix B. Schedule of organizatio
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The interviews focused on the confl
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Appendix D. Bibliographic schedule
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Versicherung Ich versichere, dass i
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