Legal empowerment for local resource control

etween different legal systems (e.g. between national legislation
emphasising the role of the state in resource allocation and “customary”
systems giving priority to the resource rights of first-occupants) (“power in
the law”, see section 2.1.2 above). These power relations within the law
have important repercussions for the ability of the law to address power
asymmetries (“power by the law”).
As a result of these asymmetries, local resource users may enjoy little
control over the resources on which they depend: they may have little say in
decision-making processes affecting those resources, and may hold
entitlements that are vulnerable to dispossession without appropriate
safeguards. The remainder of this study analyses ways to use legal processes
to address these asymmetries and strengthen local resource control.
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