The Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation, and Drought

promotion of community forest management by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
international organizations (FAO 2011).
As expected, however, performance of local communities in effectively managing natural
resources depends on a variety of factors, and poor human capacity remains a key challenge. Hence,
one condition for successful community resource management is organizational supply, which is
determined by the presence of community members or organizations with substantial leadership or
other assets (Ostrom 1990). A study in Uganda, for example, showed that communities with
government programs or NGOs dealing with agriculture and the environment in communities had a
higher propensity to enact bylaws on natural resource management (Nkonya, Pender and Kato 2008)
The same study observed significantly higher compliance with laws and regulations enacted by local
councils, as compared with those enacted by legislative bodies higher than the local council (Nkonya,
Pender and Kato 2008). These findings further demonstrate the importance of local-level
organizations in reducing enforcement costs and increasing sustainability. Nonetheless, land
degradation cannot be changed by participatory approaches and community action alone; public
investment in infrastructure and other policies that support land management are also needed (Koning
and Smaling 2005).
Government policies and institutions also play a big role in determining the effectiveness of
local community institutions. The major policies have been discussed earlier. In this section, we show
the role those policies play in fostering local institutions. Policies that foster and build capacity of
local government generally enhance the effectiveness of local institutions. Decentralization, in
particular, is key to achieving this goal. A study covering four African countries compared the number
of bylaws related to natural resource management and observed a clear relationship between number
of bylaws enacted and the effectiveness of decentralization (Ndegwa and Levy 2004) (see Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3—Effect of national-level decentralization policy on enactment of land and water
management regulations
Sources: Overall decentralization from Ndegwa and Levy 2004; SLWM bylaws from World Bank 2010.
Notes: SLWM: sustainable land and water management. Overall decentralization includes 12 performance and structural
indicators of decentralization. The larger the index, the greater the performance of decentralization.
Horizontal and vertical linkages and cooperation foster strong and well-functioning
institutions (Berkes 2002) (Figure 4.3). Horizontal linkage entails cooperation among institutions
working at comparable levels of organization. For example, at the community level, there are formal
and informal institutions that operate at village level, such as local government councils, religious
organizations, and custom institutions and projects. As discussed earlier, the effectiveness of these
institutions depends on their capacity to enact and enforce a set of regulations that define their
organization. Institutions that are well networked horizontally tend to be more effective.
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