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A challenge for environmental governance: institutional change in a traditional common-property forest system

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Abstract

This article examines how the Miskito peoples of Río Plátano, Honduras have responded to agricultural expansion by migrant farmers and ranchers onto their ancestral forest lands, and considers the policy options for supporting the common-property system of the Miskito and the forests they have historically conserved. The analysis compares institutional changes in the common-property systems of three Miskito communities, each with a different history of colonization. The findings illustrate that the Miskito response to the colonists has been multifaceted, and that while the Miskito leaders have made institutional changes to strengthen their common-property system, these changes are not necessarily reflected in the daily decisions of the Miskito people. The findings suggest that policies that support indigenous rulemaking abilities, specifically policies that legitimize indigenous rights to their lands and provide the resources to apply those rights, may be vital to maintain robust common-property systems and the frontier forests in the region.

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Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without support from the Institute for International Exchange Fulbright Fellowship, National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change (CIPEC), and the Workshop for Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. I would like to thank the residents of the Miskito and colonist communities who shared their time, opinions, and concerns with me, and folks at The Nature Conservancy, the Biosphere Project, and the Honduran Ministry of Forestry (AFE-COHDEFOR) who were crucial in facilitating my fieldwork. Many thanks to folks attending the 12 biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons for their comments on an earlier draft and thanks to Felipe Murtinho and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions for improvements.

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  1. Departments of Environmental Studies & Public Affairs, Institute for Public Service, Seattle University, 901 12th Ave, PO Box 222000, Seattle, WA, 98122-1090, USA

    Tanya M. Hayes

  2. Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47408-3799, USA

    Tanya M. Hayes

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Correspondence to Tanya M. Hayes.

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Hayes, T.M. A challenge for environmental governance: institutional change in a traditional common-property forest system. Policy Sci 43, 27–48 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-009-9083-5

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