Abstract
In contrast to the jeopardy caused to commonproperty regimes by conditions of open access, factorssuch as boundary ambiguity, shifts, and maintenancefailures are the causes of a different set of problemsin the Los Haitises National Park, a controversialprotected area in the Dominican Republic. Survey data,historical sources, and digital mapping informationoverlaying past boundary changes show that this areahas undergone two decades of design modifications inits perimeters. Despite a long history of communalownership in that country, there appears to be littlelikelihood of transforming this tradition into amodern common property regime of use to community andenvironment in the park‘s buffer zone. This is due, atleast in part, to its highly porous, constantlychanging boundary, a source of on-going, open-accessproblems among local cultivators peripheral to thepark.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agencia Española de Cooperacíon Internacional (1991). Plan de uso y gestión del Parque Nacional de los Haitises y areas perifericas. Santo Domingo: Editorial Corripio.
Alcorn, J. (1992). “Remnant forest use and ownership: patterns and issues,” in J. K. Doyle and J. Schelhas (eds.), Forest remnants in the tropical landscape: Benefits and policy implications (pp. 41–44). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. ai]Alfano, G., and G. Marwell (1980). “Experiments on the provision of public goods by groups III: Nondivisibility and Freeriding in 'real' groups,” Social Psychology Quarterly 43: 300–309.
Borrini-Feyerabend, G. (1996). Collaborative management of protected areas: Tailoring the approach to the context. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
Bromley, D. W. (1995). “Economic dimensions of community-based conservation,” in D. Western, R. M. Wright, and S. C. Strum (eds.), Natural connections (pp. 428–447). Washington, DC: Island Press.
Bromley, D. W., and M. Cernia (1989). “The management of common property natural resources,” World Bank Discussion Paper 57. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
Cass, R. C., and J. J. Edney (1978). “The commons dilemma: A simulation testing the effects of resource visibility and territorial division,” Human Ecology 6: 371–385.
CIIFAD (1996) Annual report, 1994–95. Ithaca, NY: Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development.
Clausner, M. (1973). Rural Santo Domingo: Settled, unsettled and resettled. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Cousins, B. (1995). “The role for common property institutions in land redistribution programmes in South Africa,” Gatekeeper Series No 53. London: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
Current, D., E. Lutz, and S. J. Scherr (1995). “The costs and benefits of soil conservation: The farmer's viewpoint,” The World Bank Research Observer9 (July): 273–295.
Dassman, R. (1988). “Biosphere reserves, buffers, and boundaries,” BioScience 38: 487–448.
Dotzauer, H. (1993). “The political and socioeconomic factors causing forest degradation in the Dominican Republic,” Rural Development Forestry Network Paper 16d. London: ODI.
Feeny, D., F. Berks, B. McCay, and J. Acheson (1990). “The tragedy of the commons: Twenty-two years later,” Human Ecology 18: 1–19.
Ferguson, J. (1992). Dominican Republic. New York: Monthly Review Press.
GEF (1994). Dominican Republic. Global environmental facility. New York: United Nations Development Program.
Geisler, C. C., J. M. Stycos, R. Warne, and G. K. Maid(1996). “Socially sustainable land reform in the Dominican Republic,” Report prepared for the Dominican Global Environmental Facility, Santo Domingo. Ithaca, NY:Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University.
Gonzalez, G. (1996). “Gastan 400 millones en Zona Los Haitises.” El Lístin Diario (April 21: ps. 1 and 12).
GutierrezSan Martin, A. T. (1988). Agrarian policy in the Dominican Republic. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Hardin, G. (1968). “The tragedy of the commons,” Science 162: 1243–1248.
Hardin, G. (1994). “The tragedy of the commons revisited,” Ecology and Evolution 9: 199–206.
Lawry, S. W. (1990). “Tenure policy toward common property natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa,” Natural Resources Journal 30: 403–422.
Lizardo, G., and J. M. Stycos (1996). “Encuesta sobre Poblacion y Medio Ambiente en el PNLH,” March. Santo Domingo: IEPD
Lynch, B. D. (1996). “Marking territory and mapping development,” Paper presented at the Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, University of California-Berkeley (June 5–8).
Machlis, G. E., and D. L. Tichnell (1985). The state of the world's parks. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Marwell, G., and P. Oliver (1993). The critical mass in collective action: A microsocia theory. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Morell, M. (1986). “Needs for landscape planning: Landscape and environmental problems in the Dominican Republic,” Landscape and Urban Planning 13.
Moya Pons, F. (1995). The Dominican Republic. New Rochelle, NY: New Hispaniola Books.
Murphree, M.W. (1995) “The role of institutions in community-based conservation,” in D. Western, R.M. Wright, and S. C. Strum (eds.), Natural connections (pp. 403–427). Washington, DC: Island Press.
OAS (1967). Reconocimiento y evaluacíon de los recursos naturales de La Republic Dominicana: Estudio para su desarrollo y planifcacíon. Washington, DC: Organization of American States.
Olsen, M. (1965). The logic of collective action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ortiz, Alquimedes (n.d.). Thesis for Degree in Laws and Letters. Santo Domingo: INTEC.
Ostrom, E. (1994). Neither market nor state: Governance of commonpool resources in the twenty-first century. Washington, DC: The International Food Policy Research Institute
Phelan, J. L. (1959). The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish and Filipino responses, 1565–1700.Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Rose, C. M. (1994). Property and persuasion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
SEA (1990). “La Diversidad Biologica en la Republica Dominicana.” Santo Domingo: Secretaria de Estado de Agricultura, Subsecretaria de Estado de Recursos Naturales, Departamento de Vida Silvestre.
Stycos, J., and I. Duarte (1994). “Parks, population and resettlement in the Dominican Republic,” EPAT/MUCIA Working Paper No. 16 (October 16).
Thomas, J. (1996). “Shades of green: The possibilities and limitations of microenterprise promotion in conservation programs,” Unpublished Masters Thesis, City and Regional Planning. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Udehn, L. (1993). “ Twentyfive years with the logic of collective action,” Acta Sociological 36: 239–261.
Valdez Sierra, G. and J. M. Mateo Feliz (1993). Primer Seminario Nacional, Areas Protegidas en Republica Dominicana. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller.
Valdez Sierra, G. and J. M. Mateo Feliz (1992). Sistema de areas protegidas de Republica Dominicana. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller.
Western, D. (1993). “Communities as resource management institutions,” Gatekeeper Series No. 36. London: International Institute for Environmental and Development.
Western, D., R. M. Wright, and S. C. Strum (eds.) (1995). Natural connections. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Wright, R. M. (1995). “ Recommendations,” in D. Western, R. M. Wright, and S. C. Strum (eds.), Natural connections (pp. 524–535). Washington: DC: Island Press.
WRI/UNEP/UNDP (1994). World resources 1994–95.New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Geisler, C., Warne, R. & Barton, A. The wandering commons: A conservation conundrum in the Dominican Republic. Agriculture and Human Values 14, 325–335 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007403505411
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007403505411