Abstract

Scholarly work on the commons has illustrated the important role that common pool resource systems play in sustaining the livelihoods of forest dependent communities; in particular, vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples and poor women (Beck and Ghosh, 2000; Beck and Nesmith, 2001; Chhatre and Agrawal, 2008, 2009). A recent assessment estimated that globally over 8.5 billion hectares of land can be categorized as common pool resources, either formally recognized or informally held (Wily, 2011: 11). The commons concept has been widely used in reference to common pool resources under collective property where exclusion is difficult and competition is prevalent (Ostrom and Hess, 2007).