สิทธิและการครอบครองทรัพยากร

Property rights exist at many different social levels (individual, nuclear or extended family, clan or tribe, larger group, etc.), and at different levels of “formality” or official status. For example, an urban property may have an individual owner and a government-issued (formal) title. For this kind of property, it can be simple and straightforward to understand the exact identity of the officially recognized owner (by looking at the title) and the means to transfer rights to that property (through sale or rental). Understanding rights to use areas owned by larger numbers of people—extended families, clans, or certain ethnic groups—is much more complex. For example, access rights to grazing or fishing areas vary seasonally, or according to one’s clan or tribal status. There are usually local regulations concerning how group members and non-group members can use the land and its water or plant resources, and these are often not recorded on paper. Nonmembers may have access to the land if they contribute to some group event or pay someone for use rights. Resource rights at this level are likely regulated by local leaders rather than a recognized government authority, and are called “informal” or “customary” or “traditional” rights.

--  Dr. Laura Meitzner Yoder, EDN # 106