Rapidly growing demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property-rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders are challenging patterns of gradual, endogenous change...

Irrigation systems are recognized as common pool resources supplying water for agricultural production, but their role in supplying water for other uses is often overlooked. The importance of non-agricultural uses of irrigation water in livelihood strategies has implications for irrigation...

In many countries and resource sectors, the state is devolving responsibility for natural resource management responsibility to ``communities'' or local user groups. However, both policymakers and researchers in this area have tended to ignore the implications of gender and other forms of...

The widespread trend to transferirrigation management responsibility from the stateto “communities” or local user groups has byand large ignored the implications ofintra-community power differences for theeffectiveness and equity of water management. Genderis a recurrent source of such...

While the role of secure property rights contributing to sustainable natural resource management is increasingly recognized, translating that into practice is more challenging, especially in developing countries. This article presents a framework for understanding the role of property rights for...

Gender is often a key determinant of people's abilities to participate in collective action, yet there has been relatively little research on the links between gender and collective action. This article, and the ones that follow in this special issue, explore the intersection of these two...