Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Land Resources in Darfur Region, Sudan: Prisoners' Dilemma or Coase Outcome?
Author:Morton, J.F.ISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:Journal of Development Studies
Volume:33
Issue:1
Period:October
Pages:63-80
Language:English
Geographic term:Sudan
Subjects:soil fertility
land use
agricultural land
animal husbandry
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/00220389608422453
Abstract:This article tests institutional models of environmental pressure, for example, the Tragedy of the Commons, against evidence from Darfur Region, Sudan. It considers rangeland degradation, rangeland enclosure and the implicit rent gained from range destocking. A methodology to estimate the last is presented. The conclusion is that the institutional model of environmental pressure is not valid for Darfur. The circumstantial evidence of increasing pressure on both the cropland and the rangeland is misleading and has diverted attention from the need to establish three facts: that the traditional support for communal access to rangeland prevents enclosure for destocking or other reasons; that the rangeland actually is overstocked; that more careful range management would result in higher production. As far as the first is concerned, farmers can and do enclose rangeland, if it is worth it. For the second, efforts to count cattle numbers and estimate carrying capacities have failed to show that the range is overstocked. For the third, livestock research has barely got off the ground. The cause of the unhappy situation in Darfur must be sought in the inability of the Sudanese State to provide the minimal public functions needed to support a civil society. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
Views
Cover