Collective action and the traditional village

This article considers the dispute between moral economy and rational peasant theories of agrarian societies in application to problems of collective action. The moral-economy theory holds that traditional peasant society is organized cooperatively through shared moral values and communal institutions; while the rational-peasant theory maintains that peasant society shows the mark of rational individual calculation, leading to free-rider problems that undermine successful collective action. This article offers an abstract model of a traditional village and assesses the applicability of recent qualifications of the collective action argument to this model. It will emerge that the social characteristics of the traditional village embody features that facilitate collective action by rational peasants.     

Forest Health,Collective Behaviors,and Management

This study compares community-based managed forests under different purposes of management, namely, state-driven conservation or community-designed utilization in two villages located in the Sopsai watershed, Nan Province, northern Thailand. The forest health under different intensity of uses is assessed in association with the collective behaviors and long-term purposes embedded in village social–cultural context. The study found no significant differences in forest succession and proportion in diameter at 1.3 m (dbh) class and height-class distribution of the forest under different use intensity. The forest for utilization also showed higher density and basal area of the local preferred species than the conservation forest. In the utilization forest, we also found a higher number of multipurpose and preferred species than in the conservation forest, which actually responded to the needs of the community in the long term to have more wood products (both firewood and timbers). The community-based forest management (CBFM) for utilization can also lead to natural regeneration and biodiversity similar to conservation forests. Through CBFM, forest resources can be managed to maintain the healthy condition under different intensities and respond to both community needs and external expectation. The findings also emphasize the importance of recognizing community needs and management objectives in watershed restoration and improving the productivity of forests under collective management.     

Collective risk management: insights and opportunities for DoD decision-makers

Individuals make decisions every day in group contexts which vary in size, structure, and purpose. The US Department of Defense (DoD) is a large organization composed of many groups, and like many organizations, it has a vested interest in improving the performance of its affiliated groups, especially as it concerns risk-informed decision-making. This article discusses current foibles and considerations for decision-making in DoD groups as identified through a workshop with experts in risk-informed decision-making, cognitive science, and military operations. Experts noted that terms associated with risk-informed decision-making were often misconstrued, that formal decision-making frameworks are underutilized, and that many considerations should be taken into account when attempting to improve decision-making performance.     

陕西眉县集体林权改革环境影响分析

经过近年的推广和实施,我国集体林权改革制度已初现成效,但也对生态环境产生了一定影响。为了探究林权改革对环境造成的影响,结合在陕西省眉县进行的问卷调查,采用统计方法对结果进行了分析。研究表明,林改后对环境产生的影响可分为三类,林改后对净化空气和森林旅游的影响最为显著,林改前后对林业的投入是对其产生影响的重要因素。建议相关部门加大对林业的投入,制定针对性政策,促进当地生态环境的进一步改善。     

集体林地使用权市场制度的建立与完善

集体林地使用权市场将是我国南方集体林区土地市场发展的主要内容,它的健康发展需要一套制度来保障.在介绍集体林地使用权市场类型的基础上,分析了我国集体林地使用权市场制度的建设状况,并提出了今后急待建立和完善的林地使用权市场制度的主要内容.     

Taking Environmental Action: The Role of Local Composition, Context, and Collective

This article explores individual and community action taken in response to perceived environmental risks by investigating the determinants of environmental action across a range of action types. A conceptual framework is first presented, which provides a foundation for investigating the role of local compositional (i.e., individual characteristics), contextual (i.e., neighborhood environment), and collective (i.e., social networks) factors in environmental action. To test the utility of the conceptual framework, a quantitative survey was administered to a random sample of households (n = 512) in Hamilton, Canada. The results suggest that the predictors of environmental action vary by action type (i.e., personal change, individual civic action, and cooperative civic action), and that factors related to perceived environmental exposure and social capital generally play a stronger, more consistent role in civic environmental action than sociodemographic or neighborhood factors. The results underscore the role of social connection in responses to perceived environmental risks.     

Collective action in water-point management: The case of pastoral and agropastoral communities in eastern Ethiopia

This paper explores collective activities in water-point management by pastoral and agropastoral herders. It examines conditions that strengthen or weaken cooperative behaviour. By employing a comparative case study approach, the paper covers three types of water-points: ponds, cisterns and water wells. Results show that factors beyond the expectation of economic benefits influence the development of cooperative behaviour, including embedded social relationships, which provide a basis for sanctions. However, the absence of clear allocation rules and of secure property rights discourages sustained contribution of inputs. The study also finds that the contribution, and the ultimate benefits gained, by the members of the group are dependent on limited technological options and other attributes of the water-points they manage. Interestingly, divergence of interests (between economic elites and poor herders) in institutional change precluding the establishment of cisterns negatively affects the livelihoods of the poor (agro) pastoralists. Where internal capacity is limited, assisted collective action that builds on diverse local interests could contribute to sustainable management of collectively used water-points. The study concludes that both economic incentives and socio-cultural norms affect collective action in a more complex way than the theory of determinants of collective action predicts.     

Policy And Practice Collective Response to Oil Spill Hazards in the Eastern Niger Delta of Nigeria

This paper outlines the main elements of a comprehensive, territorial, hazard amelioration strategy for the oil spill pollution areas of the Eastern Niger Delta of Nigeria. After documenting the extent and type of damage, an argument is presented in favour of urgent action and the need for planning. It is argued that present oil spill pollution laws are coercive and militant and do not encourage communities in the Eastern Niger Delta to act as pressure groups for a clean environment. The paper posits that environmental damages resulting from oil spills can be minimized through co-operative action between and amongst stakeholders-government,oil companies and community representatives. The paper therefore calls for a collective response.     

Collective action: an alternative institutional arrangement for reducing water pollution in an industrial estate in India

This study explores the possibility of collective action as an alternative option for reducing water pollution for a cluster of small-scale industries. A case study of the Nandesari Industrial Estate in Gujarat, India, demonstrates the roles played by different agents, such as affected parties, polluters, non-governmental organizations, regulators and the court. The study empirically estimates the 'benefits' and 'costs' of water pollution abatement for a cluster of 250 small-scale industries at Nandesari, and uses these estimates for a social cost-benefit analysis. Benefits are estimated using the contingent valuation method, with a 'willingness to accept' format for the rural areas, and a 'willingness to pay' format for the urban area of the nearby Vadodara city. The article considers costs of command and control, market-based solutions and the option of common effluent treatment as alternative scenarios. It discusses how collective action and joint abatement at a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) by the 250 industries efficiently comply with the State Pollution Control Board norms, which had not been possible for the factories acting individually over the last 20 years. Finally, a detailed social cost-benefit analysis has been undertaken to estimate the net present social benefits with and without CETP. The cost-benefit analysis shows the economic advantage and social desirability of 'collective action' (joint treatment with CETP institutional arrangement) for water pollution abatement with respect to all possible scenarios comprising shadow prices of investment, foreign exchange, unskilled labour and equity considerations.     

Parenting and Intergenerational Justice: Why Collective Obligations Towards Future Generations Take Second Place to Individual Responsibility

Theories of intergenerational obligations usually take the shape of theories of distributive (social) justice. The complexities involved in intergenerational obligations force theorists to simplify. In this article I unpack two popular simplifications: the inevitability of future generations, and the Hardinesque assumption that future individuals are a burden on society but a benefit to parents. The first assumption obscures the fact that future generations consist of individuals whose existence can be a matter of voluntary choice, implying that there are individuals who are responsible and accountable for that choice and for its consequences. The second assumption ignores the fact that the benefits and burdens of future individuals are complex, and different for different “beneficiaries” or “victims.” Introducing individual responsibility for procreation as a (crucially) relevant variable, and allowing a more sophisticated understanding of the impact of new individuals, generates grounds to prioritize the individual’s interest in responsibility for (creating and equipping) future individuals over any collective intergenerational obligation. I illustrate this by introducing a series of moral duties that take precedence over, and perhaps even void, possible collective redistributive duties.     

Collective guilt mediates the effect of beliefs about global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behavior

The present research examines whether collective guilt for an ingroup's collective greenhouse gas emissions mediates the effects of beliefs about the causes and effects of global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behavior. In Study 1, we manipulate the causes and effects of global warming and then measure collective guilt. Results demonstrate that collective guilt for Americans' greenhouse gas emissions is stronger when participants believe that global warming is caused by humans and will have minor effects. Study 2 employs the same manipulations and then measures collective guilt and collective anxiety, as well as willingness to conserve energy and pay green taxes. This study replicates the effect from Study 1 and rules out collective anxiety as a plausible alternative mediator. Collective guilt for Americans' greenhouse emissions was the only reliable mediator of the effect of beliefs about global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behaviors. The importance of collective guilt as a tool for promoting global warming mitigation is discussed.     

大型环保设施建设中的政府民间合作融资模式

对基础设施和公共工程建设中常用的10种政府民间合作融资模式进行分析,并探讨其在环保设施建设中的具体运用。     

国际铜业协会（中国）2008—2009年度技术项目征集活动启动

2008年10月22日,国际铜业协会(中国)于北京举行了"2007-2008年度技术项目征集颁奖暨2008-2009年度技术项目征集启动大会",来自各大院校,研究所,行业协会以及企业单位的嘉宾会聚一堂,共同庆祝获奖项目成果,交流研究经验,同时也拉开了新一轮项目征集活动的序幕.     

统筹城乡发展中集体土地登记效用分析——以重庆市江北区鱼嘴镇双溪村为例

集体土地登记是土地管理的基础工作,也是保护农民土地合法权益、促进集体土地流转和繁荣农村经济的重要手段.对集体土地所有权、使用权登记效用进行了深入分析,并结合作为统筹城乡综合配套改革试点的重庆市江北区鱼嘴镇双溪村,从农地规模经营、农地融资与农民转市民三方面分析集体土地登记如何促进其统筹城乡的发展.