Heterogeneity and Cooperation in CPRs:
The role of power heterogeneity for the conservation of common property forests in La Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico.
Vanessa Perez-Cirera (2001)

Summary

During the past fifteen years common pool resources (CPRs) theorists and researchers have pointed out the differences between open-access resources dilemmas and common property resources governance problems. Despite the many efforts in identifying key features of user groups and the types of institutional arrangements that account for effective common property natural resources self-governance, several questions remain. One of these is the relationship between the characteristics of resource use groups, their institutional arrangements and, the external environment. Furthermore, amongst the key features of users, the role of group heterogeneity remains to be a theoretical puzzle by itself. The identified effects that group heterogeneity might have on commons' outcomes are resource conservation, the supply of institutions, the success in monitoring and enforcement of the regulatory regime, the success in resolving conflicts and the adaptation to social and environmental conditions.

The dissertation project covered over these pages aims to address the effects of a little studied dimension of group heterogeneity: that of power. The project will analyse the implications of power heterogeneity in the conservation of common property forests. The dissertation will also try to identify the relationships that might exist with other dimensions of heterogeneity, in particular equity in resource use distribution and cultural heterogeneity and, the links with government incentives and the success of communal regulatory mechanisms. The research will make use of the analytical tools developed by game theory for understanding the strategic interactions between resource appropriators, local CPR managers and State agencies. The focus will be on temperate pine-oak forest ejidos and communities of La Sierra Tarahumara, at the heart of La Sierra Madre Occidental in the northern state of Chihuahua in Mexico.

Image of Rarámuri courtesy of NERC Pictures.