Chapter 3


on collective action and can play an important role in the provision of services. Indeed,
collective action is an important element in the governing of water resources in some
districts in southern California.

Collective action is important in many countries in areas of water management and
irrigation. Building of dams can be undertaken communally in a very organised way, such
as in China, where collective activity was one way to mobilise the large amounts of labour
necessary to build large scale dams, but can also be much more informal, as in many semi-
arid African countries, where local communities build dams and shallow wells to catch as
much water as possible in the short rainy season. Irrigation systems may be collectively
managed with local committees to allocate access to water to ensure equity and sustainability
in the use of water.

Collective management is also important in the development and use of common property
resources, most often common grazing but also fishing rights in lakes, rivers and even local
sea-fishing. What many of these systems have in common is the need for careful
management so that land does not become degraded or rivers become over-fished. A market
solution would be possible, where grazing or fishing rights were sold out to individuals, as
happens in countries where grazing rights and fishing rights are individually owned.
However, here the property is held communally and either because there are customary rules
and regulations for land use, or because it is felt less likely to exclude poorer members of the
community, access is based on non-market principles such as individuals having the right to
graze so many cattle per year, or catch so many fish per year.

Where communities lack certain services or where it is felt that existing service providers are
exploiting a monopoly position, they may form cooperatives to provide these at an
affordable price. Although co-operatives often develop an important financial and market
element, very often they start out based on non-profit principles with a strong collective
input from the community. Many institutions are complex mixtures of market and non-
market elements. Often collective activity has a strong element of self-interest, but may
represent a way of mobilising resources, in particular labour power, when financial resources
are lacking.

There is a final sphere of activity, which some analysts call the moral economy, which is
composed of a series of customary rights and obligations which link different groups of the
population together, and may be particularly important in times of food stress. For example,
in northern Namibia, women and children had the right to go to the kraal of the traditional
chief during times of famine, when food had run out. He kept the communal food stores and
had an obligation to feed any of his dependent subjects who came to his enclosure. Similar
obligations have been noted in other parts of the world. Box 3.4 discusses the various types
 of relationships which used to be typical in parts of Bengal in India.


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