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Grassland in China: Caught between state and private

Grassland in China: Caught between state and private. Peter Ho Centre for Development Studies University of Groningen. Definitions of property. “ A social relation to settle competing claims between individuals and groups of individuals in respect to resources” (Ciriacy-Wantrup and Bishop)

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Grassland in China: Caught between state and private

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  1. Grassland in China:Caught between state and private Peter Ho Centre for Development Studies University of Groningen

  2. Definitions of property “ A social relation to settle competing claims between individuals and groups of individuals in respect to resources” (Ciriacy-Wantrup and Bishop) “A bundle of rights”: such as use right, sub- and topsoil rights, part-time right, usufruct, right of overpath, management right, access right (Demsetz)

  3. Types of property regimes State property Private property Common property

  4. State property Expensive to effect Limited reach of the state Who guards the guardians?

  5. Privatize and leave to the market? High Transaction costs (information, contracting and enforcement) Uncertain future perspectives Large non-monetary costs involved Irreversible side-effects Possible Call it “TULIP”

  6. Common Property =Prisoner’s Dilemma or Tragedy of Commons

  7. Prisoner’s Dilemma

  8. Prisoner’s Dilemma

  9. Prisoner’s Dilemma

  10. Criticism on Prisoner’s Dilemma Individuals not isolated Possibility of repeated decisions through consultation Non-cooperation not dominant strategy

  11. Featues of common property • ‘Rules on rules’ • Operational rules • Boundary • Allocation • Membership • Input • Penalty See: Bromley in P. Ho (ed.),Developmental Dilemmas: Land Reform and Institutional Change in China, (Routledge, 2005)

  12. Grassland property rights: A case-study • Ningxia, Yanchi County • Since mid-1980s experiments with common property regimes • BAMIP rules present • Erosion and desertification continues...

  13. Map of the common property

  14. Encroaching desert

  15. Licquorice: blessing or curse?

  16. Obstacles for grassland reform • Definition state property • Definition collective property • Customary and historical claims

  17. Collective ownership 1950s-mid 1980s Since mid 1980s

  18. Collective property questions • What is the collective (jiti jingji zuzhi)? the former team or the brigade? • Can the collective adequately represent the interests of its members?

  19. State ownership 1949-1998 Since 1998

  20. Dual confusion over state land • What is the level of the state? • “All forest, grassland and wasteland is owned by the state, unless proven collective…”

  21. Customary law? Customary law according to Motion is “unwritten law established by long usage” (Pocket Law Lexicon, London, 1951) Defined in Britain as so long that “the memory of man runneth not to the contrary”, a limit fixed at the accession of Richard I in 1189

  22. Customary law • Constitution states: “All forest, grassland and wasteland is owned by the state, unless proven collectively owned…” • Historical: all land claims before 1950 are invalid (Land Administration Law)

  23. Grassland claims by (semi)nomadic pastoralists

  24. Historical claims

  25. Colonists’ settlements (Heilongjiang)

  26. Tuigeng huanlin: Triple problem

  27. A critical moment has come...

  28. Current problems • Desertification, deforestation and land salinization affected 83.2 mio. ha or 60% of China’s total arable area • Average land per capita less than 0.08 ha (against 0.18 ha in 1949) • Rural poverty and livelihood To shift to extensive, yet, modernized animal husbandry sector property rights question needs to be resolved

  29. Want toknow more?www.rug.nl/cds

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