Community, corruption, landscape: tales from the tree trade

Corbridge, Stuart; Kumar, Sanjay

doi:10.1016/s0962-6298(02)00029-x

Cited by 63 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…While the bribes reported by Robbins represented small percentages of the value of the products harvested, Corbridge and Kumar (2002) report that a farmer who wished to sell jackfruit timber off of his private land in Jharkhand received only 1/5 of the value of his timber, with approximately paid to a broker, and the remainder paid as bribes to forest and police officials. According to Corbridge and Kumar, the necessity of paying such enormous bribes has hindered the planting of jackfruit since the 1940s, crippling the potential for the development of a vibrant agroforestry sector in the state (similar hindrances plague the development of private-land forestry and the development of forest-based industries throughout India-see Milne et al 2005).…”

Section: Informal External Direction: ''Sly'' Institutions and Corrupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…National proposals to create a lokpal (ombudsman) seem unlikely to have a direct impact on the small scale corruption which afflicts forest administration. Several authors have suggested liberalizing trade in forest products as a means to both enhance private-land forestry and reduce opportunities forest officials have to serve as monopoly providers of forest goods (Corbridge and Kumar 2002;Milne et al 2005). However, Wade's studies demonstrated that bureaucrats were skillful at subverting formal designs aimed at increasing transparency, while Robbins showed how corruption was embedded within broader networks of disadvantage, and thus might more productively be seen as an issue of collective action rather than individual failing (see also Persson et al 2013;Sundström 2015a).…”

Section: Informal External Direction: ''Sly'' Institutions and Corrupmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

Fleischman

2015

Reg Environ Change

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Forest administrators play a crucial role in translating conservation and development policies into action, yet policy reformers and scholars rarely examine how these administrators make decisions about the implementation of conservation and development policy in India. In this paper, I address this gap. I begin by developing a framework that draws on Western policy implementation studies and Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development framework and then apply this framework to a review of published studies that examine the role of forest officials in implementing public policies in India. The framework differentiates between formal and informal institutions and between institutions which are developed within an agency and those that are directed from outside the agency. I find that forester behavior varies significantly across space and time and has an important influence on the outcome of forestry programs. Innovations and excellent program implementation appear related to foresters' desire to demonstrate professional efficacy. On the other hand, many failings can be traced either to external direction or to foresters developing internal institutions that are poorly suited to the problems they are tasked with solving. Existing research is limited in its geographic and temporal scope and leaves many questions unanswered, and thus, the review concludes with a brief outline of future research needs.

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Section: Informal External Direction: ''Sly'' Institutions and Corrupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Informal External Direction: ''Sly'' Institutions and Corrupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

Fleischman

2015

Reg Environ Change

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“…Where local use is criminalized, there are pressures and opportunities for informal economic transactions, moreover, sometimes termed "corruption" (though the term and its concomitant connotations are typically misleading, see De Sardan 1999;Robbins 2000c;Corbridge and Kumar 2002;Jeffrey 2002). Such systems of exchange, though themselves understudied, might be anticipated to price cash poor households out of markets for illegal goods.…”

Section: Anticipating Noncompliancementioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation as It Is: Illicit Resource Use in a Wildlife Reserve in India

Robbins

McSweeney

Chhangani³

et al. 2009

Hum Ecol

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While wildlife conservation efforts have become increasingly aggressive around the world, illicit use of resources in conservation areas has not subsided, raising questions about the ecological character of noncompliance activities. This paper reviews the results of research conducted amongst foresters and households living adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary in India in a period following a ban of human use activities. Using a formal survey supplemented by interviews and participant observation, the research sought to determine the intensity of illicit use, the demographics of resource users, and the attitudes of rulebreakers. The results suggest that noncompliance with conservation restrictions is nearly universal, that forest use is highly specialized, that available village resource assets do little to offset forest use, and that rule-breakers prefer current governance arrangements. These results paint a picture of deeply institutionalized forest use that suggests serious barriers to any simple enforcement solutions or governance reforms.

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“…Again, as Corbridge and Kumar (2002) note, systems of entrenched power are difficult to shift or change without sustained political activity to transfer resources to the poor. This study and its recommendations are therefore part of these continuing discussions to keep Ghana's decentralisation on track within the context of socio-economic development and poverty reduction.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of district capitals in regional development: Linking small towns, rural–urban linkages and decentralisation in Ghana

Owusu

2005

International Development Planning Review

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There has been a renewed interest in the role of small towns in rural and regional development driven by recent socio-economic and political changes at the national and international levels involving democratisation and local government reforms, structural adjustment and economic reforms, and a general trend favouring participation or 'development from below'. As urban centres closest to rural communities, small towns are perceived as: important and efficient nodal points for linking or connecting rural producers to national and international markets; centres for locating social services within relatively easy reach of rural communities, and centres for the transmission of government policies and modernisation. Within this perspective has also emerged the increasing recognition that rural and urban areas do not exist as 'islands' but are linked by flows of people, goods, services, and information (spatial linkages) and sectoral interactions (employment and occupations, such as rural non-farm employment and urban agriculture). These spatial linkages and sectoral interactions between rural and urban areas are also increasingly recognised as critical survival and accumulation strategies for the poor and the rich respectively in both rural and urban households.While many studies have emphasised the promotion of small towns, they also note that the ability of small towns to play any meaningful role in regional development and ruralurban interactions depends on functional local government systems with adequate resources and authority. This requires decentralised development approaches that are driven by local needs and priorities with the active participation of all stakeholders. For the past decade and half, Ghana has implemented a decentralisation programme that has required the transfer of financial and infrastructural resources, as well as power and authority to the district level. District capitals, defined in this study as small towns, have become important focal points as stimuli to district development under the programme. It is envisaged that rural-urban linkages between a district capital and its hinterland (district) will have positive impacts on both spatial units, and consequently the overall development of the district.While various studies have been done on small towns and rural-urban interactions in developing countries not much has been done on small towns within a decentralised political, administrative and economic context. Besides, in the context of Ghana, although in the implementation of decentralisation policies district capitals have been recognised as iii important, not enough theoretical work has been done on their role in rural and regional development and to place this within the various models and theories on urban centres within the fields of urban studies and regional development. As a result, adequate evaluation of district capitals and their role in the decentralised development process as a basis to unearth contradictions, inefficiencies and weaknesses of the strategy is yet t...

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Community, corruption, landscape: tales from the tree trade

Cited by 63 publications

References 18 publications

Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

Understanding India’s forest bureaucracy: a review

Conservation as It Is: Illicit Resource Use in a Wildlife Reserve in India

The role of district capitals in regional development: Linking small towns, rural–urban linkages and decentralisation in Ghana

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