Institutions and natural resource management in The Gambia : a case study of the Foni Jarrol District

The report is divided into three parts. Part 1 introduces and presents background for the debate over what constitutes "customary land tenure" in The Gambia. This is more than simply an academic exercise -- policymakers and academics alike should consider the relationship between the corpus of land laws and the customary social practices that govern resource use in rural regions. Programs and projects designed to improve natural resource management should consider the opportunities and constraints posed by present-day tenure relations. If land tenure is viewed as a body of rules that govern how resources are used, than it must be asked whether the rules facilitate or hinder investment in the protection and regeneration of the land. The two divergent schools of thought that define the debate on land tenure in The Gambia are described in part 2. The first, described in section 1 of Part 1, represents the perspective of a former administrator on land tenure relations in The Gambia, where public administrators and some members of the legal profession hold that there is a common ethos of relatively unchanging "customary law" in The Gambia. Institutions such as the Law Reform Commission (1992) are attempting to codify what they consider to be a common set of legal precepts rooted in the traditional Gambian culture. Often such views frame how courts and public administrators resolve a myriad of land disputes. Section 2 of Part 1 presents an opposing school of thought, which holds that customary law in The Gambia is a constantly unfolding set of legal traditions and social practices determined, to a large degree, by the historical, cultural, and ecological attributes of particular parts of the country. This view suggests that there is no single customary law in The Gambia. Rather, the legal precepts and practices of common law are constantly being created and transformed by a host of social and economic factors originating from within particular cultural entities and from external sources. The legal anthropologist on the research team uses this school of thought to recount how conflicts and disputes define and redefine rules regarding the use of natural resources. Part 2 is a detailed case study of the land tenure situation in the Foni Jarrol District. This field research sought neither to validate nor to negate either of the above positions. Rather, the three village case studies attempted to document what villagers consider to be the key elements of the land tenure situation in the district. In addition to noting which rules currently govern resource use, the authors also interpret how the evolution of the tenure systems over the past 50 to 100 years is a function of the social and ecological history of the district. Following the description of research findings in the Foni Jarrol District, part 3 presents policy recommendations. The research suggests that rural communities have a strong sense of what ought to be the precepts and practices governing the allocation and use of land. In reality, however, community members constantly renegotiate the rules and modify the behaviors that govern the use of natural resources. Ways must be found to build on this negotiation process. Section 1 of part 3 lists rather general recommendations; section 2 addresses the specific context of the Foni Jarrol District. (Author abstract, modified)