A framework for the analysis of common pool natural resources

Many of the world’s natural resources are managed within the framework of property rights regimes. However, there are a number of extensive natural resources for which no clear property rights regimes exist. These are called, somewhat misleadingly, common property resources. This paper focuses on three types of common property resources, viz. grazing and rangelands, forest areas, and fishing grounds, especially in developing countries. A framework is developed for analysing interactions between humans and these types of natural resources, a complex labelled ‘common pool situations’. The model is composed of four mutually exclusive blocks – technical and physical attributes, decisionmaking arrangements, patterns of social interaction, and outcomes of patterns of interaction – which are each analysed.