Ownership, Management and Utilization of Common Pool Resources in Mehlp Valley, Chitral, North Pakistan

Abstract

In the remote mountainous valleys management of natural resources is closely associated with ownership regimes and perceived importance of resources for subsistence sustenance. Since livelihood strategies are quite similar in the Himalaya – Hindu Kush – Karakorum region of North Pakistan; however, the management techniques and utilization mechanisms adopted by the communities heavily depend on ownership regimes and availability of these resources within the territorial limits of a village. Usually, at micro level, locally available resources are kept under different ownership regimes. Access to, and withdrawal from the common pool resources is subject to a complicated system of rights, duties and responsibilities. With the passage of time autochthonous institution have been established for making appropriation rules without any external intervention. In this paper, an attempt is made to look into various aspects of ownership regimes, utilization pattern and management strategies of pasture resources in a remote valley in the Eastern Hindu Kush. Participant observation and focused group discussion were used for data collection. The results reveal that ownership and utilization pattern of the pasture resources is quite complicated. Though the ownerships are still held in de facto, however, the individual user groups are very effective in utilizing their resources in a sustainable way.