AND THE GAPS

Previewing the Issues: Common property Resources (CPRs) are broadly defined as those resources in which a group of people have a co-equal use rights, specially rights that exclude use of those resources by other people. However looking at CPRs from “rights ” perspective may disguise the more important ‘obligation or responsibility ’ aspects as well as the basic driving forces that help in shaping and enforcing these obligations and rights. In rural areas these rights, obligations and enforcement mechanisms, as the society’s institutional arrangements, are a product of community’s collective concerns, norms and action for common good, which in turn are manifestations of what is described as ‘social capital’. The latter though a social and cultural phenomenon, is a product of society’s prolonged processes of adaptation to its natural resource base. The institution of CPRs or rather rights and obligation towards CPRs are a part of the adaptation process. This is more visible in fragile resource zones such as mountains and dry tropics focussed by this paper. The decline of CPRs as shown by field evidence (from the areas mentioned above) is closely associated with the depletion of social capital i.e. the community spirit and actions reflecting reciprocity, trust, shared values, net working and group action. This in turn has happened due t