from Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources
Jules Pretty
sciencemag.org
Abstract: The proposition that natural resources need protection from the destructive actions of people is widely accepted. Yet communities have shown in the past and increasingly today that they can collaborate for long-term resource management. The term social capital captures the idea that social bonds and norms are critical for sustainability. Where social capital is high in formalized groups, people have the confidence to invest in collective activities, knowing that others will do so too. Some 0.4 to 0.5 million groups have been established since the early 1990s for watershed, forest, irrigation, pest, wildlife, fishery, and microfinance management. These offer a route to sustainable management and governance of common resources.
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The term social capital captures the idea that social bonds and norms are important for people and communities (14). It emerged as a term after detailed analyses of the effects of social cohesion on regional incomes, civil society, and life expectancy (15–17). As social capital lowers the transaction costs of working together, it facilitates cooperation. People have the confidence to invest in collective activities, knowing that others will also do so. They are also less likely to engage in unfettered private actions with negative outcomes, such as resource degradation (18, 19). Four features are important: relations of trust; reciprocity and exchanges; common rules, norms, and sanctions; and connectedness in networks and groups.
Relations of trust lubricate cooperation, and so reduce transaction costs between people. Instead of having to invest in monitoring others, individuals are able to trust them to act as expected, thus saving money and time. But trust takes time to build and is easily broken. When a society is pervaded by distrust or conflict, cooperative arrangements are unlikely to emerge (20). Reciprocity increases trust, and refers to simultaneous exchanges of goods and knowledge of roughly equal value, or continuing relations over time (14, 15). Reciprocity contributes to the development of long-term obligations between people, which helps in achieving positive environmental outcomes.
Common rules, norms, and sanctions are the mutually agreed upon or handed-down drivers of behavior that ensure group interests are complementary with those of individuals. These are sometimes called the rules of the game (21), and they give individuals the confidence to invest in the collective good. Sanctions ensure that those who break the rules know they will be punished. Three types of connectedness (bonding, bridging, and linking) have been identified as important for the networks within, between, and beyond communities (22). Bonding social capital describes the links between people with similar objectives and is manifested in local groups, such as guilds, mutual-aid societies, sports clubs, and mothers' groups. Bridging describes the capacity of such groups to make links with others that may have different views, and linking describes the ability of groups to engage with external agencies, either to influence their policies or to draw on useful resources.
But do these ideas work in practice?
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I think, yes (cf this thread for instance, as regards gold for instance;). And if not, what's the alternative suggestions? |
