Anantha Kumar Duraiappah

Land Tenure and Conflict Resolution: A Game Theoretic Approach in the Narok District in Kenya

Many conflicts in numerous parts of the developing world can be traced to disputes over land ownership, land use and land degradation. In this paper we test the hypothesis that differences in knowledge structures on land tenure and market systems between different leaders within these countries has caused marginalisation of some leaders by the others. A sustained process of marginalisation driven by this inequality has caused the disadvantaged to revolt, resulting, in many cases, in violent clashes. In this paper we develop a game theoretic model to test our hypothesis by analysing the complex interdependencies existing among the various leaders in the Narok district in Kenya. Violent clashes have been increasing in the district since the first outbreak in 1993. Preliminary results seem to confirm our suspicion that differences in knowledge structures among the various leaders in over land and agricultural markets might have been the catalysts of these conflicts. In order to reduce these discrepancies, we recommend two institutional reforms. The first involves the adoption of a hybrid land tenure system whereby land ownership is based on individual titles, while the use and sale of the land is governed by communal rules established by a community participatory process. The second recommendation involves the formation of an information network comprising all leaders, with the main objective to provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information pertaining to land use options and the opportunities offered by the market system.

Issues in production, recycling and international trade: analysing the Chinese plastic sector using an optimal life cycle (OLC) model

In this chapter, we shall use the conceptual model presented in the previous chapter to capture the life cycle of the plastic sector. We use the term life cycle here to introduce the notion of recycling within a sector. Recycling is now considered a key strategy for alleviating the pressures of human activities on the environment.

Farm Permits and Optimal Shrimp Management in Thailand: An Integrated Inter-Temporal and Spatial Planning Model

In the last two chapters, we were primarily interested in computing the environmental costs caused by sectoral planning strategies. The issues were related to industrial pollution and ways by which this could be minimized. These problems in the environmental literature are termed “brown” issues.

Sectoral dynamics and natural resource management

Abstract In order to analyze, understand and prescribe natural resource management strategies, the decision making framework should ideally capture the dynamics of inter-dependency between the economic and ecological systems in an integrated manner. However, the inclusion of two complex systems within a single integrated framework makes many of the present analytical tools redundant. Computational sectoral models on the other hand are ideally suited to meet this challenge. In this paper, I present an integrated sectoral model for the shrimp sector in Thailand. The paper describes how the dynamics of economics and the natural system are captured and the complexity that arises from this integration. Some preliminary results demonstrate how sectoral strategies can change when the environmental costs of sectoral strategies are taken into account during the planning stage.

Sustainable Livestock Management in the Kalahari

Like the previous chapter this chapter gives a description of an economic sector that is heavily dependent on the natural resource system for its productivity and sustainability: the livestock sector. The livestock sector is an important income generating sector for many developing countries. However, the sector is also known to cause much of the land degradation that occurs in many of these countries. Overstocking as well as overgrazing have caused serious problems of land degradation and desertification in semi-arid lands.

Investing in Clean Technology: An Exercise in Methodology

In the last two decades, pressure on policy makers to incorporate environmental variables in project evaluation studies has been steadily increasing. As the negative externalities of industrialization processes increase with the rate of industrial growth, the environmental implications of this build up are becoming increasingly evident. The primary reason for the increasing visibility of the environmental degradation caused by industrial activity is the cumulative weakening of the cleansing and absorptive properties of the natural system — the diminishing carrying capacity of the ecological system. At the beginning of industrialization, when industrial activities spilled their undesirable wastes into the atmosphere, waters and land, the ecological system was able to absorb and neutralize the toxicity of these wastes. However, as the output of these products increased over the last few decades at exponential rates, rates which far exceeded the natural system’s rate of absorption and cleansing, the natural systems themselves were seriously damaged. This damage coupled with increased levels of waste generation, has acted to accelerate the rate of deterioration of these ecosystems.

Modeling Instrumental Rationality, Land Tenure and ConflictResolution

Full instrumental rationality and perfect institutions are two cornerstoneassumptions underlying neoclassical models. However, in the real world, thesetwo assumptions never hold, especially not in developing countries. In thispaper, we develop a game theoretical model to investigate if relaxations inthe full instrumental rationality and perfect institutions premise can explainthe conflicts that have been occurring between the various principals in theNarok district in Kenya with regard to land tenure and use.

The Economic and Environmental Impact of Waste Paper Trade and Recycling in India: A Life Cycle Approach with an Endogenous Input-Output Technology Matrix

The model presented in this chapter is another example of a life cycle approach to sectoral modelling. The sector we have chosen is the paper sector in India. The challenges and opportunities facing the Indian paper sector are similar to those facing the Chinese plastic sector as discussed in Chapter 4. However, there are two characteristics unique to the paper sector and the techniques of modelling these within a life cycle sectoral model are explained in this chapter.

A Generalized Integrated Economic-Environmental Growth Model

Growth models are useful tools for analyzing long term economic growth projections. These models are useful for understanding general causality relationships among a number of variables within an economic system. Traditional growth models tended to focus primarily on economic variables and their inter-dependency. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that there is a close relationship between the economic and ecological systems. The most prominent problem today that illustrates this close relationship is climate change. It is now well known and accepted that human activities over the last 100 years have contributed significantly to the increase of a number of gases that iincrease atmospheric temperatures throughout the globe.