Management of mountain forest and pasture resources in Albania: Local control and tenure security in a post reform economy

This dissertation elucidates current use and management of forest and pasture resources surrounding two Albanian mountain villages representative of those with high poverty levels and extensive land degradation. It examines the effect of land tenure security and local control on these patterns and processes. Using comparative case study method, fifteen and nine families in villages Gjinar and Pobrat respectively, were interviewed in depth over a five and one half month period. Interpretive analysis of qualitative data was done. Some data is presented in table form.Several theoretical concepts guide this study. The land tenure status of rural lands in transitional economies and its relationship to management of and investment in the land is the basis of many family agricultural and natural resource decisions. Another important concept is sustainability in land management, and its local definition and applicability. The concept of open access is examined, and the existence of open access to grazing resources is questioned.The major findings are that whereas the two study villages differ in use and management, both show a re-emergence of traditional land law (that in existence before cooperative farming of the socialist era). One village exhibits informal protection of ancestral family land from permanent uses by others. The other village has shown stronger re-instatement of traditional law by first reclaiming ancestral crop land in 1991, and second by re-instituting traditional management of pasture lands.Two institutions in the study site show promise for protection of the resources. One is the traditional management of pasture, which is a locally initiated institution, and the other is a government project known as the Komunal Forest and Pasture Project (KFPP). The author recommends expansion of both institutions into community forestry models. Another recommendation is the acknowledgment and legal support by the Albanian government of the local traditional pasture management institution. Also recommended is collaboration among the Ministry of Agriculture, the Immovable Property Registration System and the KFPP to address difficult land tenure issues arising within the KFPP.