entitlements, commons and vulnerability in vietnam neil leary, start
TRANSCRIPT
Entitlements
• A. Sen, 1981, Poverty and Famines, an essay on entitlement and depravation.– “Starvation is the characteristic of some people
not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat.”
– Statements about starvation are statements about entitlements, not production
Case studies of Vietnam
• L.Q. Huy and N.C. Thanh. “An assessment of social vulnerability to climate change in a time of renovation.” Preliminary results from an AIACC project.
• N. Adger, M. Kelly and N.H. Ninh, Living with Environmental Change: Social vulnerability, adaptation and resilience in Vietnam.
Changes in entitlements
• Doi moi, policy of economic renovation– Privatize agricultural land– Dismantle cooperative system, and their
restrictions on markets for farm inputs, outputs– Labor market liberalized, more opportunities
but guarantee of employment lost– Mechanization of agriculture promoted
Changes in performance of agriculture sector of Vietnam
• Higher prices for farm outputs• Increased investment and other inputs to
agriculture, improved farm management• Dramatic increases in output• Diversification of livelihoods• Rising incomes• Underemployment of farm labor; migration of
male laborers for off-farm income• Income distribution becoming less equal
Common Pool Resources
• G. Hardin, 1968, The tragedy of the commons
• E. Ostrom and others, eds., 2002, The drama of the commons
Common pool resource
• Valued resource that can be used by more than one person
• Use by one person subtracts from what is available to others
• Subject to degradation from overuse
• Exclusion is costly
Changes in entitlements to mangroves
• Mangroves had been common property, managed by collectives– Relied on primarily by poorer households
• Transferred to private property– Beneficiaries generally the better off
households
• Privately owned mangroves converted to agricultural lands and shrimp farms
Consequences of privatizing mangroves
• Entitlements of poorer households decreased• Productivity of fishery degraded
– Incomes of poorer households reduced; capacity for coping, adapting reduced
• Entitlements expand for households allocated rights to mangroves– Incomes increased; capacity for coping, adapting
increased
• Distribution of income becoming less equal
Does growing inequality add to vulnerability?
• Inequality implies households less homogenous in their interests, perspectives– Diminished likelihood of successful collective action?
• Non-cooperative exploitation of fishery increased• Conflict over conversion/preservation of
remaining mangroves, access to fishery• Failure to continue investment in coastal
protection systems• But – informal credit unions developed
Giao Thuy exposed to climatic hazards
• June 1992 Typhoon Chuck
• June 1996 Typhoon Frankie
• September 1998 tropical depression