Vol. 122: Einfeldt, Tania: Livelihood and Collective Action in Sustainable Resource Management

Most poor, rural households in the Andean highlands rely on agricultural activities for their livelihoods. However, the majority lives in areas with low agricultural potential and on degraded land. Their survival depends on natural resources, but the low quality of these resources forces the households to overuse and sometimes deplete them. Attempts by the government to establish strategies for the conservation of communal lands in highland peasant communities have not been successful. The overall output of this thesis are approaches to optimise the implementation of such strategies. This study analyses the reasons for the lack of success in the implementation of a conservation strategy for the case of the peasant community of San Antonio de Padua in Peru, through the understanding of livelihood strategies and collective action in the management of communal lands. The results show that local people have little opportunity to modify their livelihood strategies in order to include conservation activities in their everyday life. Moreover, the nature of collective action in the community is changing and the organisation receives little support from the local government. The existing strategy only contemplates environmental aspects. This gives little incentive for people to participate. In order to be successful, the strategy needs to also incorporate the economic, social, and institutional dimensions of sustainability. The approaches for optimal implementation of a conservation strategy involve the inclusion of programs directed to increase the income generation from agricultural activities, the empowerment of women in the community, the facilitation of inter-agency cooperation, the strengthening of the organisational and management skills of the community group, and the building of human and social capacities for effective participation and cooperation.