ABSTRACT
Sustainability has become a catchword for ‘visions’ of the future that seek to build resilient cultural and natural communities and institutions. Sustainability, particularly given its association with development, is not an unproblematic objective. In particular, for many indigenous peoples and local communities,2 whose access to land and resources has traditionally been associated with race and cultural identity, the capacity to build viable futures is premised upon retaining and enhancing communally held land and resources (Borrini-Feyerabend 2004). On the other hand, there are strong pressures operating through globalization, and in locally oriented land policies, to renounce communal holding in favour of an individualized form of ownership. Individuated ownership is seen as the key to providing property related protections to individuals, thereby allowing freedom of choice and a basis for entrepreneurial success (Hughes and Warin 2005). These positions represent two ends of a spectrum. Indeed, current debates over the respective merits of individual title or communal lands retrace similar oscillations across many cultures and historical periods, and reinforce the central significance of the ‘land and resource question’. In this regard, this volume comprises a collection of case studies, analyses and evaluations of changing models of communal property, law and titling systems that are emerging as the vehicles governing access to land and resources globally, regionally and locally.
