COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCE

Resource collectively owned and managed by a well-defined group of users. Irrigation systems, upland pastures and limited-entry fisheries are common examples. Ideally common property resources are governed by a common property regime (i.e. system of rights and duties which prevents over exploitation). Punishment for violating the commonly agreed rules may be severe, but management relies essentially on mutual trust among members of the user group and social pressure. In the face of rapid population growth and poverty, access rules to common property resources have often broken down.leading to their conversion into open access resources. Choudhury and Jensen (1997)