Property entitlements and land reform in upland Thai catchments

Issues involved in processes of land reform in degraded upland catchment areas in Thailand include property entitlements over local resource complexes, and the roles of local communities, State agencies and commercial stakeholders. An inquiry into collaborative action between stakeholders in an upland Thai catchment has been used as an example of the process of defining property entitlements to the bundles of opportunities for management. A processual view of property is used, in which interests are expressed as claims and ultimately translated into entitlements which specify rights to streams of benefits, and associated duties, in relation to particular resource complexes. This is developed in terms of the bundles of opportunities for collective and collaborative management in upland catchments, particularly in relation to common-pool resources. Soft systems methodology was used as a guide for a process aimed at identifying mutually beneficial improvements in management between village, agency and commercial stakeholders. The collaborative actions which have developed are all cases whereby particular bundles of property entitlements and related duties have been defined through a process of the expression of claims and identification of mutually beneficial arrangements. These have included: local collective management of a water supply; partnerships relating to elements of conservation and production within the local agroecosystems; and socially legitimate patronage to support formal protocols of land reform. This process is discussed in terms of the expression of interests and translation into entitlements through partnerships supported by multiple lines of social and bureaucratic legitimation.