naa a22 4500 51080604X CHVBK 20180411083418.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20130101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11625-012-0176-2 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11625-012-0176-2 The effectiveness of village bylaws in sustainable management of community-managed exclosures in Northern Ethiopia [Elektronische Daten] [Mastewal Yami, Wolde Mekuria, Michael Hauser] Communities in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, have established exclosures on formerly degraded grazing lands and other land uses to promote natural regeneration of plants. Village bylaws devised by communities govern the management of exclosures. We analysed the effectiveness of village bylaws that are used to manage exclosures in addressing forest degradation, resolving conflicts among users over natural resource use, and meeting high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures through enhancing revenue from sale of grass and dry wood. We collected data using qualitative methods during July and November 2008 in two villages of Tigray. The village bylaws mitigated forest degradation by facilitating users to have common goals in the management of exclosures, and resolved conflicts among users by using monetary sanctions including penalties. The village bylaws were not effective in meeting the high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures. In some cases, the enforcement of village bylaws was constrained by high social capital, which resulted in the negligence among users in exposing free riders. This indicates that high social capital does not always enhance communal resource management. Moreover, recurrent drought, shortage of fuel wood, and the growing number of landless youths in both villages constrained the effectiveness of village bylaws and further expansion of exclosures. Village committees should focus on addressing the low level of rule enforcement and minimise negligence among users of exclosures through developing a sense of responsibility among users rather than focusing on penalties. Springer, 2012 Closed areas nationallicence Communal forest nationallicence Institutions nationallicence Land degradation nationallicence Rules nationallicence Yami Mastewal International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia aut Mekuria Wolde International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Ban Nongviengkham, Xaythany District, P.O. Box 4199, Vientiane, Lao PDR aut Hauser Michael Centre for Development Research, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel Strasse 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria aut Sustainability Science Springer Japan 8/1(2013-01-01), 73-86 1862-4065 8:1<73 2013 8 11625 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0176-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-012-0176-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Yami Mastewal International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mekuria Wolde International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Ban Nongviengkham, Xaythany District, P.O. Box 4199, Vientiane, Lao PDR aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hauser Michael Centre for Development Research, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel Strasse 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Sustainability Science Springer Japan 8/1(2013-01-01), 73-86 1862-4065 8:1<73 2013 8 11625 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer