1. Introduction: the role of institutions in the management of common pool resources -- 2. The Kafue Flats ecosystem: a rich floodplain in a semi-arid environment -- 3. A "fierce" people: ethnography of the Ila, Balundwe and Batwa -- 4. From Lozi raids to ineffective state control: the political economy of Southern Province and Zambia -- 5. Transformations in a pastoral commons: institutional change of cattle and pasture management -- 6. "We will throw the Lozi into the water": institutional change and conflict in the fisheries -- 7. From hunting to poaching: wildlife management from common property to de facto open access -- 8. Irrigation for the poor -- cattle for the rich? Contesting the institutional design of the floodplain -- 9. Conclusions: institutional change, bargaining power and conflicts.
Note
Print version record.
Summary
The Contested Floodplain explains how institutional change in the African floodplain wetlands of Zambia (Kafue Flats) caused the area's resource management to fail. This work combines New Institutionalism approaches (predicated on notions of power and ideology) with political ecology and findings from local ecological studies, extending its appeal to scholars in African and environmental studies. It includes an in-depth social anthropological analysis of agro-pastoral and fishermen communities and also a foreword by Dr. Elizabeth Cols.