R esources Common property represents common property for the group. The underlying norm here is that members of the group have both rights and duties with respect to the nature, levels of use, and the maintenance of a given resource. Through mutual understanding and centuries of practice, many village communities in India, for example, have defined members’ rights and responsibilities. A combination of factors, including privatisation, agricultural intensi- fication, population growth and ecosystem degradation have caused common property to dwindle in size, quality, and availability to the poor in much of the world.
The institutional arrangement for the actual management of the sacred groves on state-owned forest land appropriately fits the description of a common property regime. Along the forest belt of South India, sacred groves have been traditionally managed by village communities.