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Per KnutssonSenior lecturerEnvironmental social scienceSchool of Global Studies

Governing landscapes towards multifunctionality:

Contradictions, Tensions & Windows of Opportunities

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Multifunctional landscape (Forman & Godron 1995):

• A physical unit that fulfills several purposes (possess several functions) for society

• A landscape houses several spatial units that fulfill different purposes (different functions)

• Multifunctionality as a proper response to increasing demands (social, environmental, economic).

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Tensions related to multifunctional landscapes:

• De facto qualities or a new paradigm (overlap between multifunctionality & landscape)?

• Scaling-up or intersecting scales?• Synergies & interrelations or conflicts?

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Multifunctional landscapes: 3 research implications (Helming & Wiggering 2003)

1. Inventory of landscape functions and demands2. Analysis of interrelations between landscape functions and

identification of land use conflicts3. Addressing decision making processes to achieve

consensus on land use combinations

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What decision making processes are required to make land use combinations of multifunctional landscapes possible?

What are the political implications of multifunctional landscapes?

Multifunctional landscapes and governance:

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Two potential theoretical contributions

• Ostrom: Polycentric governance• Cleaver & Koning: Institutional bricolage

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Moving from Communal to Private:

The Institutional Dynamics of Land Tenure Change in West Pokot, Kenya

Per Knutsson & Laura SaxerForthcoming in Agrarian Change

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The Triple-L Initiative (Land, Livestock & Livelihoods

• Umeå University (Tropical forestry and Economics)• SLU (Livestock research)• University of Gothenburg (Qualitative social science)• Lund University (Quantitative social science)• Chalmers (Physical Resource Theory – Geography)• ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre)• ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)• University of Nairobi (Ecology, Economics)• JKUAT (Soil Science, Natural resource management)• VI Agroforestry• County authorities

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The Chepareria Case

• Privatization within a complex tenure system• A new constitution

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What are Institutions?

• Formal or informal ‘rules of the game’ that mediate relations between people and the environment and facilitate wider social relations and interactions

• Institutions are dynamic and change through the discursive as well as physical practices of a variety of actors in a constant process of interpretation, negotiation and contestation.

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Evidence from Chepareria

• The practice of enclosing land• The role of community elders• Land registration & administration• The emerging land market• New land-conflicts• Inequality

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Concluding reflections

• New, semi-formal, indigenous institutions• The dynamic functions and meanings of enclosures• The irrevocable nature of private title deeds• The new constitution as a new game rather than new rules