I am looking for as much information as available on the web related
to the theory of how property rights help improve the environment. 
I'm looking for as many different views as possible on this approach,
from hardcore property rights advocates like those at PERC.org (don't
send me PERC stuff, I already know about it) to people like ecological
economists who focus on local, tribal, decentralized, or village
control of resources.

By property rights, I mean, local (tribal, village, or individual)
control of resources (like lakes, rivers, streams, land, and animals).

By environmental problems, I mean, pollution, resource depletion,
elimination of animals.

The answer should include as many links and pointers to people and
research as possible.  Do not distill the information for me.

Here's an example of how I'd like the information presented:

"Elinor Ostrom, professor of economics at Indiana University and
author of Governing the Commons, writes on property rights and the
environment. Link: http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/people/homepages/ostrom.html"



For an example of what I mean, see
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0509/feature7/learn.html where
the CAMPFIRE program gives local villagers the right to "own"
elephants, protect them, and then sell tickets to eco-tourists to view
them on safaris.

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 20 Jun 2006 15:36 PDT

Hi!

I would just like to know how many articles and people would be enough
as a legitimate answer? It seems that there are lots of resources out
there and it would help to know when we should stop.

Plus is it ok to present the information this way?

"TRIBAL RIGHTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON OUR CONCEPT OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN
THE NORTHWEST" by Mason D. Morisset
Morisset, Schlosser, Homer, Jozwiak, & McGaw
http://www.msaj.com/papers/TribalRights.htm

Thanks.

---

Clarification of Question by enviroquest-ga on 21 Jun 2006 10:15 PDT

That's a perfect way to present information, and a good item I had not
located..  20 individual items presented in that way would qualify.
I'm looking for online resources. Providing links to books I can by
from Amazon.com, for instance, does not look like.

---

Clarification of Question by enviroquest-ga on 21 Jun 2006 10:16 PDT

errr: "Providing links to books I can by from Amazon.com, for
instance, does not look work."

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Here the articles I found which fits your requirements.

1. "TRIBAL RIGHTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON OUR CONCEPT OF PROPERTY RIGHTS
IN THE NORTHWEST" by Mason D. Morisset
Morisset, Schlosser, Homer, Jozwiak, & McGaw
http://www.msaj.com/papers/TribalRights.htm

2. ?COMMUNITY SURVEY: Importance of Land and Value of Property Rights?
by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation
http://www.indianlandtenure.org/publications/survey_results.pdf

3. ?Property Rights on Imperial China's Frontiers? by Peter C. Perdue
of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://web.mit.edu/chinapolicy/www/seminars/10_22_04_frontiers.pdf

4. ?THIS LAND IS MY LAND, THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND: MARKETS AND
INSTITUTIONS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON NATIVE AMERICAN LAND? by Ezra
Rosser
http://www.law.arizona.edu/journals/alr/ALR2005/vol472/Rosser%20Final%20Essay.pdf

5. ?Environmental Regulations on Indian Lands A question of jurisdiction?
BY LYNN H. SLADE AND WALTER E. STERN
http://www.abanet.org/genpractice/f95regs.html 

6. ?ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT ON TRIBAL LANDS
Congressional Authority and Major Case Law? by Thomas P. Schlosser
Morisset, Schlosser, Homer, Jozwiak & McGaw
http://www.msaj.com/papers/envenforce.htm

7. ?Laws, Lore and Logjams: Critical Issues for Indian Forest
Conservation?, International Institute for Environment and
Development, Gatekeeper Series No 116, by Madhu Sarin, 2005
http://www.iied.org/NR/agbioliv/gatekeepers/gk_abs/documents/GK116.pdf

8. ?Indian Usufructuary Rights in Ceded Territories, Private Property
Rights and the Reach of State Regulation? by Stephen P. Dresch
http://www.forensic-intelligence.org/poldocs/usufruct.htm 

9. ?INDIGENOUS LANDS AS CULTURAL PROPERTY: A NEW APPROACH TO
INDIGENOUS LAND CLAIMS? by LINDSEY L. WIERSMA
http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dlj/articles/DLJ54P1061.HTM

10. ?Democracy and Property Rights in South Africa: The Land Issue? by Louise Tager
http://www.cipe.org/publications/fs/ert/e11/safr-1.htm

11. ?Collective Action and Property Rights for Sustainable Rangeland Management?
http://lada.virtualcentre.org/eims/download.asp?pub_id=94201&app=0

12. ?Fisheries and Aboriginals: The Enclosing Paradigm? by David Orton
http://ncseonline.org/nae/docs/fisheries.html

13. ?Native Americans and the Environment? by Dan Wildcat
http://ncseonline.org/nae/docs/ejrc.html 

14. ?THE ANTI-INDIAN MOVEMENT IN THE WISE USE MOVEMENT THREATENING THE
CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF INDIAN COUNTRY? by Rudolph C.
Ryser, Chairman of the  Center for World Indigenous Studies
http://www.halcyon.com/pub/FWDP/Americas/wiseuse.txt

15. ?Property Rights and Land Tenure?
http://www.fs.fed.us/research/sustain/documents/Indicator%2048/indicator%2048.pdf

16. ?The Klamath Basin crisis: A need for property rights? By John A. Charles
http://www.cascadepolicy.org/pdf/env/I_119.htm 

17. ?ADDRESSING INDIAN RIGHTS IN NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT DOCUMENTS?
http://www.fs.fed.us/hn/eco/ecotopic2/2-body.html 

18. ?Indigenous peoples? rights to lands, territories and resources:
selected international and domestic legal considerations? by Fergus
MacKay
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/007/y5407t/y5407t0g.htm

19. ?Tribal Whaling and the Makah Tribe: Why Treaty Whaling Rights and
Cultural Values Should Trump the Conservation Necessity Doctrine?
Stacey Goodwin, Law Student
Willamette University College of Law
Supervising Professor:
Professor Dean Richardson, American Indian Law
Willamette University College of Law
http://www.culturalheritagelaw.org/Tribal_Whaling.pdf 

20. ?Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Rural Development in
Tribal Areas: A Suggested Strategy for District Kinnaur in Himachal
Pradesh, India ? A Case Study? by Akbar S. Rawat
http://www.cirdap.org.sg/apjordjuly05/Natural_resources.pdf

21. ?Origins and Development of the Trust Responsibility: Paternalism
or Protection??
Mary Christina Wood
Professor, University of Oregon School of Law
http://www.law.uoregon.edu/faculty/mwood/docs/albequerque_trust_speech.pdf 

22. ?Case Studies of Tribal Wetland Programs?
http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/tribalprogram/chap3.pdf 

23. ?Colville Confederated Tribes Response to the NWPCC Independent
Science Review Panel?
http://www.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs/deis/eis0346/appendixH.pdf 

24. ?Property Rights, Salmon Husbandry, and Institutional Change Among
Northwest Coast Tribes? by D. Bruce Johnsen
http://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/papers/docs/00-14.pdf 

25. ?TRIBES, STATE, AND TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN ARID LAND MANAGEMENT,
SYRIA? by Rae, J., Arab, G., Nordblom, T., Jani, K., and Gintzburger,
G.
http://www.capri.cgiar.org/pdf/capriwp15.pdf 


Search terms used:
tribal tribes Environment "Property Rights" conservation -intellectual filetype:pdf
 
I hope this would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
                                                          
                              
Regards,                              
Easterangel-ga                              
Google Answers Researcher

I once heard that the Maori in New Zealand had a concept of property
ownership by individuals or families and thus understood the
colonials' offers to buy (?) land.  This was said to have been the
reason that settlement there did not lead to the conflicts common in
areas where the indigenous societies did not have such a concept.
But that was a long time ago and may have been a whitewashing of the true situation.

Thanks for the very generous tip! :)