Abstract
ABSTRACT Understanding human decision making about resource use is the common denominator in effective conservation that hinges on local community involvement. Rational choice theory provides an avenue for better assessing individual-level decision making, but its ability to adequately explain community-level cooperation remains in question. Focusing on two culturally distinct populations residing in Tanzania, East Africa, I employ rational choice theory to test hypothesized relationships between the degree to which local wood resource value is discounted, and individual decisions regarding rate and selectivity of fuelwood extraction. I then relate variation in demonstrated valuation of fuelwood resources to the existence of working rules that monitor fuelwood extraction practices. I find evidence for population-level variation in future discounting of fuelwood resources, reflected in selectivity and rates of use. Evidence of rules that monitor fuelwood extraction practices did not, however, relate to future valuation of fuelwood resource, but rather to the cultural identities of the two populations.
Published Version
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