Abstract
ABSTRACT Much of rural Myanmar remains under local Customary Tenure Systems (CTS), particularly in upland ethnic areas. Yet CTS lack legal recognition and are increasingly vulnerable to appropriation. This paper examines how, since 2016, communities and civil society organisations (CSOs) across Shan State have organised to document their CTS as a basis for advocacy. Findings confirm CTS remain prevalent and valued, but communities are experiencing increasing pressure, through both gradual erosion, and direct appropriation. Communities and CSOs demand statutory recognition and protections. CTS defence is perceived as a priority element of a wider political process against coercive adverse incorporation and for self-determination.
Highlights
Almost two thirds of the earths’ land area is estimated to be under some form of local control, management and use through one customary tenure system or another (RRI 2015; RRI forthcoming)
This research project became a vehicle for this diverse collection of local groups to explore working together in a context marked by powerful divisive forces, and to some extent, to experience overcoming fragmented patterns of grassroots social mobilisation by uniting diverse ethnic groups into a joint state-level collective campaign aimed at achieving meaningful statutory recognition, sovereignty and self-determination (TNI 2019)
Village level resource governance systems in Shan State have evolved, based on customary tenure systems in which village-level self-governance authorities allocate rights and regulate the use of village resources according to cultural traditions, often exemplifying aspirations of equity and sustainability, in some cases maintaining forms of gender and generational discrimination, in other cases adapting to the times
Summary
Almost two thirds of the earths’ land area is estimated to be under some form of local control, management and use through one customary tenure system or another (RRI 2015; RRI forthcoming). This paper applies this framing to examine a process of constructing customary tenure recognition ‘from below’ in Shan state This area characterised by high ethnic diversity and complexity of historical conflict (both armed and unarmed) exacerbated in turn by accelerating political-economic change marked by a combination of expanding capitalist social relations in agriculture, natural resource extraction (e.g. logging, mining), and increasing large infrastructure and development projects. This research project became a vehicle for this diverse collection of local groups to explore working together in a context marked by powerful divisive forces, and to some extent, to experience overcoming fragmented patterns of grassroots social mobilisation by uniting diverse ethnic groups into a joint state-level collective campaign aimed at achieving meaningful statutory recognition, sovereignty and self-determination (TNI 2019) This process exemplifies what we may call ‘Collective Action Research’: a process deliberately intended to support and build collective action through research interactions. We share some of the key findings from the research, before concluding with some forward-looking reflections about the process and its significance
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