Contemporary trends

Traditional societies developed rich, flexible legal systems that were well adapted to local circumstances. Indigenous law offered the population residing in a particular environment a range of suitable solutions that met their needs (Verhelst 1992). The garzinda wesh system provided a sustainable base for survival to the local people for almost 5 centuries in a conflictual tribal environment. On the other hand, in marginal areas communities' highest priorities were issues that carried the most immediate implications for their survival and wellbeing (Fussel 1995). Hence, there is a need for better quantitative information and assessment of the social and economic causes and consequences of land degradation (Sombroek 1996).

Village-based partial fixation of the garzinda wesh system started in 1919 in the upper and middle part of the Swat valley and was completed by 1929 (Sultan-i-Rome 2005), due to the interest of the wali of Swat. The Malakand Agency appeared as a separate administrative unit during 1895–1896 (Fatima and Batoor 2008); hence, such fixation could not be extended to the lower Swat valley, which was a separate administrative unit. Therefore, land distribution through drawing of lots was maintained in some villages of the lower part of the Swat valley (Swat Ranizai) and is still being practiced in some areas today, such as Allahdand Dheri, Khar, and Totakan. The system has both positive and negative implications, not only for soils but also for other natural resources such as forests and wildlife; moreover, it has a direct impact on the socioeconomic condition of the people, particularly the landowner group.

Indeed, the freezing of the garzinda wesh system on the one hand may provide new opportunities for medium- and long-term investment in agriculture and housing development (Taddese 2001), but on the other hand it may initiate conflicts over landownership elsewhere, either between villages or within villages (Kusters et al 2007), particularly among Pukhtun cousins (this main ethnic group occupied the area in the early 16th century). Moreover, the refusal of tenants in some southern parts of the valley to pay rent to the individual landowners, in an attempt to abolish circulatory land tenure, led to several armed encounters with bloodshed between the landowners and tenants, particularly during the late 1970s. Tenants in Malakand had organized themselves politically under the slogan of a peasant movement called Kissan Tehrik; freezing of garzinda wesh did not facilitate the position of landowners, who lost the unified stand they had had during circulatory land tenure.

In case of permanent distribution of land and rapid demographic growth, the land share available to individual households decreases to the extent that its cultivation is no longer economically viable. The lower farm income and seasonality in production for small landholders compel their youth to migrate to lowland cities and abroad to produce remittances. This causes remittance-dependent population explosion, further fragmentation of land, extension of cropland to marginal land, and labor force shortages during peak periods (Inam-ur-Rahim 2000). This in turn leads indigenous agriculture to gradually become a secondary to tertiary activity. Land is mainly viewed as a salable asset or a zone for future residential construction. Most of the accessible small parcels of fertile land available in the valley under permanent distribution are therefore increasingly encroached upon by concrete buildings, including residences and shops (Inam-ur-Rahim 2002). Being under circulatory wesh, the shoulgarey of Allahdand Dheri are the only large cultivated landscape left in the entire valley and may meet the same fate in the absence of appropriate land use planning after abolishment of the wesh system.

In the village of Allahdand Dheri, because of a conflict over reallotment of land in 1982, this system could not continue, and the people who had some land at that time still possess the same plots as allotted in 1978. Because they fear that these plots may be redistributed and despite the fact that they have possessed these land units for the past 30 years, they do not use it for any kind of construction, horticulture, or other perennial plantation. This leads to economic disadvantages for the individual landholding family. On the other hand, circulatory tenure may also offer an opportunity to develop a fully mechanical large-scale communal agricultural enterprise with profits for the different landowners according to their shares of land. This would be in line with collectivization trends in developed economies, if appropriately strategized as suggested by Ashutosh and Tadao (2001) for Japanese common-pool irrigation resources. The small and dispersed parcels of land resulting from permanent distribution may serve as salable assets or be covered by concrete buildings, but that use may lead to more effective investment in physical improvement, particularly of large pieces of land, leading to more economic benefit for the landholding households.

Conflicts and conflict management

As resource managers, landowners divided the landscape into sites comprising one to several soil series with different production capacities (Archer and Smeins 1991); hence, land division under garzinda wesh included different productivity zones. Such land zones were also differentiated according to slope and accessibility criteria (Pratt et al 1997). During distribution and reallotment, soil fertility is the main factor considered. A person with less fertile land, called kayeena, will receive extra land attached with what is called ewaz (benefit), which is 30% of the total leading to the possession of a large piece of land, whereas the person with fertile land, called gwariza, receives a small land share.

Such zoning at one time promoted equity in distribution of the benefits within a longer time frame, but it has now become a cause of conflict. Currently some people who have large plots of land and are presently occupying gwariza land are not interested in khasanray, nor are those who now have a large plot in the form of kayeena and must expect a small piece of gwariza after reallotment interested in khasanray. People with a small plot of gwariza expecting a large piece of land in reallotment, or people with a maximum plot where they can grow maize and minimum land for rice, are interested in khasanray. Similarly, people presently allotted land along the roadside are not interested in the redrawing of lots, while those at a distance from the road also favor redistribution of land. All the people interviewed are therefore looking to their personal interest and not to the collective advantage or disadvantage of circulatory tenure.

In 1982 the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) passed a 66 kV electric line through the land under circulatory distribution and paid Pakistan Rs 30,000 (approximately US$ 500) per pole to each landowner. The WAPDA people were unaware of the situation and paid the money to the shareholders who held the land when the electric poles were erected. Later, during reallotment in 1988, people who were supposed to receive the land with electric poles in reallotment asked for a share in the paid money of Rs 30,000, but the previous possessors were not willing to pay. This led to postponement of khasanray. When the people met again in 1998, the stakeholders who had been paid showed their willingness to repay the Rs 30,000 they had received for further distribution. In response, the people who were expecting their share asked for provision of the money according to the inflation rate of the previous 10 years. This request led to division among landowners on the issue of redistribution. In Dheri, khasanray took place, and in Allahdand, those involved are still in conflict.

This conflict can negatively affect natural resources, as revealed from a study conducted in Indonesia, where a conflict arose in 1998 on land tenure between local communities and tree plantation companies, and also between local communities and the forestry department. The hazard appeared in the form of unwanted fires and forest degradation-related smoke and gas emissions, leading to environmental and economic losses (Suyanto 2006). Another study regarding common property was conducted in Ethiopia; it concluded that this regime was good for conservation of natural resources and people's livelihoods (Zelealem and Williams 2005) and led to a conflict-free situation. However, in Zimbabwe conflict emerged on communal property during the post-independence period as of 1980. The indigenous system was continued for about 20 years, which put pressure on land and other natural resources, and was ultimately changed as a result of a peasant movement in 2000. The reallocation of the communal land led to a lifting of the burden on natural resources and an improvement of the socioeconomic condition (Moyo 2005). Individual property ownership has also been supported by Liu et al (2004), who studied the impact of management change that took place in 1970, wherein an attempt was made to put responsibility on households and shift from the collective farming system to individual family farms. An increase in the yield was observed with a decrease in soil fertility, for which proper use of fertilizers was suggested.

People's attitude toward khasanray

Due to the temporary nature of the availability of irrigated land (10 years), no construction of any kind of building can take place on it. In this way, construction on rainfed land continues, and people are deprived of one kind of asset (rainfed land); however, the ban has also prevented conversion of the most fertile land to concrete surfaces, though it is an impediment to the socioeconomic development of the stakeholder communities. As observed in Maya, Belize, the land tenure system (60% of the population have no ownership) in combination with limited availability of agricultural land, the low level of investment in agricultural production, and limited marketing opportunities are the main reasons for forest degradation. The study was in support of permanent ownership (Levasseur and Olivier 2000).

This system also discourages long-term “green” activities such as agroforestry or horticulture (Kakembo 2001). On the one hand it affects the socioeconomic condition of the people (Dale 1997), and on the other hand it has an impact on the availability of fuelwood. The maize-growing (jewardara) land is very much suitable for horticulture, with supplementary fuel obtained during pruning, but the lot-drawing system discourages such interventions. If the people in the area start using this land for horticulture, maize production will decrease 10–20%, but in return, the people will harvest fruit, which is economically more beneficial than maize. The same trend has been observed in the villages of Sandwip Upazila, Chittagong district (Momen et al 2006).

Another option that may help increase economic power in the area is developmental activities along the roadsides. Almost 15% of the land is permanently allocated, called serai, and mostly situated along the road. It is used for tourist activities such as cafés, generating more income than mere use for rice cultivation, while similar land under khasanray cannot be used. If the garzinda wesh is abolished, the remaining land situated on along the road will also be available to the people to improve their economic condition. This type of relationship is reflected in a study conducted in Benin, in western Africa, where land tenure was related to long-term commercial use of land. It was argued that as tenants, the landless are disadvantaged compared with landowners in terms of their ability to adopt agroforestry systems. This is due to a lack of land resources, tenure insecurity, and restrictions in planting perennial crops. State interventions and conflicts between farmers and pastoralists further limit land tenure security of the rural population and thus reduce the willingness of peasants to invest on a long-term basis and to protect natural resources (Neef and Heidhues 1994).

A further problem detected by the study was the following: people tend not to take into consideration the problem of erosion due to floods (Figure 3). Rather, they cut the steel wire used in the embankment as a net and use it for fishing or other personal needs, hence exposing the protected land to flooding. Besides, deforested mountains are not only contributing to erosion but also leading to habitat loss. In this way, agricultural land (both rainfed and irrigated) is under continuous threat of erosion. Due to communal tenure conflicts, the mountains have been severely degraded. Rehabilitation of degraded lands is, however, a complex and long-term issue and requires integration of various technical, social, and political concerns (Atiq-ur-Rehman 1997). Various organizations have engaged in rehabilitating these mountains (Lubna 2001). But insecure tenure along with heavy pressure in terms of fuelwood collection is limiting effectiveness. To bring sustainability to reforestation and afforestation activities, it is important to encourage agroforestry (Zubair and Garforth 2006) and horticulture on both rainfed and irrigated land. Kerosene oil, LPG cylinders, and recently natural gas were introduced in the area with the idea of decreasing the pressure on fuelwood. These alternative sources of energy have proven beneficial for the environment.

The suspended sediment load in the river Swat, according to the WAPDA (Lahore record), was 2207.53 t/day in 2001. This figure increased to 10,754.18 t/day in 2002 and 41,458.49 t/day in 2003. The average daily discharge was 137.81 m³/s, 152.77 m³/s, and 186.72 m³/s for the years 2001, 2002, and 2003, respectively. This ever-increasing suspended sediment load is a clear indicator of soil erosion attributed to deforestation, partly contributed by garzinda wesh.