Institutional Change in the Syrian Rangelands

Bedouin pastoral communities in West Asia and North Africa have developed different mechanism for coping with rainfall variability and seasonal feed resources (Masri 1991; Metral 2000; Nesheiwat 1991). Amongst these strategies, transhumance and nomadism were the most important production systems used by Bedouin communities to access feed and grazing resources in cropping areas and other rangelands located regionally, inationally or internationally Each of these grazing niches was, however, governed by sets of access and use rules and regulations that helped the affected communities mitigate the effects of feed shortages in their local pastures and ensure their livelihoods (Ngaido 2000). As such, the reliance on reciprocal institutional access-options for seasonal grazing was the dominant feature of these livestock production systems.