THE ROLE OF INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS IN COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF COMMUNAL LANDS IN SILTIE ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Institutions are constituted by the rules governing the use of sounds for meanings and communication, likewise, systems of marriage or burial are institutions which vary greatly over time and place, their specific forms being shaped by the rules which govern them. Unemployment insurance systems, relations between genders or age groups, educational practices and provision, natural resource utilization and labour markets are also governed by rules, or institutional arrangements. However, the role of informal institutions is needed to be investigated. So, this study was conducted to assess role of informal institution in common property resource management in silte zone, southern ethiopia. For this study both primary and secondary data were used. In order to collect primary data; household survey focus group discussion field observation and key informants were used. The data were analysed using descriptive statistic of spss version 20 and MS excel version 200 and naration. The result shows that local communities in the study area has lower intuitional arrangement and less likely effective in punishing the who commit and over utilized the common property resource. This study found the major type of informal institutions in the study area are culture, debo, equb, idir, bylaws, elders punishment. In spite of the complexity and multifaceted nature of the problems, however, there is no quick and one-off solution to redress the threats being faced to study area. In order to reverse these emerging problems and conserve these fragile but crucial common property resources, integrated problem solving approach through realizing the collaboration of relevant stakeholders from policy level down to grassroots community is indispensible opportunity to common property resources.