Land Resources in Darfur Region, Sudan : Prisoners' Dilemma or Coase Outcome?

This article tests institutional models of environmental pressure, for example, the Tragedy of the Commons, against evidence from Darfur region, Sudan. Three aspects are considered in detail: rangeland degradation, rangeland enclosure and the implicit rent gained from range destocking. A methodology to estimate the latter is presented and demonstrated using survey data. It is concluded that strong circumstantial evidence of a Tragedy of the Commons - famine, drought and insecurity - is misleading. Social institutions such as land tenure are both adapted to the existing resource endowment and flexible enough to accommodate changes in it