Customary laws : governing natural resource management in the Northern Areas

Customary laws, established by communal practice and usage for generations and passed down through oral tradition, are familiar, effective and continue to be practiced to a greater or lesser extent throughout the Northern Areas. And yet few of them have been documented so far. The objective of this survey and analysis was to draw out and understand the issues at the interface of customary laws governing the use and management of natural resources in the Northern Areas and statutory laws applied for the same purpose.