Christian du Saussay
CHRISTIAN DU SAUSSAY is Professor Of Law at the University of Nice in Nice, France.
Forestry legislation in tropical countries 50 years ago dealt mainly with regulations governing the extraction of forest products, primarily timber, for export. In the past two decades, however, these countries have slowly begun to adopt legislation on neglected areas such as user rights and forest resources. The issues involved are important, complex and sometimes even rather surprising.
AT A TREE NURSERY IN PAKISTAN rural people taking an active interest in reforestation
The idea that the forest is for the use of rural populations springs from an obvious feeling for social justice. However, there are also problems of land management, productivity and protection of the environment to be solved.
In the first place, the rural exodus to the large towns has to be checked. Overcrowding in shanty towns around the periphery of big cities creates enormous sanitary risks and can lead to social disorders and increased crime. If, in response, governments concentrate public investment in the capital cities or urbanized areas, this will serve only to intensify the rural exodus. Most of the difficulties caused by overpopulated agglomerations can be remedied only by offering rural people better living conditions.
Second, agricultural and forestry production must be increased. At present, this is not satisfying the needs of populations subject to unsettled demographic conditions. In addition, production is all too often diminished by deforestation, soil impoverishment and erosion. Besides the application of specifically agricultural techniques, possible means of improvement include large-scale forest development in the form of clumps of trees, thickets and anti-erosion plantations. However, this forest restoration cannot be achieved unless rural people take an active interest in it.
Protection of the environment can be seen as a means of increasing current soil productivity while guaranteeing the presentation of natural resources for the future. It also presupposes that those who are most directly involved in supporting the burdens and disciplines imposed by the protection of nature will benefit from it and understand its advantages.
Thus, from whichever aspect it is considered, the central point is the improvement of rural peoples' living conditions, in particular by access to forest resources. The same conclusion could be reached from another vantage point: that of the comparative evolution of populations in Europe and in the Third World. In Europe, the population expansion, which started at the end of the eighteenth century, is the result of a simultaneous development of technical capacity in the agricultural, industrial and medical fields.
In the Third World, population expansion appears to result mainly from a reduction in mortality because of the intervention of medicine. Other fields, especially agriculture, failed to keep up with medical advances. Thus, the only possible outcome was general impoverishment with its attendant troubles. It is therefore important to regain an equilibrium, particularly by increasing agricultural and forest production.
This objective certainly falls within the area of responsibility of the State. All countries have prepared "development plans" for themselves, supposedly to benefit rural people as much as anyone else. However, experience shows that there is a large gap between the assets derived from the exploitation of a natural resource and any returns to the rural communities. Without citing examples of the misuse of public funds, it is no exaggeration to say that the proportion of revenue allotted by governments to rural development is often inadequate or unproductive.
If the economic channels favoured by the State involve too much waste, it is logical to conclude that they must be curtailed. Accordingly, it would seem opportune to organize the development of rural communities on the basis of resource utilization without waiting for the State to exploit these products and direct the benefits back to rural communities. The problem then is to ascertain to what extent legislation can encourage such a policy.
In the history of all peoples, forests have provided their residents and those living nearby with the means of subsistence, governed by customary rights that legislators have endeavoured to limit. In Europe, production of wood had first to be guaranteed for national needs, particularly those of the navy, and then the liberal principle of private property, or the rational utilization of the forest heritage, had to be respected.
The legislation adopted for tropical countries has been based on the same assumptions. If the evolution of such legislation over the last 50 years were to be studied, it would undoubtedly demonstrate, particularly in Africa, how forest law is initially adopted as a sort of "mining law" covering the extraction of products intended for export, with a secondary role being assigned to customary use. Such legislation, by leaving too much liberty to concessionaires, resulted in the creaming off of the more valuable species and a waste of the resource. Today, unfortunately, it is no longer merely the most valuable trees that are endangered, but the whole forest.
The law reacted by regulating felling more strictly and by organizing the management of the forest patrimony. At the same time, it became clear that felled timber was not being purchased at its true value by the logging contractors. The old notion of "taxes" was replaced by that of "sale price", in the hope that this would bring prices closer to prevailing market values.
Further progress came about when foresters discovered the bitter fact that income derived from logging disappeared into the general budget of the State without the latter providing them with the necessary financial means for managing the forest. Thus, forest funds were established to guarantee the reinvestment of public money derived from the forest back into forestry.
The role of the forest in rural economy - a very ancient role, as evidenced by the continuance of user rights - has only recently become the concern of legislators. Some countries were pioneers in this field, and the idea has now become widespread, although legislative solutions are still being sought to enable forest resources to support rural development.
The term "forest resources" in the strict sense obviously covers products from the forest. Since a forest can be defined as a vegetal mass where trees predominate, these products would include forest wildlife. But forest laws usually recognize a much wider concept of the forest, which includes practically all areas in their natural state whether or not trees predominate. Moreover, wherever large-scale reforestation is not possible for lack of available land, forest administrations tend to follow a policy of establishing thickets or linear plantations in combination with agricultural or pastoral activities. However, this is not the place to debate whether such policies belong to forestry administration and legislation or to similar agricultural or soil conservation organisms. It should simply be noted that the products of tree species grown in combination with related activities should be included in the concept of "forest resources". In the final analysis, all living, land-based natural resources not considered agricultural or pastoral may be described as "forest".
To provide rural people with access to this resource, comparative law offers a whole range of possibilities that can be grouped under two headings, according to whether their purpose is merely to guarantee rural communities a share in forest resources or whether it is to involve them in the creation and management of such resources.
FOREST DWELLERS IN ZAMBIA finding the legal means for people and wildlife to coexist (a)
FOREST DWELLERS IN ZAMBIA finding the legal means for people and wildlife to coexist (b)
FOREST DWELLERS IN ZAMBIA finding the legal means for people and wildlife to coexist (c)
According to the distinction emerging from a comparison of texts, forest resources are shared whenever the law grants a fraction of them to rural communities without recognizing any rights to the communities or demanding any dues or services in exchange. With this assumption, forest resources can only be public owned or at least managed by the State. The share, which is therefore free of charge, can be allocated either in the form of income or as direct access to natural products.
AT THE WANKIE GAME RESERVE IN ZIMBABWE wildlife is a part of everyday lift
Forest revenues. The sharing of forest revenues is, in principle, for the benefit of rural communities and not individuals, to whom they can in part sometimes be indirectly distributed in the form of allowances in cash or in kind. One example is the granting of premiums to farmers for the support of other foresters working with them. Another, in Kenya, is the compensation provided by law for damage caused by wildlife. Such an institution is not very common. It is nevertheless a logical consequence of the principle of equality.
In encouraging the preservation of wildlife, the State subjects rural people to abnormal risks. It is, of course, to be expected that herons will raid fish ponds, that carnivores will carry off cattle and that monkeys will rob orchards. But equality is thereby disrupted to the detriment of the rural people. It is therefore legitimate to compensate them by giving an indemnity for the damage suffered. If the jurisprudence applied by the bodies responsible for ruling on compensation takes account of whether victims have taken the necessary precautions to protect their crops or cattle, this will be an incentive to farmers to adopt measures of passive defence against wildlife and therefore to cope better with its presence. It must be admitted here, however, that these indemnities and premiums, like the prizes for agricultural competitions, are of very little economic value.
The sharing of forest resources for the benefit of rural communities may mean either the allocation of income to local areas or particular community services that are paid for by logging contractors, income allocation can be applied in various ways. For example, in the United Republic of Cameroon the law entrusts the State with the management of forests belonging to communes. It also provides that the communes should receive a "communal fee" whenever their forests are utilized. The rate of this fee is fixed by the finance law.
In Kenya, according to an FAO report, part of the public revenue from hunting is handed over to county councils. This is not prescribed by law but constitutes an administrative practice intended to compensate for the burden on local populations maintaining a high density of wild animals. In each case, the State is obliged by law to hand over a minimum of revenue to local communities to be used for purchasing equipment for communal use. The effectiveness of the system in improving living conditions depends on the capacity of local administrators to use their funds to good advantage, and to avoid unproductive expenditure.
The second type of collective official aid is carried out through certain provisions in the specifications and conditions of forest utilization contracts. It is usually stipulated, for example, that forest roads and tracks built by the contractor will be open to all traffic, which is in itself a factor for economic improvement. Besides this, other obligations of a social type could be included in the contract, such as literacy classes or medical care centres, although it seems unlikely that such public-spirited suggestions would be agreeable to logging enterprises. It would be preferable to ask them to contribute to collective development through taxes or payments to specialized bodies.
Forest management legislation
Ethiopia Proclamation No. 192 of 1980, providing for the conservation and development of forest and wildlife resources, sections 2,5 and 6.
Honduras Law on the Honduran Corporation for Forest Development of 1976, article 24.
Kenya The Wild Animals Protection Ordinance 1951, article 63.
Peru Article 9 of the law on indigenous communities and agrarian development of the selva and selva-wood-lot regions In Peru establishes the composition of Indigenous communities. The Indian communities can organize themselves into Empresa comunal, Granja comunal and Cooperativa comunal y agraria de producción.
Republic of Korea Korean authorities saw the association of producers and consumers as the way to create a spirit of cooperation in forest management. See Bong Won Ahn's report to the Eighth World Forestry Congress, Jakarta, 1978, entitled Village forestry In Korea.
Senegal Decree No. 65-078 of 10 February 1965 setting out the forest code (regulatory part), articles 19, 20, 21 and 23.
Sudan See FAO wildlife and national parks legislation report to the Government of the Sudan, Document No. TA 3300, Rome. 1974, article 46.
United Republic of Cameroon
Ordinance No. 73/18 of 22 May 1973 establishing the national forest regulations, articles 5, 29 and 30. Also Decree No. 74/357 of 17 April 1974 providing for application of Order No. 73/18 of 22 May 1973 establishing the national forest regime, article 10.
Sharing of forest products. The sharing of forest products is implicit in the general acceptance of the principle of user rights, whether customary or traditional. Examples of user rights may be found in legislations all over the world. The principle, in fact, reflects a deep-rooted human conviction that the fruits of others' work should be respected as their property, but whatever nature offers freely may legitimately be appropriated. At present these rights are strongly established in Africa, but they were once even more widespread in Europe where, from medieval times, they applied not only to State forests but also to fields cultivated by individuals.
The obvious advantage of user rights is to make forest products immediately available to rural communities without the waste involved in dealing through middlemen. When the State can offer nothing better to improve the lot of rural people, then user rights constitute their most reliable resource.
The legal operation of user rights. In all legislation honouring forest user rights there is a common denominator composed of three different elements. First, user rights are limited to domestic consumption. Second, they are free and without charge, except in Senegal where users are asked to make contributions in exchange. Third, they are restricted by legislation, and it is here that the basic divergencies among countries appear.
The principle of limitation of rights has always existed, but its application has been highly variable. Sometimes limitations are merely a way to facilitate financial exploitation of natural resources, as, for example, when traditional hunting rights are denied in hunting territories and are given instead to safari companies for a fee; or when the law allows the possibility of suspending user rights in forests covered by logging contracts. Some legislation specifically prohibits this kind of situation. Senegalese law, for instance, states that "user rights of communities continue to be exercised in forest timber yards and under permits for felling or logging without the holders of these permits being able to claim any compensation".
Very often the limitations appear to be dictated by the need to protect certain species or their biotopes: for instance, limitations on the exploitation in national parks and natural reserves of certain forest species or animals. In this case absolute prohibition is not always necessary. In Senegal, the extraction of "protected forest species" and of "timber intended for construction or repair of houses" is subject to "the obtaining of a felling permit issued free of charge by the chief of the forest sector".
In the case of wildlife, one wonders whether the exclusion of "partially protected" species is not intended to reserve them for the sportsmen paying for hunting licences. Moreover, it is customary to allow only traditional hunting (with local traps, spears and arrows). Perhaps this is an anachronism which needs correcting. What is really traditional is not so much the methods of hunting used, but the fact that certain populations are obliged to go hunting for their food. Why impose methods upon them that are dangerous, uncertain, and in the case of traps - not at all selective? It would be much better, as in the Sudanese Government bill, for the director of the wildlife service to issue a "tribal hunting permit" to chiefs of local tribes or to villages, authorizing them to hunt with guns, under specific conditions, to provide for the needs of the community.
The social aspects of user rights. In order to impress upon a rural community the social value of user rights, the scope of rights can be regulated and their abolition made more difficult; compensation can be provided and more binding guarantees created in some areas. Studies show that although legislation always provides for limitations of user rights, it rarely does so in the interest of the users themselves.
Users can undoubtedly endanger forest ecosystems by drawing excessively on forest resources. Thus, if the State wants to conserve its natural resources, it must prevent their removal in any way that, in the long term, would lead to impoverishment of the rural communities. This is provided for by legislation in Senegal, which states: "The exercise of user rights... shall always be subject to the condition and possibilities of the forest and plant population. It can be suspended temporarily by decree of the Minister of Rural Economy in all cases where the forestry service considers it necessary to impose restrictions in order to safeguard the forest heritage."
With regard to the suspension of user rights, this power is sometimes left to the discretion of the Administration. If the effect of suppression is to deprive communities of important resources, the foreseeable effects should at least be evaluated before a decision is taken. The obvious procedure would be a public inquiry at which the interested parties are given a hearing. The law in the United Republic of Cameroon also allows the public to be informed prior to any forest classification or issue of exploitation permits. "The classification decree... must determine the character and extent of user rights and, if necessary, their suspension or revocation."
Lastly, it should be evident that when the exercise of user rights constitutes a community's only resource, as in the case of the pygmy tribes in Africa, that forest should be classified a "protected use zone". Within that zone only the exploitation activities compatible with a practical - and not merely legal maintenance of the contemplated user rights could be authorized. The decision to declassify such a zone would be reserved for the highest political authorities. Care should also be taken in order to prevent an increase in the number of users, which would exceed the capacities of the natural environment and deplete its resources.
The most direct way of guaranteeing the material survival of a rural community through user rights presupposes the presence of sufficient forest resources, and therefore is not a solution that can be applied to all regions.
When it is necessary to raise the standard of living of rural populations or to reconstitute a forest resource that no longer exists, other formulas need to be considered that involve these populations in forestry development.
Creation and exploitation of the forest resource. The means available to the State for involving rural inhabitants in the establishment and exploitation of the forest resource differ according to whether public or private lands are concerned. This distinction is very ambiguous in comparative law. Land statutes are highly varied but their legal interpretation does not always coincide with social reality. In Africa, for example, the rights of the person who has developed land may in practice sometimes be respected as much as those of the owner, while, according to the law, this is merely an "occupation" of land legally belonging to the State. Likewise, the traditional Roman concept of ownership of landed property is prevalent in Latin American law, but it is widely modified by the importance given to the "social function" of that same landed property.
By way of clarification, the comprehensive concept of "control of land" could be adopted as a common term that allows comparison. Control of land by a private person can cover a right of absolute ownership, but also a right of permanent use. Control of land by the State would imply that the latter might dispose of it as it wished without having to expropriate the land legally owned by private parties.
Lands under private control. At times the State's powers of action concerning the establishment of forest plantations or forest tree species in the agricultural or pastoral landscape are limited by private ownership rights. The ways of achieving the two objectives are, to a considerable extent, the same. They reside either in power of decision by the authorities or in incentives.
The authorities can decide to impose certain obligations upon private persons to do or not to do something, which means imposing constraint on private activity. If the constraint is carried further, it also permits unilateral modification of land structures.
Although it is inconceivable to impose on a private party the creation ex nihilo of a forest plantation, police control is used for management of private forests. The evolution of forest legislation tends to generalize the management plan system approved by the forest administration, or to subject clearing and cutting of forests to previous authorization.
In agroforestry activities, police control is present in both forest and soil erosion legislation and allows for prescribing the planting and maintenance of trees or plants for erosion prevention. The association of forest trees with agricultural crops is destined to develop whenever domestic fuelwood consumption rises because of population pressure. The result is a shrinking of the areas available for forestry. However, the law does not yet provide appropriate legal concepts and instruments to deal with this type of problem.
The concept of coppices is familiar in geography but is not sanctioned by law and applies only to rows of trees forming quick-set hedges. Legal criteria should be established for forest plantations in lines and in coppices. Should the definition of an agroforestry area take into account the numbers per hectare of some tree species and their method of planting, or the quantity of forest products that can be obtained from them?
At present the policing method can play only a limited role, because of such problems as the psychology of the farmers, their insufficient organization by the public services and the technical conditions of agriculture. Thus the method should preferably be characterized by an obligation to achieve results rather than by an obligation of means. Results have more respect for the farmer's freedom since they set him a goal to be attained without binding him in a strait-jacket of regulations. They are also easier to administer. In other words, it is better to prescribe the maintenance of a minimum of stands of a given species under particular conditions than to require a permit to cut off the smallest branch of a tree. In fact the most effective instruments of an agroforestry policy are those that rely mainly on incentives.
In the author's opinion, decisions by the authorities are more effective when they are needed to overcome obstacles caused by land structures or poor farming practices.
Changing ownership patterns. Land ownership patterns may obstruct a forest development policy in several ways. One problem might be the small size and irregularity of plots, for which the law provides several solutions.
The first consists in establishing compulsory groups that coordinate work or provide for joint management on behalf of all the owners. This presupposes a homogeneous use of the land.
The second, more radical, solution is provided by reallocation. In France, such operations are carried out through land management companies assigned to purchase lands on which they establish farms of various sizes that they then reassign to farmers. Purchase of lands can be effected by agreement or by exercise of preemptive rights.
Land imbalances of latifundia as against minifundia can be corrected by agrarian reform laws. They can also be used to put an end to legal forms of land tenure preventing rural development.
Thus, legislation in Cape Verde has abolished "sub-share-cropping" contracts which led to the proletarianization of farmers. However, the most suitable way of encouraging rural inhabitants to apply the proposed techniques is undoubtedly the Peruvian law of 21 May 1964 that defines agrarian reform as "an integrated, peaceful and democratic process intended to transform the agrarian structure of the country... replacing the latifundio and minifundio regime by a just land ownership, tenure and exploitation system that can raise its production".
Lastly, the law deals with failure by farmers to meet their obligations by temporarily suspending their rights. These rights can be transferred to the State when "land protection" is necessary, or else to a third party for cultivation. In any case, authoritarian procedures are ineffective unless they are combined with a system of incentives.
Incentives. Incentives can be aimed at two complementary objectives: to make agroforestry techniques available to rural inhabitants, and to encourage them to adopt those techniques.
The introduction of a network of nurseries and the establishment of distribution points for necessary materials and products, as well as advisory and extension services, are part of the first objective.
The best way to encourage rural people to put recommended techniques into practice is probably through experimental demonstrations, either on state farms or, better, by the peasants themselves volunteering to play a "pilot" role in their region.
Financial aid is another instrument of evolution. Fiscal exemptions can hardly be applied in regions where poverty makes it impossible to tax the people. On the other hand, organization of credit - which is sometimes practiced in a particularly abusive free form - is useful, provided the State has the financial resources for it.
Lastly, if the peasants are to be induced to go beyond the home consumption stage, their incomes should not be confiscated by intermediaries and there should be no inordinate fluctuation on the agricultural produce markets. These considerations have led the public authorities to intervene in the markets, to control distribution networks, and to encourage the establishment of distribution cooperatives.
On the whole, incentives should be conceived as transitional measures at the stage between hopeless poverty and relative affluence. They should not result in making the peasants permanent recipients of relief from the community. Their success depends to a large extent on the know-how of extension agents and on the adjustment of the proposed measures. Thus, the law should provide for the principle of incentives and set up those which come within the field of legislation, such as the organization of cooperatives or credit. However, regulations should be flexible enough to facilitate the establishment of practical procedures.
COLLECTING FIREWOOD IN A HONDURAN FOREST user rights is a widespread legal concept
Lands controlled by the State. When the State controls forest lands, it can transfer them to private parties or to other public bodies, in the form of either full ownership or "use ownership".
Rural development, as already mentioned, depends upon the ways of influencing private activities following such transfers. Although there are historical examples of the mass transfer of national forest domain to private ownership, it is not considered the most favourable way of maintaining forest cover or of promoting rural development. On the contrary, the policies applied are based on involving rural communities in the management and exploitation of forest over which the State retains control. Under such conditions it should be asked how rural communities are to be organized in order to be accepted as partners of the State; and, also, through what procedures they can participate in the implementation of forest policy.
Organization of rural communities. The organization of rural communities is primarily determined by the administrative divisions of the national territory, especially the commune. It may also have to take into account the historic rights that some populations have over their lands. In Peru, for example, 10 million hectares, or 14 percent of the national territory, are allocated by tradition to Indian communities. Less frequently, the development of rural communities will have to be conceived in such a way as to change habitat systems. The Mozambique authorities, for example, within the framework of land and forest reforms, have designed the aldeia comunal (village community), a community model intended to group in rural centres populations traditionally established in a dispersed habitat. In this model, the political organization of the new administrative district and that of the rural district involved in forest management would coincide.
This, however, is an exception to a widespread situation characterized by the autonomy of rural communities vis-à-vis the territorial administrative institutions. Their organization can be either monistic or pluralistic.
The Republic of Korea provides an example of a monistic organization comprising base structures integrated in a national pyramid. The Village Forestry Associations are grouped in Forestry Association Unions at the country level, while the Federation of National Forestry Association Unions is at the top of the pyramid.
There is only one forestry association per village. It groups the forest owners and local wood consumers and appears both as a cooperative for the management of private forests (which are small in size) and as a partner of the State for the management of State-owned or State-controlled forests.
Similarly, Ethiopia has adopted a system of communities including Peasant Associations and Urban Dwellers' Associations to which the State forests known as kebele are assigned.
When pluralism predominates, the legislation proposes several community organization formulas. The cooperatives or forest associations are, in legal terms, highly structured institutions. However, peasants do not always have the necessary skills to make them work properly and to keep the accounts of their reserve funds or to make statutory appointments. It is useful therefore to provide for simpler group forms or pre-cooperatives. In Honduras the social forest system integrates communities assembled in "work groups, cooperatives or other associative forms".
For Cape Verde a type of community has been proposed in which the forest administration enrols the members, distributes the tasks collectively and determines the distribution of products among the members.
It is essential that the legal form selected to organize rural communities be suited to their mentalities and abilities. Consequently, it seems preferable, in general, for legislators to allow different possibilities. Furthermore, the introduction of community structures in a traditionally individualistic environment should take place gradually, under the close control of the administration. If the experience is successful it will probably attract more people, thereby running into problems of quota between the resources allocated to a community and the number of its members. Consequently it will be necessary to establish membership criteria or priorities of candidates.
In tropical countries forestry legislation has left too much liberty to the concessionaires. Valuable species have been creamed off and resources wasted. Today it is no longer merely the most valuable trees that are endangered, but the whole forest.
Participation procedures. Rural communities can be given their rights by means of a contract concluded with the State or by the State's unilateral authorization: in all cases, rights are subject to the forest administration's control. The extent of the tasks assigned to them may vary considerably. As a minimum, they would act as auxiliary personnel of the public service. This is the case in the Republic of Korea, where in the State forests the village associations are assigned to carry out surveillance patrols or fire control. In exchange, they receive a part of the forest products. If the plantations established by the national forest services are not pillaged by wood thieves, destroyed by unauthorized grazing or burned, this is already considerable progress. Conversely, a community may be assigned exclusive rights over a forest which it will then manage collectively through its own management plan. Here, too, the degree of autonomy retained by the communities should be permitted to vary according to their capabilities and the state of their natural resources. It would be unwise for a country trying to control advanced desertification to place too much confidence in its rural communities. The historical experience of communal forests in Europe shows that decentralization is not the best guarantee for the permanence of a forest.
Whether rural communities are merely allowed to share forest products or whether they manage and exploit them, they will always need a national forest service to safeguard the resource and to guide their activities. Without risking failure, the responsibilities of the State in rural community development should not be reduced.
Instead, rural development requires a qualitative change from forest administrations. They need to acquire more knowledge about the operation of social processes in order to fulfil their new roles as advisers. They must learn how to disseminate production techniques and how to utilize products economically. Improvement of the living conditions of rural inhabitants also depends on reducing wood waste, especially in domestic matters. For example, since the Rwandese do not soak beans - which constitute the basis of their diet - they spend a long time cooking them and use vast quantities of wood. In areas such as these, where women are the most concerned, the advice of women agents recently recruited in forest corps is invaluable.
This expansion of the tasks of public services involves a certain financing capacity on the part of the State. In this regard, the establishment of forest funds appears to be the preferred instrument of a rural development policy. Through it, the traditional exploitation of productive forests can play a role in promoting community forests.
In all this, the legislator's role is extremely awkward. A compromise needs to be found between laxity giving rise to misuse and a paralysing rigidity. Social structures - which cannot be upset - need to be accurately assessed so that changes necessary to progress can be successfully made. A law is a work of synthesis and compromise. If it is badly designed, unsuited to the specific conditions of a country, it will, at best, end up in the legislative graveyard. The political support of those responsible for implementing the law is a vital factor.
