In this communication it will be shown that social inequalities within a given society do not constitute an insuperable obstacle to the establishment of new forms of management of renewable resources. It will indeed be demonstrated that these inequalities, which form dividing lines that, although unstable, are sufficiently clear-cut between individuals and strategic groups, do not in fact hinder changes in the way in which renewable resources are appropriated. They do not prevent the creation of public property, or of a new common property resource, or the emergence of the relevant management systems. Collective action is made possible by the formation of a farmer organisation which becomes the scene for confrontation of individual strategies (...]. This communication is based on a case study of a social group in Basse Casamance, Senegal, which ad to confront profound alterations in the way in which renewable resources were managed within farming systems that were undergooing major change, both climatic and social. This case study is a result of research work conduced on the basis of several periods in the fields between 1992 and 1997 with CADEF farmer organisation