Your search found 28 records
1 Sugden, Fraser; Gurung, G. 2012. Absentee landlordism and agrarian stagnation in Nepal: a case from the eastern Tarai. Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS). 106p.
Landlords ; Land tenure ; History ; Land reform ; Acts ; Land ownership ; Industrial development ; Villages ; Case studies ; Surveys ; Ground rent ; Investment ; Nutrients ; Irrigation methods ; Households ; Living standards ; Labour allocation ; Agricultural production ; Rice / Nepal / Eastern Tarai
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045096)
(5.42 MB)
2 Bharati, Luna; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane; Bastakoti, Ram. 2013. Water resources in Nepal and IWMI-Nepal strategy. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.47-51.
Water resources ; Water management ; Water availability ; Research institutes ; Rain ; Runoff ; Hydrology ; Water power ; Irrigation systems / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046110)
(6.60 MB)
3 Kuppannan, Palanisami; Sugden, Fraser. 2013. Improving the rural livelihoods through the development and management of smallscale water resources of East India and Nepal. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.65-67.
Water management ; Groundwater development ; Rural areas ; Living standards ; Agriculture / East India / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046112)
(6.60 MB)
4 Sugden, Fraser. 2013. Land tenure and its effect on water management in Bihar [India] and Nepal. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.74-75.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046114)
(6.60 MB)
5 McCornick, Peter; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Bharati, Luna; Johnston, Robyn; McCartney, Matthew; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane; McIntyre, Beverly. 2013. Tackling change: future-proofing water, agriculture, and food security in an era of climate uncertainty. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 36p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2013.213]
Climate change ; Water resources ; Water management ; Water productivity ; Water governance ; Water storage ; Groundwater recharge ; Aquifers ; River basins ; Irrigation schemes ; Agriculture ; Rainfed farming ; Food security ; Health hazards ; Malaria ; Soil moisture ; Gender ; Women ; Environmental flows
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046223)
(2.20MB)
6 McCornick, Peter; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Bharati, Luna; Johnston, Robyn; McCartney, Matthew; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane; McIntyre, Beverly. 2014. Afrontar el cambio: Cuidar del agua, de la agricultura y de la seguridad alimentaria en una era de incertidumbre climatica. In Spanish. [Tackling change: future-proofing water, agriculture, and food security in an era of climate uncertainty]. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p. [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2014.216]
Climate change ; Water resources ; Water management ; Water productivity ; Water governance ; Water storage ; Groundwater recharge ; Aquifers ; River basins ; Irrigation schemes ; Agriculture ; Rainfed farming ; Food security ; Health hazards ; Malaria ; Soil moisture ; Gender ; Women ; Environmental flows
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046664)
(2 MB)
7 Sugden, Fraser; Punch, S. 2014. Capitalist expansion and the decline of common property ecosystems in China, Vietnam and India. Development and Change, 45(4):656-684. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12103]
Ecosystems ; Living standards ; Households ; Economic aspects ; Income ; Natural resources ; Industrialization / China / Vietnam / India / Shaoguan / West Bengal / Buxa / Phu Yen
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046671)
(0.52 MB)
This article identifies some of the multiple processes of capitalist development through which access to common property resources and their utility for communities are undermined. Three sites in upland Asia demonstrate how patterns of exclusion are mediated by the unique and selective trajectories through which capital expands, resulting in a decline of common property ecosystems. The process is mediated by economic stress, ecological degradation and political processes such as state-sanctioned enclosure. The first case study from Shaoguan, South China, indicates how rapid capitalist industrialization has depleted the aquatic resource base, undermining the livelihoods of fishing households yet to be absorbed into the urban working class. At the second site, in Phu Yen, Vietnam, capitalist development is limited. However, indirect articulations between capitalism on the lowlands and the peasant economy of the uplands is driving the commercialization of agriculture and fishing and undermining the utility of communal river and lake ecosystems. In the third site, Buxa in West Bengal, India, there is only selective capitalist development, but patterns of resource extraction established during the colonial period and contemporary neoliberal ‘conservation’ agendas have directly excluded communities from forest resources. Restrictions on access oblige them to contribute subsidized labour to local enterprises. The article thus shows how communities which are differentially integrated into the global economy are excluded from natural resources through complex means.
8 Punch, S.; Sugden, Fraser. 2013. Work, education and out-migration among children and youth in upland Asia: changing patterns of labour and ecological knowledge in an era of globalisation. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, Special Issue. 18(3):255-270. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.716410]
Globalization ; Children ; Youth ; Households ; Labour productivity ; Women ; Economic aspects ; Education ; Ecology ; Agriculture ; Living standards / Asia / India / Vietnam / China / Da Krong / Buxa / Shaoguan
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046674)
(0.15 MB)
In the context of ecological and economic change, this paper identifies the impact of ongoing transformations in young people's labour contribution in four natural resource-dependent regions in India, Vietnam and China. Children's work is important to maximise household labour productivity, while also endowing them with the ecological knowledge necessary to sustain key productive livelihood activities. However, today, an increased emphasis on education and the out-migration of youth is reducing their labour contribution, particularly in the more economically developed case study communities in Northern Vietnam and China. While selective in its extent, these changes have increased the labour burden of older household members and women, while the economic opportunities young people aspire to following schooling or migration frequently prove elusive in a competitive liberalised economy. Another implication of young people diverting their labour and learning away from traditional natural resource-based livelihood activities is the loss of valuable ecological knowledge.
9 Sugden, Fraser; Shrestha, L.; Bharati, Luna; Gurung, P.; Maharjan, L.; Janmaat, J.; Price, J. I.; Sherpa, Tashi Yang Chung; Bhattarai, Utsav; Koirala, S.; Timilsina, B. 2014. Climate change, out-migration and agrarian stress: the potential for upscaling small-scale water storage in Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 38p. (IWMI Research Report 159) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2014.210]
Climate change ; Water storage ; Ponds ; Tanks ; Migration ; Water availability ; Gender ; Women farmers ; Agrarian structure ; Hydrology ; Models ; Economic aspects ; Political aspects ; Social aspects ; Land management ; Property rights ; Case studies / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046684)
(2.09 MB)
Climate change could have a critical impact on agriculture in Nepal due to dry-season water shortages, and changes in the variability of water availability and associated uncertainty. This makes water storage systems (most notably ponds and tanks) increasingly important. This report explores the potential role of small-scale water storage infrastructure in two subbasins within the larger Koshi River Basin in central and eastern Nepal, yet shows that upscaling such infrastructure requires an appreciation of the other drivers of change in agriculture aside from climate (e.g., rising cost of living and poor terms of trade for agriculture). It also identifies the social relations and dynamics (distribution of land, water and labor) which could mediate the success of future interventions. It is clear from the research that, while small-scale water storage has the potential to significantly strengthen livelihoods in the Nepali hills, it is necessary to tailor projects to the existing political-economic context.
10 Sugden, Fraser; Maskey, Niki; Clement, Floriane; Ramesh, V. 2014. Agrarian stress and climate change in the eastern Gangetic Plains: gendered vulnerability in a stratified social formation. Global Environmental Change - Human and Policy Dimensions, 29:258-269. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.10.008]
Climate change ; Gender ; Women ; Farmers ; Political aspects ; Economic aspects ; Social aspects ; Households ; Income ; Land ownership ; Tube wells / South Asia / India / Nepal / Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046710)
(0.89 MB)
This paper reviews the complex impact of climate change on gender relations and associated vulnerability on the Eastern Gangetic Plains of Nepal and India. Field research has identified that gendered vulnerability to climate change is intricately connected to local and macro level political economic processes. Rather than being a single driver of change, climate is one among several stresses on agriculture, alongside a broader set of non-climatic processes. While these pressures are linked to large scale political–economic processes, the response on the ground is mediated by the local level relations of class and caste, creating stratified patterns of vulnerability. The primary form of gendered vulnerability in the context of agrarian stress emerges from male out-migration, which has affected the distribution of labour and resources. While migration occurs amongst all socio-economic groups, women from marginal farmer and tenant households are most vulnerable. While the causes of migration are only indirectly associated with climate change, migration itself is rendering women who are left behind from marginal households, more vulnerable to ecological shocks such as droughts due to the sporadic flow of income and their reduced capacity for investment in off-farm activities. It is clear that policies and initiatives to address climate change in stratified social formations such as the Eastern Gangetic Plains, will be ineffective without addressing the deeper structural intersections between class, caste and gender.
11 de Haan, Nicoline; Sugden, Fraser; Schreiner, B.; van Koppen, Barbara; Mapedza, Everisto; Curnow, Jayne; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Clement, Floriane. 2014. Social inclusion. In van der Bliek, Julie; McCornick, Peter; Clarke, James (Eds.). On target for people and planet: setting and achieving water-related sustainable development goals. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.24-27.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046797)
(402 KB)
12 Sugden, Fraser; de Silva, Sanjiv; Clement, Floriane; Maskey-Amatya, Niki; Ramesh, Vidya; Philip, Anil; Bharati, Luna. 2014. A framework to understand gender and structural vulnerability to climate change in the Ganges River Basin: lessons from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 50p. (IWMI Working Paper 159) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2014.230]
Climate change ; Adaptation ; Gender ; River basins ; Economic aspects ; Income ; Microfinance ; Social structure ; Political aspects ; Labor ; Health hazards ; Risk management ; Waterborne diseases ; Natural disasters ; Education ; Living standards ; Poverty ; Households ; Agriculture ; Collective action / Bangladesh / India / Nepal / Ganges River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H046843)
(680 KB)
As climate change becomes accepted as a reality in the scientific community, it is critical to continue to understand its impact on the ground, particularly for communities dependent on agriculture and natural resources. This report reviews the extensive literature on the vulnerability to climate change in South Asia, with a focus on gender. It highlights how vulnerability is intricately connected to existing social structures. With respects to gender inequalities, the report reviews how men and women are affected in different ways by climate shocks, while differing access to resources and cultural ideologies mean that their capacity to ‘adapt’ is also not equal. The report also notes the importance of other axes of inequality (caste, class and ethnicity) in shaping gendered vulnerability. It concludes by offering insights into potential ways forward to promote more equitable adaptation to change through improved policies and practices.
13 Sugden, Fraser. 2013. Pre-capitalist reproduction on the Nepal Tarai: semi-feudal agriculture in an era of globalisation. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(3):519-545. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2013.763494]
Agricultural economics ; Capitalism ; Globalization ; Social participation ; Political aspects ; Feudalism ; Markets ; Land tenure ; Land reform ; Households ; Case studies / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046791)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00472336.2013.763494
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046791.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046791.pdf
(346 KB)
This article highlights the continued significance of pre-capitalist formations in shaping the trajectory of economic transition in peripheral regions, even in an era of neo-liberal globalisation. There is a tendency for Marxist scholars to assume the inevitable “dominance” of capitalism over older modes of production. Using a case study from Nepal's far eastern Tarai, this paper seeks to understand the reproduction of feudal social relations in a region which is both accessible and integrated into regional and global markets. The paper traces the early subordination of indigenous groups to feudalism from the eighteenth century onwards, and the political and ideological processes through which these social relations were reinforced. Through examining the historical role of feudal-colonial alliances, however, the paper notes that pre-capitalist reproduction in Nepal is a dynamic process, actively negotiated and reinforced by the external imperatives of capitalist expansion itself as well as through the entrenched political power of landed classes. Today feudal and capitalist formations co-exist and articulate, with surplus divided between landlords and non-farm employers. Understanding the complex dynamics of feudal or “semi-feudal” reproduction in an era of globalisation is crucial if one is to identify avenues for collective mobilisation against inequitable pre-capitalist and capitalist class relations.
14 Clement, Floriane; Basnet, Govinda; Sugden, Fraser; Bharati, Luna. 2014. Social and environmental justice in foreign aid: a case study of irrigation interventions in western Nepal. New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy, 3(1):65-83.
Irrigation systems ; Irrigated farming ; Environmental legislation ; Social aspects ; Foreign investment ; Aid programmes ; Funding ; Corporate culture ; Institutions ; Sustainability ; Case studies / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046888)
http://www.nepalpolicynet.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/4-Clement-et-al.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046888.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046888.pdf
(0.76 MB) (779 KB)
Debates over the effectiveness of foreign aid have been recently revived both in the development sector and in the academia. International funding agencies have notably adopted new principles to improve aid delivery. Using the particular case study of a set of irrigation interventions in Western Nepal, we argue that these steps will not radically improve the pro-poor outcomes of aid interventions as long as the latter are framed in an apolitical, technical and managerial vision and discourse of development. We propose to adopt social and environmental justice as an analytical framework and vocabulary for action.
15 Sugden, Fraser. 2014. Landlordism, tenants and the groundwater sector: lessons from Tarai-Madhesh, Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 33p. (IWMI Research Report 162) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2015.204]
Land ownership ; Land tenure ; Land reform ; Tenant's rights ; Groundwater irrigation ; Water use ; Water market ; Political aspects ; Tube well irrigation ; Pumping ; Farmers ; Cultivators ; Households ; Investment ; Costs ; Incentives / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047059)
(873 KB)
Over recent decades, there has been a shift in the focus of government irrigation schemes towards groundwater development throughout the Gangetic Plains, especially in the Nepal Tarai-Madhesh. This report explores the impact of landlord-tenant relations on access to groundwater irrigation. Tenant farmers have a reduced incentive to invest in pumping equipment and the boring of tube wells due to the high cost involved, insecure tenure and high rent payments, while landlords themselves have been shown to offer little support. The report suggests that it is crucial that policymakers are aware of the challenges posed by landlordism today in the Tarai and elsewhere in the Gangetic Plains, and remain engaged in debates over land reform. There are also a number of initiatives which could facilitate more equitable access to groundwater, which include allowing tenants without legal papers to apply for groundwater irrigation, systems for collective ownership of equipment, and greater targeting of programs and policies towards the tenant farmer class.
16 Janmaat, J.; Lapp, S.; Wannop, T.; Bharati, Luna; Sugden, Fraser. 2015. Demonstrating complexity with a roleplaying simulation: investing in water in the Indrawati Subbasin, Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 38p. (IWMI Research Report 163) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2015.212]
Water storage ; Calibration ; River basins ; Watershed management ; Drinking water ; Households ; Economic aspects ; Income ; Budgets ; Investment ; Crop production ; Climate change ; Precipitation ; Labour productivity ; Social structure ; Rural communities ; Policy making ; Capacity building ; Education ; Sustainability / Nepal / Indrawati Subbasin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047183)
(2 MB)
Rural people in Nepal and other developing nations are part of complex, social-ecological systems. Efforts to provide assistance to these people must integrate knowledge from a variety of perspectives. This report documents the use of a role-playing game, supported by an agent-based model, to demonstrate the interaction between migration, social capital and the effectiveness of water storage. The importance of these interactions was highlighted by fieldwork conducted at several sites in the Koshi River Basin. The model underlying the game was a stylized representation based on the Indrawati Subbasin northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal. The report highlights that (a) role-playing tournaments can be an effective way to engage technical and policy experts with the complex interactions between the social and physical dimensions of watershed management; and (b) migration and the economic changes which drive these interactions are forces that need to be accepted, and investments in water storage need to be selected depending on how they fit into these trends.
17 Price, J. I.; Janmaat, J.; Sugden, Fraser; Bharati, Luna. 2016. Water storage systems and preference heterogeneity in water-scarce environments: a choice experiment in Nepal’s Koshi River Basin. Water Resources and Economics, 13:6-18. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wre.2015.09.003]
Water storage ; Supplemental irrigation ; Rainfed farming ; Rural communities ; Water stress ; Water supply ; Water resources ; Domestic water ; Dry season ; Households ; Welfare ; Econometrics / Nepal / Koshi River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047238)
(0.00 MB)
Many rural communities in Nepal experience considerable water stress during the dry season. Water storage systems (WSSs) have been proposed to supplement rain-fed irrigation and augment domestic water services in these communities. We evaluate household preferences for WSSs using a choice experiment and latent class modeling techniques. Results indicate the presence of three classes. The majority of households (E92%) belong to two equally-sized classes, a relatively privileged group (i.e. wealthier, better educated, etc.) with strong preferences for supplemental irrigation and a less privileged group that is mainly interested in improved domestic water services. The remaining class’ preferences are dominated by the cost attribute and are consistent with households facing severe cash constraints. Estimated welfare effects reveal that WSSs disproportionately benefit the privileged, although this disparity is mitigated with the provision of domestic water. These findings highlight the potential welfare gains from WSS investments, but stress the need for multi-purpose water resource development and the potential for elite capture.
18 Sugden, Fraser; Saikia, Panchali; Maskey-Amatya, Niki; Pokharel, Paras. 2016. Gender, agricultural investment and productivity in an era of out-migration. In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.273-293. (Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World)
Agricultural production ; Gender ; Labour allocation ; Migrant labour ; Male labour ; Women farmers ; Empowerment ; Agricultural practices ; Investment ; Productivity ; Irrigation ; Land ownership ; Tenant farmers ; Villages ; Demography ; Socioeconomic environment ; Remuneration ; Households ; Living standards ; Case studies / Nepal / India / Bangladesh / Ganges Basin / Dhanusha / Saptari / Madhubani
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047819)
19 Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane. 2016. Poverty, inequalities and vulnerability of the rural poor. In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.255-272. (Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World)
Rural poverty ; Equity ; Indicators ; Agricultural development ; Productivity ; Agrarian structure ; Land ownership ; Policy ; Population growth ; Households ; Income ; Socioeconomic environment ; Living standards ; Riparian zones ; River basins / India / Nepal / Bangladesh / Ganges River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H047818)
20 Sugden, Fraser. 2017. A mode of production flux: the transformation and reproduction of rural class relations in lowland Nepal and North Bihar. Dialectical Anthropology, 41(2):129-161. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-016-9436-3]
Agricultural production ; Climate change ; Cultivated land ; Lowland ; Landowners ; Agrarian structure ; Tenant farmers ; Labour ; Living standards ; Political aspects ; Capitalism ; Feudalism ; Colonialism ; Rural communities ; Households ; Social aspects ; History ; Caste systems ; Migration ; Economic situation ; Indebtedness ; Farm income ; Remuneration / Nepal / India / North Bihar / Tarai / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Madhesh / Mithilanchal / Madhubani / Dhanusha / Morang / Purnea / Sunsari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047834)
(2.24 MB)
The Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia represents a peripheral region far from the centers of global capitalist production, and this is all the more apparent in Mithilanchal, a cultural domain spanning the Nepal/Bihar border. The agrarian structure can be considered ‘semi-feudal’ in character, dominated by landlordism and usury, and backed up by political and ideological processes. Paradoxically, Mithilanchal is also deeply integrated into the global capitalist market and represents a surplus labor pool for the urban centers of Western India as well as the Persian Gulf in a classic articulation between pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production. A review of the changes in the agrarian structure over recent decades in the context of globalisation, out-migration and climate stress, shows that while landlordism remains entrenched, the relationship between the marginal and tenant farmer majority and the landed classes has changed, with the breakdown of ideological ties and reduced dependence on single landlords. The paper thus ends on a positive note, as the contemporary juncture represents an opportune moment for new avenues of political mobilization among the peasantry.
Powered by DB/Text WebPublisher, from
