Your search found 5 records
1 Narayanan, N. C.; Venot, Jean-Philippe. 2009. Drivers of change in fragile environments: challenges to governance in Indian wetlands. Natural Resources Forum, 33:320-333.
Natural resources management ; Governance ; Bureaucracy ; Wetlands ; Lakes ; Fishermen ; Environmental degradation ; Conflict ; Economic aspects ; Political aspects ; Case studies / India / Chilika Lake / Kolleru Lake / Vembanad Lake
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H042546)
(0.32 MB)
In densely populated coastal wetlands with rich biodiversity, multiple, but generally competing, economic activities are common. This paper adopts a polycentric perspective to the study of wetlands management in India to assess the scope for sustainable and equitable use of these remarkable and threatened ecosystems. The analytical framework proves to be useful and highlights that the intertwined processes of environmental and social changes result from, and shape, governance patterns. The three wetlands studied share commonalities in their trajectories: high population pressure, the enclosure of the commons and subsequent capitalization of resources and social marginalization, conflicting interests and intense local politics, a disconnect between global conservation discourses and local concerns, weak institutional arrangements, and global economic forces. The intense politics of access, control and use of natural resources challenge the implementation of a true polycentric regime in the Indian context due to a tendency to bureaucratization and a lack of participation, and existing limits to democratic citizenship. Creating a democratic space where multiple voices can be considered in the decision-making process remains a challenge. The paper concludes that inclusion of power and politics in the study of governance of natural resources should be of prime concern for researchers and decision makers.
2 Venot, Jean-Philippe; Narayanan, N. C.. 2009. Echelle(s) commune(s) ou echelles multiples? pour une gouvernance democratique des ressources naturelles: les zones humides en Inde. In French. [Common or multiple scales? for a democratic governance of natural resources: wetlands in India]. VertigO - La revue en sciences de l'environnement, 19(1):1-10.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H042658)
(0.27 MB)
Indian wetlands have witnessed dramatic socio-environmental transformations whose drivers unfold at multiple scales. Changes in the structure of governance of natural resources are needed. Past and current approaches are based on the assumption that a commonly defined level at which management would be optimal do exist be it the local, the regional, or the national, etc. But, the relationships that societies nurture with their environment unfold at multiple and sometimes overlapping levels: true polycentric governance is based on the recognition that multiple claims and values are a reality of natural resources management: nested arenas of negotiation are needed to create a democratic space where multiple voices can be considered in the decision-making process.
3 Narayanan, N. C.. 2010. Conflicts and governance: perspectives on an eastern and western coastal wetland in India. In Hoanh, Chu Thai; Szuster, B. W.; Kam, S. P.; Ismail, A. M; Noble, Andrew D. (Eds.). Tropical deltas and coastal zones: food production, communities and environment at the land-water interface. Wallingford, UK: CABI; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish Center; Los Banos, Philippines: International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); Bangkok, Thailand: FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific; Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). pp.293-306.
Wetlands ; Lagoons ; Lakes ; Coastal area ; Natural resources ; Governance / India / Chilika Lake / Vembanad Lake
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 639 G000 HOA Record No: H043065)
(5.08 MB)
4 Argade, P.; Narayanan, N. C.. 2019. Undercurrents of participatory groundwater governance in rural Jalna, western India. Water Alternatives, 12(3):869-885.
Groundwater management ; Water governance ; Participatory approaches ; Community involvement ; Aquifers ; Water availability ; Water use ; Sustainability ; Political aspects ; Economic aspects ; Rural areas ; Case studies / India / Maharashtra / Jalna
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049455)
(0.39 MB)
This paper analyses a participatory groundwater governance project called Purna Groundwater Management Association (PGWMA). A pilot project under the World Bank-funded Maharashtra Water Sector Improvement Project, the PGWMA project spanned eight villages in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. In the case study, we used ethnographic interviews, discussions with villagers, and analysis of project materials. At the governance level, we found that the groundwater problem was conceptualised in a depoliticised way and involved an oversimplified notion of the community; it also deployed a checklist-type approach to equity, sustainability and participation, and attempted to commodify water. At the level of the community, our observations of people's access to groundwater, and of their perceptions and knowledge, showed that the project failed to inculcate the idea of groundwater as commons. While the project led to slightly improved water access, for the most part it redeployed caste, class and gender relations and led to negligible improvement in community participation. The study examines the paradoxical coexistence of the 'success' of the participatory governance model and the actual failure to steer the community-groundwater relationship towards sustainability. The case could not be entirely explained by existing critiques within development studies (the root cause of the over-extraction problem was unsustainably high groundwater need); it did not fit the 'implementation failure' critique, nor did we find a semblance of an 'ideal', 'traditional' system of resource management; a politicised understanding of the community was also insufficient. Using the Cultural Political Economy approach, we found that the historical sedimentation of high groundwater demand was linked to an imaginary of a 'better life' through social structures, political economy, technology access and postcolonial development policies that have influenced agricultural practices. The situation has become unsustainable due to dwindling water tables. Thinking through these 'undercurrents' of groundwater governance leads to a deeper understanding of the groundwater problem, its framings and meanings at multiple levels, and its links to equity and sustainability.
5 Zimmermann, T.; Shinde, S.; Parthasarathy, D.; Narayanan, N. C.. 2023. Linking climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: reconceptualizing flood risk governance in Mumbai. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 20(1):1-29. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/1943815X.2023.2169712]
Climate change adaptation ; Disaster risk reduction ; Flooding ; Governance ; Groups ; Communities ; Towns ; Policies ; Vulnerability ; Civil society ; Disaster risk management ; Resilience / India / Mumbai
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051710)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/1943815X.2023.2169712?needAccess=true&role=button
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051710.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051710.pdf
(5.94 MB) (5.94 MB)
Climate-related hazards, urban development and changing vulnerability patterns compel cities across the world to deal with new and emerging forms of risk. Academic literature and recent international policy documents suggest potentials of conceptually and practically linking the fields of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emphasize the need to mitigate climate-related risks at local level. However, there is limited knowledge on how this link is established at local levels and the role of ground-level actors and practices therein. Using the case of recurrent and disastrous floods, this paper discusses the significance of linking DRR and CCA in Mumbai. It analyses policies, plans, institutions and interventions related to DRR and CCA and uses interviews and a field study to assess flood risk governance at the level of municipal wards and neighbourhoods. The findings suggest that although flood risk governance has been significantly strengthened, three gaps exist: First, a lack of a comprehensive plan for Mumbai that anticipates future risks and vulnerabilities and integrates CCA and DRR down to local level. Second, a lack of an overarching and decentralized institutional framework across sectors and scales that recognizes the multiplicity of formal and informal actors. Third, the potential of civil society and informal actors for disaster risk management and adaptation planning has not been tapped into sufficiently. The paper argues that potential exists to reconceptualize flood risk governance in Mumbai by focusing on future risks and vulnerabilities and by recognizing the work of informal actors like emergent groups at local level.
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