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Abstract:
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"With an area of 100,000 sq. ha., and covered mostly by water, the region known as the Sundarbans provides livelihood for millions of people who collect fish, crustaceans and minor forest produce. It is also home to many endangered species of animals, birds, plants and reptiles. The stress and exploitation to which the area is subjected raises concern about its long-term survival.
"The paper examines issues related to the current status of the Sundarbans. The evolution of the management will be understood as a set of riparian commons constituted by local communities over time, and the role of the state in laying down the institutional framework within which such commons are managed. The land administration and land revenue policies of the colonial state are addressed, including the impact of the 1793 Permanent Settlement Act. The emphasis on land reclamation by the zamindars, as the basis for increasing land rents and revenues, laid the rationale for state policy well into the 19th century.
"In pre-colonial times the areas surrounding the Sundarbans were hardly inhabited. The local zamindars gave rights of collection of minor forest produce to collectors in return for a fee. The process of induced habitation of the surrounding areas started in a major way in the late 18th century. In 1875-76 the remaining area was declared a reserve forest, and this has since formed the basis for its management. The colonial state recognized the rights of the surrounding communities to collect produce in return for a fee. These rights were never coded and have been handed down from generation to generation. The pressure on the commons is increasing because marginalized groups from elsewhere settle on its borders in the hope of gaining livelihoods. The pressure is further intensified by commercial interests that control the labor and livelihoods of the resource users. The current situation is analyzed using a tragedy of the commons framework.
"Recent attempts to organize the resource users to enable articulation of their rights and roles in responsible management of the commons, along with the state, will be described. NGOs and environmental groups are involved in these efforts, based on the perceived need to constitute the commons afresh by excluding certain groups and enforcing norms and rules of management. International agencies are attempting to follow this trend by stressing the need for participatory management, organization of resource users and their roles in the development and enforcement of rules for the use of the commons. These efforts will be analyzed with a view to understanding potential trends in the management of this vast resource."
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