Browsing by Author "Shivakoti, Ganesh P."
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Conference Paper Alternative Interventions to Assist Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal(1994) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."This paper examines the consequences of various types and levels of interventions in Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems (FMIS) in Nepal. Systematic and comparative analysis of 13 FMIS interventions by 13 different agencies in the hill districts of Nepal tries to answer the question of how and why some ways of helping FMIS have had positive results and others have had no or negative effects. The important variables include intervening agencies, their process to select particular system, assistance objectives of programs, cost sharing criteria, mode and basis of resource mobilization, and changes in agricultural performances due to intervention. Then the paper documents the process of intervention and examines performances of 19 irrigation systems in one hill district intervened by one of the intervening agency - Water and Energy Commission Secretariat/International Irrigation Management Institute-Nepal (WECS/IIMI). After the initial discussion of WECS/IIMI action research agenda, the paper discusses the methods of selection of systems for intervention, brief description of the selected Irrigation systems; and documentation of farmer-to- farmer training process during intervention. Finally, performance of these 19 systems are compared before and after Intervention based on the analysis of changes in technical efficiency, organizational structure, resource mobilization, rules, and agricultural productivity."Journal Article Analysis of National Forest Programs for REDD+ Implementation in Six South and Southeast Asia Countries(2016) Mohammed, Abrar J.; Inoue, Makoto; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Nath, Tapan K.; Jashimuddin, Mohammed; De-Zoysa, Mangala; Kaskoyo, Hari; Peras, Rose"To facilitate REDD+ implementation and identify relevant attributes for robust REDD+ policies, this study evaluated and synthesized information from national forest programs in South and Southeast Asian countries. Data was collected from six countries: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, India and Thailand. The data sources for the evaluation was an in-depth desk review of relevant documents and focus group discussion among experts from each study country. We found out that diverse factors may influence program feasibility and the ability to achieve ‘triple benefits’: the nature of the forest targeted by the policy, the characteristics of the population affected by the policy, attributes of the policy instrument and the different actors involved. We argue that national policies and programs targeted for REDD+ implementation should focus on the identified features to achieve REDD+ goals."Working Paper Anthropogenic Impacts on Flora Biodiversity in the Forests and Common Land of Chitwan, Nepal(1997) Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Matthews, Stephen A.; Chhetri, Netra"Our study is unique, in that unlike other studies in this area of Nepal we focus on measuring species diversity not just in the RCNP but also in other forested areas in Chitwan. Furthermore, the project is longitudinal in design and we will be returning to the same flora plots at future dates to collect new data. In time, this will allow us to record the rate of change in common land use and land cover in Chitwan and the forest ecosystems surrounding the populated areas. For this paper, we use data from a study sample of 128 forest and grassland plots taken from forested areas in Chitwan, including inside the adjoining protected areas of the RCNP. We parallel this by examining the ground cover and flora diversity measures from 145 study plots from common lands in different settlements in Chitwan. We compare diversity measures collected for both forest and common land with population densities and proximity to the main urban area in the district (Narayangarh)."Working Paper The Center for the Study of Rural Populations and Forest Resources (RUPAFOR): IFRI CRC - Bangkok, Thailand(2000) Webb, Edward L.; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."The objectives for RUPAFOR are: - To conduct research on the social interactions within and among rural SE Asian communities, and the subsequent impact on forest cover, condition, and the status of the resources therein; - To test current social and development theory through the acquisition of empirical data in rural environments of SE Asia; - To build site-specific, relevant capacity at the local and district levels using results and experiences from the study areas."Conference Paper Changes in Property Rights, Forest Use and Forest Dependency of Katu Communities in Nam Dong District, Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam(2011) Thang, Tran Nam; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Inoue, Makoto"Sustainable participatory management and conservation requires an understanding of site-specific, rights structure, resource use and resource dependency patterns over time. This paper documents these issues by examining the resource use pattern overtime by the Katu people in Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue province, central Vietnam, before and after allocation of natural forest to the households of the community. Household interview, key informant and group discussions were used for data collection and crosscheck. Descriptive analysis and pair-sample T-test are main tools used to explore those parameters. We found a weak performance of property rights and differences in the De facto to the De jure rights of forest recipients. On contrary to the increased rights, forest use and forest dependency of local people have been reduced due to the degradation of resources, and availability of alternative opportunities from emerging agriculture and animal grazing options. Considering dynamic nature of resource dependency overtime, it is necessary to consider in the post-allocation programme which embrace the local context to have better forest protection and management as well as the satisfaction of local people on the forest resources they manage."Conference Paper Community-based Co-management Mechanism of Forest Resources: A Case Study of Baishuijiang National Natural Reserve, China(2011) Ting, Zhu; Haiyun, Chen; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Research on community-based co-management mechanism of forest resources is essentially an academic research proposition of mechanism design on common property resource. Although a group of community-based co-management (CBCM) mechanisms in forest resources has been constructed in Chinese Natural Reserves at the very beginning step, but there is a blind area in its mechanism operation evaluation in local level. This research mainly focuses on the evaluation of the current China’s CBCM mechanism and its program implementation effect, especially through the case study of Baishuijiang National Natural Reserve (BNNR), from three evaluation perspectives: the operation efficiency, equality and sustainability. The survey data has approved that, generally speaking, local CBCM mechanisms have provide a good wide-participation platform for local villagers, relative administration managers, NGOs and other stakeholders. And it also has ensured and facilitated the execution of a series of CBCM projects which has help to greatly decline the forest resource dependency, improve the household income level and encourage local people to join forest resource protection work. Meanwhile gaps are identified to exist in institution-building, which noticeably appear to the inequity of responsibility and right for CBCM committee members, unscientific resource distribution, insufficient program-design and management experiences, and the defective information and capital sources. Based on these gaps, relative recommendations are provided for improvement of CBCM mechanism in CNNR."Book Chapter Conceptualizing Sustainability(Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University and Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuvan University, 1997) Dixon, John M.; Varughese, George; Sharma, Prem N.; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Despite the recent success in expanding global food supply--today's population of 5.8 billion have, on average, 15 percent more food per capita than the global population of 4 billion had two decades ago)--shamefully, more than 800 million are still chronically hungry, mostly living in rural areas. Moreover, reports of civil unrest caused by shortages of food or high prices are all too frequent. Thus, the International Commission on Peace and Food in their report Uncommon Opportunities note that 'food has become a symbol of our collective human endeavor to create a better world for all'. Food production depends ultimately on sound and productive natural resource systems. The per capita availability of land and water for agriculture is limited and declining as a consequence of increasing population, degradation and redirection of land and water to domestic and industrial uses. Moreover, significant environmental costs have been associated with the past successful agricultural growth, such as salinization, soil erosion, lowering water tables, and loss of biodiversity."Conference Paper Context and Institutions in Irrigation Management: Applicability of Design Principles in Nepal and Thailand(2009) Bastakoti, Ram Chandra; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."In this paper we assess the applicability of design principles (Ostrom, 1990) in irrigation management comparing the similarities and differences from Nepal and Thailand (considering the difference in economic situation and nature of irrigation systems). The information comes from the empirical study of 100 irrigation systems, 50 each from Nepal and Thailand representing major river basins and ecological regions in both countries. The results showed that most of the design principles proposed by Ostrom are applicable in irrigation management in Nepal and Thailand. But the level of applicability of each design principles varied across these two countries. Some of them were fully and mostly applicable in both countries. But others were more applicable only in one country, and rarely applicable in another. It was especially due to the difference in the irrigation infrastructure, besides other reasons. Design principle two 'congruence' and design principle five 'graduate sanctions'; could not fully capture the existing institutional settings. We have proposed some modifications for wider applicability in the specific conditions."Conference Paper Decentralization of Forest Management, Local Institutional Capacity and its Effect on Access of Local People to Forest Resources: The Case of West Sumatra, Indonesia(2011) Mahdi; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Inoue, Makoto"This paper studies the capacity of local institutions to receive forest management right in West Sumatra, Indonesia, where local institutions have existed before the enactment of decentralization. We carried out focus group discussions to asess their capacity and a survey to learn its effect to households’ access to forest. From these field works, we found that most local institutions are not ready to fully absorb forest management rights transfer. They lack capabilities to formulate regulation and negotiation processes against disputed issues which lead to conflict. The conflicts rose among people, among local institutions, and between local institution and local government after decentralization took place. Consequently, households are facing uncertainty in access to forest resources. Therefore, the powerful households get higher benefit than the poors indicating continuation of elite capture even after nearly one decade of implementation of decentralization policy."Conference Paper Design Principles and Robustness of Spate Community Managed Irrigation Systems in the Punjab, Pakistan(2009) Kamran, Muhammad Asif; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."The spate irrigation is among the oldest and largest community managed irrigation systems in Pakistan and is providing livelihood to local communities through indigenously developed, maintained and managed techniques. The 'Riwajaat-e-Aabpashi' (irrigation customs) codified in British rule are main guidelines for irrigation in lowland systems while upland systems are governed through locally known customs. The upland systems with higher community involvement and free from government interventions in decision making and monitoring are robust compared to similar systems in lowlands with government involvement in decision making and management. The article presents cases from Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab, Pakistan) where these systems have endured despite of water scarce and unpredictable resource availability by creating situation of equity, impartiality and obeying the rules. This study compares communities against Ostrom's design principles to know the comparative institutional robustness of these systems."Conference Paper Designing Effective Intervention for Irrigation Management: Cases from the Indrawati Watershed in Nepal(2005) Lam, Wai Fung; Ostrom, Elinor; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Yoder, Robert"Prior research and assistance experiences have suggested that technological fixes alone are not likely to improve irrigation performance. An intervention project stands a chance of success only if it could help develop robust local institutions to support the operation and maintenance of engineering infrastructure, and enhance social capital that has already existed in the local community. While the principle for designing successful intervention project seems to be straightforward, turning the principle into the design of intervention projects is not as simple as some might expect. In particular, how to keep the intervention effect last and sustained in the long run poses a significant challenge. "In 1985, the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) of Nepal and the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) initiated an intervention project to assist 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems located in the Indrawati watershed in Nepal. The project was designed with a view to developing and testing methods for delivering assistance that could enhance farmers organizing ability for irrigation operation and maintenance at the same time as the irrigation infrastructure was improved. The project was innovative in a variety of ways: (1) the farmers could choose whether to be involved or not, (2) the project provided technical assistance but purposely did not provide full funding for engineering improvements and the farmers were expected to provide core labor and some materials, (3) the farmers examined the engineering plans and had to OK them before they were implemented, (4) participating farmers were expected to go through 'farmer-to-farmer' training offered by some of the more productive irrigation systems in Nepal, and (5) each farmer group was expected to write its own internal set of working rules that covered how future decisions would be made for the system. "The intervention was evaluated as being very successful soon after completion. In this paper, we will draw on several rounds of measurement for the systems involved in the project as so to assess and understand how the intervention has affected the operation and performance of the systems in a decade and a half after completion. By comparing the systems experiences of irrigation management, we will identify factors that help explain why there are differences in the long-term effects of this project, and discuss the implications of the experience for the design of intervention projects."Conference Paper Evolution and Impacts of Community Based Forest Management in the Hills of Nepal(2004) Gautam, Ambika P.; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."This paper first presents a brief overview of the evolution of community based forest management in Nepal. Impact of the community based forest management on the biophysical environment, changes on the availability of essential forest products to the user households due to changes in forest condition, and adaptation strategies of the households to changing availability of the forest products have been analyzed in a mountain watershed in Central Nepal. We report that the community based forest management programs had several positive impacts on the forest and the people of the study area but the programs also had some limitations and may face challenges ahead. The findings are expected to contribute in the identification of prevailing gaps in forest policies and implementation strategies related to community based forest management in Nepal and other Asian countries, which can be useful to adapt the existing systems to suite the local contexts for continued benefit of the local people and supporting ecosystems."Conference Paper Farmer and Government Organized Irrigation Systems in Nepal: Preliminary Findings from Analysis of 127 Systems(1993) Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Ostrom, Elinor"In the first half of this paper we will briefly review the development of knowledge about irrigation to preserve context and a comparative research effort that seeks a level of generality. Then we will go on to discuss briefly the construction of a structured database from qualitative cases and describe the coding manual we have developed. We then will discuss the combination of research methods we have used to understand irrigation and our fieldwork in Nepal. In the second half of the paper we will present a comparative analysis of 127 irrigation system located in the three major terrains of relevance for Nepal governed and managed by farmers and those managed and governed by government agencies. The comparison will include physical characteristics of the irrigation systems, institutional rules, community attributes and agricultural performance of these systems."Conference Paper Farmers' Perceptions of System Effectiveness, Level of Participation and Equity in Farmer and Agency Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal(1992) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."This paper is based on a study which focused on the organization effectiveness of user and non-user controlled irrigation systems in the western hills of Nepal. The study was conducted with the purpose of assessing the extent to which these systems differ in perceptions of equity, level of participation and perceived effectiveness in meeting the water needs of the farmers being served. The study design included a survey of 200 users from different locations of four irrigation systems. The leadership pattern for irrigation related decision making situations was used as a basis for control type and community context. The major hypothesis tested was: Perceived organizational effectiveness will be higher in user controlled irrigation systems than in non-user controlled systems as manifested by higher scores of perceived equity, level of participation and perceived effectiveness. "The findings indicate that among the independent variables location of the parcel showed significant difference in the mean scores of equity, participation and effectiveness. Also the user controlled systems manifested relatively higher interrelationships among equity, participation, and effectiveness. The equity, participation and effectiveness scores were strongly associated with the control type. "Important policy implications of the research include: (1) the agency responsible for irrigation system maintenance should reconsider the present policy which creates unintended results of a dependency and (2) to achieve better organization effectiveness government should turn the system's ownership to the users and provide only emergency back-up services. This may induce higher levels of participation and feelings of fairness among users."Conference Paper An Institutional Analysis of the Effects of Different Modes of Assistance on the Performance of Farmer- Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal(1998) Joshi, Neeraj N.; Ostrom, Elinor; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Lam, Wai Fung"Thousands of irrigation systems in Nepal are managed by farmers themselves. Some of these farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) have been in operation for centuries. It has long been accepted by policy makers and donors that FMIS in Nepal would benefit greatly from the availability of financial capital in order to construct permanent diversion structures to line key parts of a canal, and to undertake other capital intensive work that would improve the technical efficiency of the systems. Consequently, a number of different policy interventions have been undertaken in Nepal that are intended to enhance irrigation performance by improving physical infrastructures of FMIS. Despite the similar objectives of the intervening agencies, however, the consequences of the process of intervention have varied substantially. Given the increasing emphasis on the importance of interventions to improve irrigation performance, it is of great concern to assess why there is a difference in the performance of diverse types of interventions. "In this paper, we first briefly overview the history of irrigation development in Nepal. Then, we describe the institutions involved with the interventions in the irrigation sector development along with the processes of intervention. In the third section, we discuss the rationale of the study and some methodological procedures employed in the study. In the fourth section, we discuss the findings of the study focusing on the factors affecting the performance of irrigation systems in relation to interventions. In the final section, we address the issues that need action by intervening agencies in order to enhance irrigation performance."Conference Paper Irrigation Resources of East Chitwan and their Hydrologic and Institutional Interlinkages: Results from an Inventory Study(1993) Pandit, K.N.; Shukla, Ashutosh; Gajurel, K.P.; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Irrigation Resource Inventory of East Chitwan (an inner terai region of central Nepal) was carried out by a multidisciplinary team of Irrigation Management Systems Study Group (IMSSG) at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during May 1992 to January 1993. Group interviews and system walkthrough were the principal methods employed to gather information for the study. The focus of the inventory study was on documentation of history of development, physical characteristics, operation and management, agricultural systems, nature and development of irrigation organization, social and institutional characteristics of 88 community managed irrigation systems in East Chitwan. The findings of the inventory study are presented in a report entitled 'Irrigation Resource Inventory of East Chitwan' IMSSG, IAAS, Rampur, 1993. A small section of the study focusing on hydrologic aspects of irrigation systems with regard to nature and usage of water resources in the study are has been discussed in this paper. The findings indicated that all the 88 irrigation systems originate from 15 different water sources including perennial rivers/streams, seasonal streams, springs and depressed areas (popularly known as Ghols in local dialect). The systems which fall within the flood plains of Rapti river have complex hydrologic networks in relation to their service areas. Evidences like water drained from one system as an assured source of supply for other systems have been commonly encountered in a substantial number of irrigation systems."Conference Paper Irrigation Systems under Market Pressure and Changing Institutional Settings: Comparative Perspective from Nepal and Thailand(2008) Bastakoti, Ram Chandra; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."This paper assesses institutional dynamics and performance of irrigation systems amid change in political, economic and social settings in the country. Taking cases of 50 irrigation systems each from Nepal and Thailand, we analyze these issues both at cross-national and intra-country level. In Nepal new irrigation policy brought out after the political changes of 1990 laid emphasis on participatory approach of irrigation management in the form of transfer of management responsibility from government to users. With the changes in irrigation policy the management responsibility of many government-built irrigation systems has been transferred to users. The water users associations of traditional farmer managed irrigations systems are also registered formally to related authorities. In Thailand with the adoption of participatory irrigation management policy government encouraged peoples participation in irrigation management. At present, users are directly involved in management of large irrigation systems at tertiary canal level. Similarly, traditional communal irrigation systems at northern Thailand received support for system infrastructure improvement but with some interference in governance. Market pressures and other related economic factors have significant influence on institutional arrangements. In Nepal the command areas of majority of irrigation systems include cereal-based subsistence farming with only few systems having commercial farming. But market led economy of Thailand has created condition for diversification in farming practices resulting into increased area under high water demanding commercial crops. The changing water demand scenario has ultimately influenced collective action for irrigation systems management."Conference Paper Local and External Support Services in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal: Implications for Performance Enhancement(1995) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems (FMIS) in Nepal are not restricted to small units. Irrigation systems may be less than one hectare while farmer-managed systems as large as 15,000 hectare sizes have been identified. There are a total of 16,700 FMIS in Nepal. During the past few years many agencies (both governmental and non-governmental) have started either providing a modest level of support services or are trying to coordinate with relevant agencies to make provision for providing essential services. The level and types of support services vary with the agencies involved. The paper examines different processes and intensities of interventions in providing support services to FMIS in Nepal. Systematic and comparative analysis of 18 FMIS under intervention programs of 15 different agencies were included to assess the impacts of intervention. The aim was to explore ways and means of assisting numerous FMIS, located in different parts of the country, in order to improve the performance of irrigated agriculture. The variables included in the analysis were: policy and institutional environment for support services, process of providing support services, cost sharing criteria, basis of resource mobilization and resulting changes in agricultural performance upon intervention. While some processes of interventions were found effective, the impacts of others were found either less effective or negative. Several issues pertaining to intervention process and irrigation performance pertaining to FMIS were identified. The paper draws on policy implications on providing institutional support for improvement of performance of FMIS in Nepal."Conference Paper Management Transfer of Agency-Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal: How Participatory are the Policies and the Actions?(1996) Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Shukla, Ashutosh"In Nepal irrigation systems are managed by the agency which are called Agency-Managed Irrigation Systems (AMIS). The majority of the irrigation systems are, however, managed entirely by the farmers which are called Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems (FMIS). Besides these two, there are irrigation systems which are jointly managed by the agency and the farmers, which are called Joint-Managed Irrigation Systems (JMIS). His Majesty's Government of Nepal has clearly determined that its policy will be to decentralize irrigation management authority to local irrigation organizations. The policy proposed calls for irrigation operation systems in these three modes. The transfer of Nepal's public sector irrigation systems to water users' organizations for operation and management is based on current irrigation development policy of the government which seeks users participation at all levels of irrigation development from project identification, design and construction to operation and management. Based on this program several AMIS are in the process of management transfer to water user organizations. Several issues originate from the management transfer process which among other are: whom to transfer, what part of the system, what size of the system, what legal provision from management transfer, what role of the government. The paper addresses these issues with special reference to: Whether policy provides basic provisions for farmer participation under joint-management projects defining structures and responsibilities. Also whether there is further need to lay out roles and responsibilities of the agency personnel and the user farmers. Whether there is documentation of diverse rules, role and behavior of functionaries present in the particular environment and also whether these rules, roles and behavior are fed into the irrigation policy and Acts so that these diversities are maintained."Thesis or Dissertation Organizational Effectiveness of User and Non-user Controlled Irrigation Systems in Nepal(1991) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."This study, which focuses on the organizational effectiveness of user and non-user controlled irrigation systems in the western hills of Nepal, was conducted with the purpose of assessing the extent to which these systems differ in perceived effectiveness, level of participation and perceptions of equity in meeting the water needs of the farmers being served. The study design included both survey methodology and rapid appraisal. The conditioning variables included socioeconomic status of household, family structure, and demographic characteristics of the respondents. The dependent variable was organizational effectiveness which was measured by perceived effectiveness, level of participation, and perception of equity. Several hypotheses were tested. The major one was: Perceived organizational effectiveness will be higher in user controlled irrigation systems than in non-user controlled systems as manifested by higher scores of perceived effectiveness, level of participation and perceived equity. The findings indicate that leadership pattern for solving problems that relate to dam and canal repair, water acquisition, allocation and distribution of water were significantly different for user and non-user controlled systems. Significant positive relationships were found only between participation and farm size and farm income."Conference Paper Participatory Interventions in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Systems in Northern Thailand: Dynamism in Resource Mobilization(2000) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Agriculture and water development in Thailand in general, and Northern Thailand in particular, has long historical perspectives as the country depends on agriculture for both subsistence and economic growth. Although the country is comprised of 25 large river basins, water shortage during dry season has often restricted farmers to intensifying and diversifying their farming system and assisting in the national economy by producing surplus grain for export. Water development for agriculture therefore becomes crucial in several regions of the country. "There were several small-scale irrigation systems operated and maintained by farmers some 700 years ago, particularly in Northern Thailand, through customary regulation as autonomous units. These systems were efficient and stable in regulating water for the wet season crop but insufficient for intensive dry season cultivation. In order to manipulate water resources to meet the great demand for rice export and to promote economic growth, the Canal Department was established in 1903, which was later named the Royal Irrigation Department (RID). In the early days, the primary objective of RID was to design large- and medium-scale irrigation systems to increase the productivity of rice mono crop in the central plain region. Given the situation of political and economic transformation, almost all the farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) were technically improved and taken control by state governments in the northern region. As a result, the FMIS lost their autonomy and were forced toward greater dependence on the state mainly through technological intervention. Moreover, local communities also lost many traditional sources of revenue such as water tax and rice tax. The state intervention on water development gradually expanded throughout the region until 1946. "The post-1946 period saw significant changes in terms of new technology intervention in production system and water resource development. The farming systems were increasingly diversified and farmers started to grow non-rice crops such as maize, cassava, kenaf, and sugarcane which are, respectively, considered to be the periods of agricultural transformation. As the commercial crop production started, dispute on land issues increased considerably. The traditionally-formed committees were gradually broken down and had a significant impact on the rural development in general and water development in particular. No land entitlement documents were ever issued until the Land Act was officially proclaimed in 1954. Most of the farmers in northern part enjoyed only usufruct rights over land although they formulated their own principles of land inheritance. The property rights issue directly effected the efficiency of land use and consequently the total agricultural productivity of the region. "However, in recent years, the government has realized the importance of farmers' participation in water development activities and initiated several small-scale people-managed irrigation systems throughout the country. In order to retain farmers' ownership of the intact systems, the government adopted a participatory mode of intervention especially formulated to help FMIS of smaller area coverage. The government also specified a participatory management framework where the government and user farmers could undertake action in mutual understanding. "With these perspectives of irrigation management by farmers, the paper documents the history of water development and management with special reference to FMIS organization, rules, roles, and regulations of operation process. The paper then discusses the evolution of the public intervention process in FMIS and their implications on property rights issues and on consequent management conflicts arising thereof. With the change of government policy of promoting export during 1946-70 period, its impact on the mode of operation of FMIS in Northern Thailand has also been reviewed. Finally, the paper discusses recent participatory intervention processes in the changed economic context based on a case study of before-and-after intervention in FMIS and suggests policy implications of these process on the management of FMIS."Conference Paper Policies, Institutions and Governance Challenges of Irrigation in Twenty-First Century(2006) Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Research on irrigation management has cumulated a rich body of knowledge on irrigation governance, institutions and management. This new knowledge has provided the basis for major changes in irrigation policies in the last two decades, including management transfer programs, assistance to farmer-managed irrigation systems, and irrigation financing. In the beginning of 21st century, however, additional broader related issues have surfaced which include: How to respond to the competition for water resource itself among different sectors; what aspects of institutional reforms deal with related to governance and management of water resources; and how irrigation management can be made pro-poor responding to livelihood sustenance; among others. In an effort address these challenges thoroughly so as to provide a firm foundation for confronting them effectively, following five themes need to be addressed: (1) The processes of globalization, industrialization, and urbanization are all generating immense pressures for a transition from earlier political, economic, and social institutions to new arrangements in all sectors. (2) Competition for resources-particularly water-will increase throughout the world over time leading to immense conflicts unless substantial innovations occur. (3) Institutional reforms are among the most important innovations that are needed to meet these challenges. (4) Markets will be a more important aspect of water management in the future that they have been in the past. (5) Strategic policies conducive to govern and manage water resources effectively in light of transition, competition, institutional and market reform era. These themes will be discussed in the paper by identifying and documenting the changes of the context of global irrigation management; assessing how these macro changes affect the incentives, opportunities, and constraints of farmers at the local level; and explaining how and why farmers in different settings have adjusted, or failed to adjust, their local irrigation in responses to the changing context."Conference Paper The Robustness of Montane Irrigation Systems of Thailand in a Dynamic Human-Water Resources Interface(2004) Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Bastakoti, Ram Chandra"As an initial effort to understand the Asian irrigation systems dynamism and their robustness overtime, this paper examines two irrigation systems of Kok river system within Mekong river basin in Northern Thailand in the context of changing governance mechanisms and evolution of technological and market forces. Since the processes involved in first starting collective action are different than those of maintaining them overtime, the paper examines dynamism over three stages; initial, medium and long-term. During the initial stage of starting an irrigation system various attributes of the users including the benefits they could obtain from starting an organization to the skill of public entrepreneurs of bringing them together affecting trust have been examined. The medium stage of irrigation systems development inquiry includes the process of development of rules, and the level of autonomy to develop their own rules over time. The long term stage focuses its analysis of external factors affecting the sustenance of these irrigation systems with special reference to the impact of changes in economic prices and labor mobility on the one hand and changes in the authority over irrigation and the availability of funding for irrigation on the other. The analysis is based on the framework developed by Ostrom, Anderies and Janssen (2003) in the linkages and relationship between the five elements, namely: resource, resource users, public infrastructure, public infrastructure providers and external disturbances. Thus, the paper evaluates the dynamism and robustness of irrigation systems overtime at operational and collective choice levels of analysis."Working Paper Systematizing Local Knowledge Using GIS: Fisheries Management in Bang Saphan Bay, Thailand(2003) Anuchiracheeva, Supaporn; Demaine, Harvey; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Ruddle, Kenneth"Although local knowledge is a crucial source of information for fishery development, its generally unsystematic presentation and nebulous content makes use by policy makers or managers difficult. Based on field data obtained using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) at Bang Saphan Bay, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand, we attempt to show here how local knowledge can be effectively systematized, analyzed and displayed visually using a Geographical Information System (GIS) for use in fisheries management. PRA data on location fished, time of fishing, techniques and technology used and species targeted was obtained from local fishers then mapped using Arcview (3.1).| In this way local fisheries knowledge can be converted into geo-spatial data form via GIS, and the succinct results used easily to guide fishery management and planning, especially by offering directions for rights-based fisheries and co-management."Conference Paper Use of Case Studies and Structural Coding in a Relational Database for Storage and Analysis of Irrigation Institutions and Systems in Nepal(1993) Ostrom, Elinor; Benjamin, Paul; Shivakoti, Ganesh P."Since the 1970s, a large number of individual field studies of diverse irrigation systems have been completed in Nepal. Some of these studies were undertaken by masters or doctoral students and are based on extensive periods of time in the field. Others were written on the basis of shorter periods in the field: rapid rural appraisals, brief reports and field-site visits by expatriate advisers."Conference Paper Variation in Management: Variation in Equity, Livelihoods and the Forest Conditions in South Asia(2008) Kamran, Muhammad Asif; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.; Webb, Edward L.; Gautam, Ambika P."A number of studies have identified several important factors responsible for management of common pool resources; and both success and failure cases have been reported across management regimes. However a little work has been done on distributional effects of the resources in varying management structures i.e. to what extent the Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) approaches and others have been able to deliver the desired goals of ensuring livelihood security and equitable distribution of benefits to the resource deficit communities. This paper focuses mainly on these equity and livelihood issues. Our basis of analysis is governed by the information available in International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) meta database by selecting community level data using variables on livelihood and equity issues relating with resource uses and resource condition. The IFRI database includes information from several countries and several locations within these countries; we have selected variables for which information are comparable. We have used the user groups (which fall under the forest association) as unit of analysis to compare different management structures vis-a-vis their effect on the equity and forest dependence. Although equity covers varying dimensions including equal rights to access the resource, the rights according to efforts made by specific segment of the society and the rights considering basic needs of the different individuals in the community; this paper uses the definition characterized by equality rules making and effects of rules on group members involved in resource use and management as proxy variables for equitable distribution of benefits. Similarly forest dependence has been measured by variables such as % share in food, fuel wood, biomass and timber requirements of the user group etc. The forest condition being the dependent variable is measured by the foresters perception about the forest i.e. improving, decreasing or constant. The paper then investigates how the forest condition is influenced by equity and resource dependence variables under different management structures."