Browsing by Author "Singh, Subrata"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Assessing the Value of Our Forests: Quantification and Valuation of Revegetation Efforts
(2005) Mondal, Dibyendu; Singh, Subrata; Dhameliya, J. V.
"While implementing a project of regenerating degraded lands (forests or otherwise), one often faces the question of justifying the benefits that would accrue from the initiative. Contrastingly, when a natural forest is destroyed one faces with a very minimal compensation based on the timber available or just on the value of land with a small premium for the existing biomass or as compensatory afforestation of a barren landscape. This leaves us in a situation where answering only the value of the total flow of benefits from the forests does not give a true picture. There is a need to look for mechanisms to value the forests in entirety. "This paper is an attempt at valuation of forests using Natural Resource Accounting System (NRAS) framework through a case study from Gujarat. The framework looks beyond the conventional system of accounting the direct investment vs. flow of benefits to include existing stock and environmental benefits. This system attempts to calculate the total value or contribution to society at a given point of time. The framework helps us estimate the change in this value if a conservation action/ destructive action are undertaken, how this change affects different stakeholders--that is, who are the benefited and who are the losers, and therefore help in decision making. This also can help us in calculating the actual cost and benefits for taking up such an activity or even for the valuation/compensation for the damage in case of a change in the land use."
Assessing the Value of Our Forests: Quantification and Valuation of Revegetation Efforts
(2006) Mondal, Dibyendu; Singh, Subrata; Dhameliya, J. V.
"While implementing a project of regenerating degraded lands (forests or otherwise), one often faces the question of justifying the benefits that would accrue from the initiative. Contrastingly, when a natural forest is destroyed one faces with a very minimal compensation based on the timber available or just on the value of land with a small premium for the existing biomass or as compensatory afforestation of a barren landscape. This leaves us in a situation where answering only the value of the total flow of benefits from the forests does not give a true picture. There is a need to look for mechanisms to value the forests in entirety. "This paper is an attempt at valuation of forests using Natural Resource Accounting System (NRAS) framework through a case study from Gujarat. The framework looks beyond the conventional system of accounting the direct investment vs. flow of benefits to include existing stock and environmental benefits. This system attempts to calculate the total value or contribution to society at a given point of time. The framework helps us estimate the change in this value if a conservation action/ destructive action are undertaken, how this change affects different stakeholders-that is, who are the benefited and who are the losers, and therefore help in decision making. This also can help us in calculating the actual costs and benefits for taking up such an activity or even for the valuation/compensation for the damage in case of a change in the land use "
Common Lands made 'Wastelands': Making of the 'Wastelands' into Common Lands
(2013) Singh, Subrata
"This paper explores the evolution of the discourse on 'wastelands' in India from the colonial time to the present and how it has shaped Indias land related policies. This paper is an attempt to understand the changing rights of the communities to use the resources over the past two centuries. The concept of wastelands in India originated during the colonial period and included all lands that were not under cultivation through the process of settlement for all land held under different property regimes. While the state took all the wastelands under its purview through the principle of Eminent Domain, these lands were supposed to be managed with the principle of Public Trust Doctrine where the State is not an absolute owner, but a trustee of all natural resources. With the competing demands over the wastelands, the discussions and discourse have emerged on the relevance of the common lands (wastelands) in ecological and economic terms and against the use of such wastelands for commercial purposes. This has further been strengthened by the enactment of the Forest Rights Act in 2006 and the recent judgments by the Supreme Court of India on the protection of the common lands. This has brought in a discourse on the Communitization of the wastelands as Commons."
Common Property Resource Management in Transitional Villages
(2004) Singh, Subrata
"Reality today is one of rapid and expanding processes of urbanization, globalization and industrialization resulting in a constant flow of information, money, objects, ideologies, and people. It is crucial to understand the ambiguous complexity that arises from the nexus of such flows and dynamics. These flows increase interactions and heterogeneity, change social relations and communities, and reshape identities and boundaries. Within this nexus, societies are becoming more and more transitional, to varying degrees and forms. It tends to complicate social transformations, each and every society, to various degrees and brings significant changes in almost every aspect of social life. "This paper is an attempt to grasp the complex dynamics that characterize transitional societies in relation to the impact on the management of common property resources due to the transitions in social, economic, political, and cultural processes and conditions. The study of common property resources today focus on communities those are reasonably free of the influence of significant externally induced change. These external interactions bring changes that, directly or indirectly, undermine common property systems and weaken the possibility for collective action. The transitions are economic socio-cultural and political in nature and tend to influence all spheres of village life. "This paper helps to identify potential vulnerable areas in the management of common property resources in the transitional villages especially the decrease in the perceived need to rely on local resources; change in the individual preferences; enhanced economic, social, and geographical mobility of the villagers; high opportunity costs of social arrangements to manage local resources; gradual loss of common interests and group identity, and integration to the market that encourages higher spending and an increasing desire for immediate consumption. The shape and the role of the institutions managing commons under such circumstances have been under-conceptualized. The paper attempts to examine the characteristics of the CPR institutions in the changing scenarios and the need for support mechanisms for effective governance of the commons."
Commons in Theory: Assumed Commons in Practice
(2003) Singh, Subrata
"Property is a three-way relationship between the holder of the property entitlements, the particular resource complex and the collective, state or social norm, which gives legitimacy to the entitlements. Generally, natural resources can be held under any one of the three property regimes: Communal Property; Private property and State Property. These, formally, should determine who the managers are, but of course what is formal and what is actual may well be different. The policy in India has assumed two options: Private or State Property: and all the natural resources are held under state property guided by various laws and guidelines. "There is a distinct trend in India where there is an attempt towards devolution: especially in protection of forests through Joint Forest Management. In this attempt to devolve there has been a considerable discussion on 'right' and the form of 'rights' on the natural resources both among the policy makers and that of the civil society. There is also a considerable divergence of opinion on this issue amongst them. While some talk about ethical and proprietor rights to use natural resources others propose management or stewardship rights over the resource. "Most policies, especially that of the forests, of the colonial era got extended to the independent India. 'Control' had been the major focus in the colonial era but it was amended to provide 'privileges' to the communities after independence. The policies were again slowly brought under the 'control' regime because of the degradation of the forests, through gradually cutting down the privileges once laid down. In such a situation of policy vacuum and inadequate implementation of the existing policies, the local communities took control of the depleting forests, to regenerate and manage the resources to their advantage. The interests of meeting the basic needs from the natural resources has resulted in the protection of forests by the communities irrespective of tenure; the protection over the years has been translated into claims forcing the government to come up with the Joint Forest Management (JFM) policy. The half-hearted alternative (JFM) led to the strengthening of the communities' claims, which are getting transformed into the demand for entitlements over the resource and recognition of Community Forest Management. "The commons, therefore, in such policy environment are 'assumed commons' and not commons in reality as the tenurial arrangements over such lands lie with the Government. The forests continue to be managed by the forest department and the revenue lands by the revenue department. Though the policy makers may differ, the policies today are nowhere close to what is required for the resources to be used and managed as commons. The paper attempts to put India's forest policies in the perspective of the larger 'understanding of commons' and tries to explain how the concept of 'assumed commons' be understood and a framework be used for devolution of natural resources to the local communities. The paper is based on the experiences of working with the self-initiated forest protection groups in India and more particularly that of the community forest management institutions in Orissa."
Conflicts and Disturbance - A Reason to Change: Lessons from Community Based Natural Resource Management Institutions in Orissa, India
(2002) Singh, Subrata
"The paper tries to relate Ostrom's principle of "Graduated Sanctions" to the principles of rule making in the village institutions mainly associated with the management of natural resources, mainly forests and water. This paper is based on the case studies from Orissa, India to examine the conditions of change in village institutions due to conflicts and disturbances. "The paper analyses the conflicts in two broad levels to build up issues to discuss on sustainibility of institutions as well as the commons that are threatened because of conflicts between thoughts, expectations and practice. The commons in India are mainly the 'assumed commons' and not commons in reality, the tenurial arrangements over such lands often lie with the Government meant / controlled for various purposes. These lands are used by the communities as commons with their set of rules and regulations, till the lands remain unattended to by the departments concerned. Such insecurity of tenure brings in conflict between the managers (government departments) and the communities and doubts over the sustainability of the resources and the institutions managing the same."
Evolving Spaces in Landscape Management: Linking Spatial Information for Effective Decision-Making
(2004) Ravindranath, R.; Singh, Subrata
"Community, in the policy context, is defined on the basis of fixed in place socio-political unit having residential proximity to the resource or according to state recognized political units. With the boundaries drawn at the village level and the custodial rights of the common lands vested with various departments of the state, it is difficult on the part of the communities to manage such resources. With the advent of participatory forest management powers have been devolved to the communities for protection and use of the resources. Apart from the institutions at the village level, many of the discussions in recent times have focused on the need for nested institutions at various levels to help conserve and protect large landscapes. "The need for nested institutions emerges to resolve conflicts and work towards reshaping the boundaries to establish stable governance of the resource. Despite the regulated use of the resources by community institutions, the resources have tended to get degraded gradually. Conservation of large landscapes requires mechanisms to bring in equilibrium the demand and supply within and among the communities in the larger socio- political setting. These institutions in many circumstances feel incapacitated to understand the entire landscapes and assess the quality and the availability of the resources and therefore take decisions based on the 'who is right' and not 'what is right'. "The protection and use posits a need for 'means' to understand the entire resource base to take decisions effectively. Geographical Information System (GIS) technology is one of the widely used tools to assist in the management of larger landscapes in terms of forest conservation, pastures, water resource management and wildlife management. The integration of both spatial and non-spatial data allow users to efficiently and effectively make well-informed decisions using visual aids and three-dimensional models that simulate the environment. This paper discusses a participatory Geographic Information System (GIS) with community forest management groups in India and the importance of putting people before technology in order to make GIS a truly participatory process in landscape management. The process of dialogue can lead to better information and more transparency about community needs, strategies and the problems at stake."
Negotiated Domains: Evolving Boundaries, Communities and Policy Spaces
(2008) Singh, Subrata
"This paper deals with the imperatives of social ecological interaction seen through CPR lens. It specifically looks at the process and factors that characterize the dynamics of the above interactions, with particular reference to the changing status and governance of CPRs at the landscape level. The sociological interactions have been developed over the years based on the communities' historical understanding of the larger landscapes, resource availability and dependence on the resources for sustenance. The communities adapt to their needs and create a variety of operational boundaries and property regimes through negotiations across habitations based on access to resources and the availability of certain specific resources but are rarely based on the artificially created administrative boundaries. This paper attempts to discuss a framework of 'negotiated domains' to explain the existence of informal boundaries across property regimes and mutually accepted rules that have developed through historical negotiations between communities across generations. Neither it is easy to explain the wide range of ecosystem interactions in terms of property theory nor is it possible to legalize the multiple boundaries, as an enforceable claim to the benefits but it is essential for such informal spaces to be acknowledged and supported by society through law, custom or convention. The sustainability of the resource depends on the socially constructed norms, rules and entitlement regimes that define the access to the resources and not only property rights that provides enforceable claim to use of or benefit from the resource."