Browsing by Author "Vardhan, Mamta"

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Incentives, Conditionality and Collective Action in Payment for Environmental Services
(2014) Kerr, John M.; Vardhan, Mamta; Jindal, Rohit
"As payment for environmental services (PES) initiatives spread to collectively managed natural resources, questions arise because the incentive structures that might be appropriate for individually managed resources will not necessarily promote the collective action required to manage the commons. Theory suggests challenges for cash payments to promote collective action, and for alternative payment types to facilitate conditionality. Possible ways to reconcile this disconnect involve conceiving of PES more broadly through the use of multiple forms of payment including non-cash incentives and placing greater focus on building institutions for collective action than on strict conditionality."
Property Rights and Collective Action around Water Management in Kenya's Lower Nyando Basin
(2006) Vardhan, Mamta
"Water management is a priority concern for communities in Nyando basin. Kenya's new water act provides a role for the community in water management, through formation of water user associations. Despite the significance of water for communities, and the policy focus on community involvement, community organization for water management is not forthcoming. To understand the constraints to community organization around water management, a collaborative research was conducted with the World Agroforestry Center in Lake Victoria watershed, Kenya during May-August 2005. The paper presents findings from the qualitative data gathered through focus group discussions across eleven villages in lower Nyando basin on the factors that constrain community management of water. There are multiple reasons for limited community involvement in the management of water. The process of land adjudication and privatization of riparian zones fails to present strong incentives for land owners and community members to participate in collective water management. The ambiguity in the ownership of water systems results into low level of community investment in their management. The absence of institutional structures to address the management of transboundary resources such as rivers also influences the ability of community to cooperate around water management. The ambiguous property right structures constrain the access of poor and marginal groups to critical water resources. An understanding of conditions that engage communities to cooperate for water management would help analysts and water sector agencies to create the right institutional environment to allow for community based water management."