Common Pool Resources and the Development Process: Evidence from India

Abstract

"This paper analyses recent evidence on the role of common pool resources (CPRs) as development drivers and safety net providers. In the context of alternative development paradigms, multiple-use common pool resources have come under consumptive pressures from local, regional, national and international stakeholders. The important issue that emerges is the extent and manner in which common pool resources would continue to be relevant to sustainable livelihoods in the context where markets and globalisation dominate development. Using a simultaneous equations framework with poverty and value of collections from CPRs as the endogenous variables, the interlinkages between development and CPRs are explored. The effect of exogenous variables such as the role of privately owned assets, access to infrastructure and existence of management regimes for CPRs is also examined. We find that while the safety net role of CPRs is dominant, regional differences in their role as development drivers emerge."