Kerala Reservoir Fisheries: Resource Development or Welfare Programme? A Case of Commons and Technical Co-operation

Abstract

"This paper relates some experiences with commons (CPR) and projects of technical co-operation in natural resource development. We realise that natural resource development, as any other development, is not limited to foreign-funded projects. However, projects of technical co-operation are an important form of development intervention. They display a concerted effort with a defined objective and geographical area and are time-bound, aiming to provide initiatives and innovations in priority-rated areas of concern. They also provide an interesting interface of different perceptions of and approaches to development, and, ideally, should contribute the best of two worlds. The paper builds upon an example of common-pool resource management and common-property regime formulation in the context of a project of technical co-operation in reservoir fisheries development in South India. It is organised in three parts. The first recapitulates some general observations regarding commons and technical co-operation. The second part provides an analysis of reservoir fisheries development in Kerala, which, so far, has culminated in a project of technical co-operation between the governments of India and Germany. The third part contemplates on the 'lessons learned', and makes some conclusions and recommendations with regard to the relevance of common-property regimes and institutional development in the planning and implementation of projects of technical co-operation in natural resource management and development."