Developing a Participatory Model for the Assessment of the Proposed Tipaimukh Hydro Multipurpose Dam in Manipur: An Ethnographic Approach to Environmental Valuation
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Date
2011
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Abstract
"The proposed construction of the Tipaimukh dam in Manipur has been the focus of
increasing concern for more than a decade. This is mainly because of differences and
difficulties in comparing the socio-cultural and ecological costs with the economic
benefits of the project between the affected local communities and the project
proponents. The absence of meaningful participation of the affected communities during
the design and planning stages of the Project makes it even more critical to place the
present study within a wider human rights approach to development and eco-system
management. We point out that developing environmental valuation methods to support
decision making on-the-ground cannot take place without taking congnizance of the
complex and inextricable link between humans and the natural environment they inhabit
as well as their own perceptions of the same. This paper seeks to develop a
participatory model in which the perspectives of multiple stakeholders are taken into
account and to offer a more people-centric approach to environmental valuation. The
ethnographic case study method is employed to elicit the views and socio-cultural idiom
of the Zeliangrong community residing in the forest area around the river Barak,
adjacent to the proposed dam. The study takes up the example of sentimental
attachment to 'place' in order to show how a participatory model can be modelled and
how taking into consideration the affected communities’ perspectives and worldviews
can significantly alter the cost benefit equation of the Tipaimukh dam project."