Developing a Participatory Model for the Assessment of the Proposed Tipaimukh Hydro Multipurpose Dam in Manipur: An Ethnographic Approach to Environmental Valuation

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."