Securing the commons in India: Mapping polycentric governance

Securing the commons in India: Mapping polycentric governance
Author: Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2020-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Common pool land and water resources in India play vital, but often overlooked, roles in livelihoods and ecosystem services. These resources are subject to the authority of various government departments and are often managed in ways that result in uncertain tenure for the people who depend on these resources for fodder, fuel, water, and other products. An Indian NGO, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), has developed a process for “commoning”—assisting communities to secure the commons by forming inclusive local institutions to manage the resources, and to work with different government departments to gain stronger rights to the commons. This paper applies polycentricity theory to examine the institutional arrangements that govern the commons in FES sites in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states and assesses relationships that may affect commons management. It draws on key informant interviews and village-level social network mapping exercises (Net-mapping) to show the complex flows of resources, information, and influence related to the commons among habitation-level organizations, local government, resource agencies, the rural employment guarantee program (MGNREGA), and NGOs. This paper discusses the potential of this methodology as a diagnostic tool to help understand community perceptions of the role of various stakeholders in overall governance of the commons, and can provide guidance for interventions to help communities to strengthen their tenure on the commons and management of those resources.

Securing Freedom in the Global Commons

Securing Freedom in the Global Commons
Author: Scott Jasper
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2010-02-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0804775990

The new millennium has brought with it an ever-expanding range of threats to global security: from cyber attacks to blue-water piracy to provocative missile tests. Now, more than ever then, national security and prosperity depend on the safekeeping of a global system of mutually supporting networks of commerce, communication, and governance. The global commons—outer space, international waters, international airspace, and cyberspace—are assets outside of national jurisdiction that serve as essential conduits for these networks, facilitating the free flow of trade, finance, information, people, and technology. These commons also comprise much of the international security environment, enabling the physical and virtual movement and operations of allied forces. Securing freedom of use of the global commons is therefore fundamental to safeguarding the global system. Unfortunately, the fact that civil and military operations in the commons are inherently interwoven and technically interdependent makes them susceptible to intrusion. This intrinsic vulnerability confronts the international defense community with profound challenges in preserving access to the commons while countering elemental and systemic threats to the international order from both state and non-state actors. In response, the authors of this volume—a team of distinguished academics and international security practitioners—describe the military-operational requirements for securing freedom of action in the commons. Collaborating from diverse perspectives, they examine initiatives and offer frameworks that are designed to minimize vulnerabilities and preserve advantages, while recognizing that global security must be underscored by international cooperation and agreements. The book is written for security professionals, policy makers, policy analysts, military officers in professional military education programs, students of security studies and international relations, and anyone wishing to understand the challenges we face to our use of the global commons.

India and China at Sea

India and China at Sea
Author: David Brewster
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2018-01-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199091684

China and India are emerging as major maritime powers as part of long-term shifts in the regional balance of power. As their wealth, interests, and power grow, the two countries are increasingly bumping up against each other across the Indo-Pacific. China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean is seen by many as challenging India’s aspirations towards regional leadership and major power status. How India and China get along in this shared maritime space—cooperation, coexistence, competition, or confrontation—will be one of the key strategic challenges for the entire region. India and China at Sea is an essential resource in understanding how the two countries will interact as major maritime powers in the coming decades. The essays in the volume, by noted strategic analysts from across the world, seek to better understand Indian and Chinese perspectives about their roles in the Indian Ocean and their evolving naval strategies towards each other.

Common lands in India: Spatial distribution and overlay with socioeconomic and environmental indicators

Common lands in India: Spatial distribution and overlay with socioeconomic and environmental indicators
Author: ElDidi, Hagar
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2023-01-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Common pool resources provide important socioeconomic and ecological benefits for local communities and beyond, with around 2.5-3 billion people depending on commons for their livelihoods and other needs globally. In India, common lands constitute around a quarter of the country’s landmass, help meet the subsistence and livelihood needs of at least 350 million people and are of social and cultural significance to rural communities, as well as providing ecosystem services that benefit wider society. Despite these vital contributions, India’s commons have been facing widespread degradation, and policymakers tend to perceive some commons as “wastelands” because their true extent and value is not known. This study contributes to improved understanding of the magnitude and vitality of commons for rural communities, focusing on land-based commons in India. We provide a national assessment of the spatial extent and usage of common lands across districts, using publicly available spatial datasets and 2011 Census of India data and Household Census data. We further examine the spatial overlap between common lands and officially recognized protected areas to shine light on the possible locations where sustainable management or restoration of commons can potentially add value to conservation, in addition to benefiting local communities. Our results show that common lands are spread out spatially across the country and are intertwined, with more than one type of commons often present within the same district. Further, communities, especially poor, marginalized and indigenous communities such as Scheduled Tribe rely on forest commons, barren lands, pastures and culturable wastelands for their livelihoods, including for extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for housing and cooking, grazing livestock, among others. Common lands and the communities that depend on them also often live in proximity to or are surrounded by officially recognized protected areas. Our study points to the need to drill down to more disaggregated level for commons mapping, which, in conjunction with information on the values of ecosystem services provide by commons, could inform land use policies and conservation and development planning.

Protecting the Commons

Protecting the Commons
Author: Joanna Burger
Publisher: Shearwater Books
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2001
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Commons—lands, waters, and resources that are not legally owned and controlled by a single private entity, such as ocean and coastal areas, the atmosphere, public lands, freshwater aquifers, and migratory species—are an increasingly contentious issue in resource management and international affairs. Protecting the Commons provides an important analytical framework for understanding commons issues and for designing policies to deal with them. The product of a symposium convened by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) to mark the 30th anniversary of Garrett Hardin's seminal essay “The Tragedy of the Commons” the book brings together leading scholars and researchers on commons issues to offer both conceptual background and analysis of the evolving scientific understanding on commons resources. The book: gives a concise update on commons use and scholarship offers eleven case studies of commons, examined through the lens provided by leading commons theorist Elinor Ostrom provides a review of tools such as Geographic Information Systems that are useful for decision-making examines environmental justice issues relevant to commons Contributors include Alpina Begossi, William Blomquist, Joanna Burger, Tim Clark, Clark Gibson, Michael Gelobter, Michael Gochfeld, Bonnie McCay, Pamela Matson, Richard Norgaard, Elinor Ostrom, David Policansky, Jeffrey Richey, Jose Sarukhan, and Edella Schlager. Protecting the Commons represents a landmark study of commons issues that offers analysis and background from economic, legal, social, political, geological, and biological perspectives. It will be essential reading for anyone concerned with commons and commons resources, including students and scholars of environmental policy and economics, public health, international affairs, and related fields.

The Drama of the Commons

The Drama of the Commons
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 533
Release: 2002-02-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309169984

The "tragedy of the commons" is a central concept in human ecology and the study of the environment. It has had tremendous value for stimulating research, but it only describes the reality of human-environment interactions in special situations. Research over the past thirty years has helped clarify how human motivations, rules governing access to resources, the structure of social organizations, and the resource systems themselves interact to determine whether or not the many dramas of the commons end happily. In this book, leaders in the field review the evidence from several disciplines and many lines of research and present a state-of-the-art assessment. They summarize lessons learned and identify the major challenges facing any system of governance for resource management. They also highlight the major challenges for the next decade: making knowledge development more systematic; understanding institutions dynamically; considering a broader range of resources (such as global and technological commons); and taking into account the effects of social and historical context. This book will be a valuable and accessible introduction to the field for students and a resource for advanced researchers.

Governing the Commons

Governing the Commons
Author: Elinor Ostrom
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2015-09-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107569788

Tackles one of the most enduring and contentious issues of positive political economy: common pool resource management.

Managing the Commons, Second Edition

Managing the Commons, Second Edition
Author: John A. Baden
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1998-04-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780253211538

Garrett Hardin's seminal essay "The Tragedy of the Commons" appeared in 1968 and has been at the center of the debate on commonly owned ground or resources such as Western public grazing or the oceans. This is the second edition of a book exploring the issues raised in Hardin's essay. As scarce resources are increasingly strained. It is ever more crucial to identify those resources which are held in common and are therefore prone to "tragic" waste and abuses. The essay in this volume focus on alternate institutional approaches to managing these resources to prevent such tragedy.

India’s National Security

India’s National Security
Author: Satish Kumar
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2017-11-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 135124079X

The global security environment in the last five years has been characterised by a state of ‘no war, no peace’ among major powers, resulting in a state of uncertainty about their national security objectives. For instance, the US has been concerned about the attitudes of Iran, Russia, North Korea, China, and others, and yet did not expect a direct military conflict with them. On the other hand, China has expanded its naval strategy from a mere ‘off-shore defence’ to ‘open seas protection’ and has called for both ‘defence and offence’ instead of merely ‘territorial air defence’, thereby indicating preparedness for the possibility of a military confrontation. The major powers have been thus groping for suitable responses to their threat perceptions. It is in this kind of a complex and confusing international environment that India, as a rising power, has been called upon to wade through its strategic partnerships with major powers and nurture friendships with various Asian and African countries. This sixteenth volume of India’s National Security Annual Review offers indispensable information and evaluation on matters pertaining to national security. It undertakes a thorough analysis of the trends to provide a backdrop to India’s engagement with various countries. The volume also discusses persisting threats from China and Pakistan. With contributions from experts from the fields of diplomacy, academia, and civil and military services, the book will be one of the most dependable sources of analyses for scholars of international relations, foreign policy, defence and strategic studies, and political science, and practitioners alike.