Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment

Team: Shrinivas Badiger, Mohan Seetharam, Bejoy K Thomas, Siddhartha Krishnan (programme convenor)

Programme goal

To understand the trajectory and drivers of change occurring in land and water resources stressed regions with respect to water availability, water quality, land degradation, food security and provision of environmental services for and by the agricultural systems; and identify appropriate practical/ policy strategies to achieve environmental sustainability and human wellbeing.

Research questions

Research questions are formed towards:

• Generating knowledge concerning water utilization, access and availability, both spatially and temporally in resource-stressed regions in the context of changing land-use and water-use practices, and climate.
• Identifying the role and importance of multiple uses of water in agriculture, livestock rearing for subsistence in various livelihood systems and their synergies.
• Investigating issues of resource accessibility by local communities and vulnerable/ marginal groups; and identifying socio-institutional structures that hinder/ facilitate their participation in decision making processes.
• Identifying risks to human health, food production/security and the environment from land degradation, water scarcity and decline in water quality.
• Identifying policy, regulatory and socio-institutional options that facilitate equitable distribution/sharing and environmentally benign use of land and water resources.

Issues addressed

• Water scarcity: decline in quantity and quality of water for human wellbeing, sustaining economic activities and ecosystem functioning (dry season river flows and groundwater depletion)
• Changes in agricultural practices
• Diversion to high-value uses (cash crops, industry and urban drinking water)
• Climate variability and change
• Land degradation: reduction in net cultivable area increasing pressure on land for more intense uses
• Salinity and waterlogging in large irrigation schemes
• Land-use management of areas prone to water and wind erosion (arid, semi-arid, high rainfall and steep slopes)
• Climate change impacts: increased wind draft, reduced rainy days, high rainfall intensities

Completed research

Includes research carried out by fellows at ATREE and CISED:

• Watershed Development Review: Issues and Prospects (Joy and Paranjape)
• Long-term Impacts of Watershed Development in Arid and Semi-arid India (Lele and Badiger)
• Understanding Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in South Asia (Lele with Menon, Shah, Joy and Paranjape)
• Valuation of Ecological Impacts in Forest Ecosystems (Purushottaman)
• Review of Right to Water: Human Rights, State Legislation, and Civil Society Initiatives in India (Sangameswaran)
• Colonial State, Zamindars and the Politics of Flood Control in North Bihar (P. Singh)
• Land-use Change, Hydrologic Regimes and Water Conflicts in Malaprabha (Badiger)
• Emerging Water Regulatory Frameworks and Related Reforms in Water Governance in Karnataka (Rao and Badiger)

Ongoing Research

• Land Use Policies and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries –LUPIS project
• Socio-economic vulnerability and livelihoods in Kuttanad/ Vembanad
• Analysis of the scope that the Kerala Panchayathi Raj Act holds for decentralized conservation in the region around Vembanad wetlands
• Vulnerability mapping

The programme is also expanding its research activities in two agro-ecological regions/sites where ATREE faculty have established prior field presence:

• Malaprabha river basin in Karnataka
• Vembanad lake and wetland ecosystem in Kerala

The research approach in these two contrasting socio-economic and ecological contexts will be to understand the bio-physical and socio-economic characteristics of the resource crisis and social conflict under changing agricultural practices and climate conditions.

Research, policy and community interfaces

• Consultations with Parthasarthy Committee – policy gaps on issues of participation, equity, legal frameworks and investments to achieve long term impacts (learnings from first and second generation watershed development projects)
• National workshop involving the NRAA: on rainfed area development – post second generation of watershed development projects (issues of distributional impacts of projects, environmental and livelihood sustainability of vulnerable groups)
• Engagement with ministries in Karnataka (KWRA) on emerging water reforms (inter-sectoral engagement, water rights, allocation, equity, pricing and resource sustainability)
• Partner workshops with NGOs and stakeholders in watershed development projects: distributional impacts, participation
• Comprehensive GIS-based database on watershed development projects (areal extent and expenditure)
• Stakeholder meeting in Malaprabha sub-basin: discussions among competing users of water: intensive agriculture and domestic water users
• Consultative meeting on water reforms and the role of emerging Independent Regulatory Authorities/ Agencies (IRA) in Karnataka: water rights, depolitization of water governance and water markets
• Citizens reader on water governance, emerging issue of IRA, water rights and participation (bilingual)
• Gram Panchayats in Vembanad/ Kuttanad region: understanding issues of conflict between paddy growers and fishing communities: sustainable use and regulation of freshwater and tidal waters
• Stakeholder meetings (along with CERC*, Vembanad)