IUCN IUCNWater Water Programme Programme NEGOTIATE Toolkit: Case Studies Negotiating our way through Livelihoods and Ecosystems: The Bhima River Basin Experience1 By Prof. Vijay Paranjpye and Ms. Parineeta Dandekar, Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development 1. Background 1.1 The Ecosystems-Livelihoods impasse: Need for new approaches Ecosystem protection and poverty alleviation are of utmost importance in achieving the Millennium Development Goals2. In most developing countries, the two are closely interlinked. But, due to unsustainable anthropogenic pressures, the carrying capacity of ecosystems is severely jeopardized, thus affecting ecosystem goods and services on which the rural poor depend directly. Attempts at focusing on one of the aspects without working on the other have proven to be unsustainable. An approach focused entirely on ecosystems, that does not perceive the local communities as a part of ecosystems or conversely, an approach focused entirely on communities and livelihoods that does not prioritize the urgent need for preservation and restoration of degrading ecosystems have shown to have limited relevance in tackling ground realities. In the two options mentioned above, the approaches have been developed by well- meaning external organizations or governments that seek to 'manage' their projects from a distance, while the vision, wisdom or problems of the local community are seldom seen as the building blocks for developing the approach further. In this conventional top-down water management scenario, new and evolved fields of management like Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) that aim to seek integration 3 and to function with an ecosystems approach are a welcome change. IWRM aims to strike a balance between use of resources for livelihood and conservation of resources to sustain their functions for future generations (Falkenmark, GWP TEC Paper 9). The idea of integrating water management with ecosystemic well being is promising, especially for communities that depend directly on natural resources. Although the way it is envisioned in developing countries with centralized River Basin Organizations (RBOs) recommending top-down measures results in increased efficiency of the system, it generally fails to address issues related to equity that are crucial for these countries. 1.2 Negotiated Approach to River Basin Management The Negotiated Approach to river basin management asserts that local communities have the potential of managing natural resources not only in their immediate vicinity, but also of up scaling 1 This paper is based on experiences of Gomukh Trust for Sustainable Development from 1998 to 2006. For details on the project: http://www.bothends.org/strategic/RBM-Boek.pdf 2 Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability. http://www.un.org/ 3 Operationalisation of IWRM through the ecological units of river basins has been termed as Integrated River Basin Management. 1 the vision to cover the entire river basin. A River Basin is taken as the reference ecosystem in this case because the Negotiated approach evolved mainly as a response to growing dissatisfaction amongst community and civil society organizations (CSOs) in developing countries to conventional, top-down water management approaches. The approach is not restricted to only applying the subsidiarity principle, where communities take part in decision making related to their own village or sub catchment, but it “calls for the reverse, allowing local actors to develop basin management strategies specific to their local context, which are then incorporated in the larger basin management plan. This allows their knowledge to influence regional and national decisions, ultimately resulting in a truly bottom-up process of policy development and management.” (Hirsch, Paranjpye, 2005) Another facet of negotiations is managing the trade offs that arise from ecosystem-livelihood interactions. Conventional management and policy has little to contribute to the issue: “The pattern of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ associated with ecosystem changes, and in particular the impact of ecosystem changes on marginalized communities, has not been adequately taken into account in management decisions” (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment). As was experienced by case holders, the livelihood-ecosystem issue is fraught with trade offs, wherein one sector has to make considerable compromises to accommodate the needs of the other. Such an exchange has inherent conflicts associated with it and thus has to be handled with equity and sensitivity. As an outsider, it is a near-impossible task for an external agency to manage and resolve these conflicts as and when they arise, neither is it sustainable in the longer run. Through the negotiated approach, community platforms, often based on traditional institutions, are nurtured and strengthened to address these issues. It has to be noted that capacity building and guidance from external organizations forms an important part of the process to ensure strong representation from weaker stakeholders like families below the poverty line, women and especially, the environment. Thus, the approach is considerably different than decision-making based on majority opinion. Finding an answer to the question, ‘benefits to whom at what cost?’ becomes an important function of the negotiations that are trying to find ‘trade-offs’ in conflicting situations. 1.3 Applying the Negotiated approach in seven river basins, across three continents Through a project funded by DGIS, civil society organisations Both ENDS (The Netherlands) and Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development (India) documented and analysed the results of implementing a negotiated approach to river basin management through local CSOs in the following basins: • Bhima Basin: India, • Khulna-Jessore Districts: Bangladesh, • Se San Basin: Cambodia, • Nan Basin: Thailand, • Sand Basin: South Africa, • Ocona Basin: Peru and • Tiquipaya- Cochabamba Basins: Bolivia The following case study analyses the impact of applying the Negotiated Approach to a range of activities from forest conservation to water allocations in the Bhima Basin of Western Maharashtra, India. In order to get a perspective of the local conditions, let us take a brief overview of water management in India and the problems associated with it. 2 2. Socio-Political Context of Water Management in India After gaining independence in 1947, the development of water resources in India was mainly based on supply of water by large dam-and-canal systems conceived as independent and discrete projects. Federal states were free to draw independent water management plans and as a result, water management today is built on a sectoral, project-based view, leading to pockets of prosperity in some places and drying fields at others. In this situation, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments made in 1933 were a landmark as they provided the enabling frameworks to local self-government giving village committees (panchayats) the right to plan, develop and manage their own natural resources. This led to a healthy growth of village level community organizations, with multi dimensional liaison and technical assistance from urban-based voluntary organizations. The present case study analyses the potential of local communities in managing their natural resources sustainably, while working with a basin perspective. 2.1 The location and the context of the Bhima River Sub-Basin, Western India The Bhima River is one of the main tributaries of the river Krishna, which forms a large river basin in the southern peninsula of the Indian subcontinent. The Bhima River has a vast basin comprising of about six million hectares, and flows from west to east passing through the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, before meeting the river Krishna, which flows further south to the state of Andhra Pradesh where it meets the Indian Ocean. The basin consists of four municipal corporations with a total population of 6,224,807 (Indian Census, 2001). Main occupation is agriculture. River Bhima originates through moist deciduous forests in the Western Ghats of India, which are one of the 12 biodiversity hot spots of the world. The basin is rich in biodiversity with six wildlife sanctuaries. Community conserved areas known as the ‘Devrais,’ (sacred groves) are also crucial sanctuaries for rare and endangered biodiversity as are man-made ecosystems (mostly wetlands created by dams). 3 2.2 Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development Gomukh started work as a non-profit organisation in 1989 and dedicated itself to the promotion of sustainable development, conservation of natural resources and the restoration of ecological balance through village level planning and development. In 1995 it was invited by representatives of the villages in Kolwan Valley, located in the upper watershed of the Bhima River Basin to take up a comprehensive catchment area treatment project financed by the state government, popularly known as the ‘Drought Prone Area Programme’ (DPAP). By the time the project was completed in 2001, Gomukh had implemented soil and water conservation measures, constructed water impounding structures, implemented measures for biodiversity conservation, created strong negotiating platforms and a community–based institutional set-up through watershed committees, water users associations, Women’s Self Help Indian mythology considers the cow to be an Groups etc. The Trust adopted a participatory