Contract No: 83156192 Representng Knowledge: LEK and Natural Resource Governance in India Aarthi Sridhar and Meera Anna Oommen 2014 Citation: Sridhar, A. and Oommen, M.A. 2014. Representing Knowledge: LEK and Natural Resource Governance in India. Deutsche Gesellschaf für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and Dakshin Foundation. 130p. Database research: Seema Shenoy, Moushumi Ghosh, M. Muralidharan and Sajan John. Design, layout and illustrations: Seema Shenoy Advisors: Michael Adams and Kartik Shanker Acknowledgements Many individuals must be acknowledged for their assistance in the preparation of this report. Te following experts readily ofered to help with lists of documents to include in our analysis: Ashish Kothari, Bejoy K. Tomas, Chandrika Sharma, Darshan Shankar, G. Hariramamurthi, Prof. John Kurien, Harry Jonas, Kabir Bhavikate, Kanchi Kohli, Madhu Sarin, Madhulika Banerjee, Manish Chandi, Neema Pathak, Nitin Rai, Ramya Rajagopalan, Sagari Ramdas, Seema Bhat, Shalini Bhutani, Shekhar Ojha, Siddhartha Krishnan, Suneetha Subramanian, Ventakesh Salagrama, V. Sujata, V. Arivudainambi and Unnikrishnan, P. Seema, Moushumi, Murali and Sajan undertook the tedious task of compiling material for the database. Kavitha Manjunath oversaw the fnancial aspects of this project and ensured order and accuracy in accounts. Neena Koshy and P.D. Francis of GIZ deserve special thanks for their patience and support. We thank our advisors Prof. Michael Adams and Dr. Kartik Shanker for discussions on the subject and insightful comments on our ideas. Produced by Edgar Endrukaitis, Director Indo-German Biodiversity Programme For further information Aarthi Sridhar, Programme Head, Dakshin Foundation [email protected] Writen/ Compiled and Edited by Aarthi Sridhar and Meera Anna Oommen Design and layout: Seema Shenoy and Muralidharan. M Disclaimer Tis study titled “Representing Knowledge: LEK and Natural Resource Governance in India” is a compilation of information gathered and analysed for the GIZ Project Conservation and Sustainable Management of Existing and Potential Coastal and Marine Protected Areas by Dakshin Foundation. While due care has been taken in preparing this document, the opinions expressed herein do not purport to refect the opinions or views of GIZ. GIZ takes no responsibility for the authenticity, correctness, or sufciency of the information of the content available herein and examples provided. Te opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. Representing Knowledge: LEK and Natural Resource Governance in India Aarthi Sridhar and Meera Anna Oommen 2014 Aarthi Sridhar is a Founder Trustee of Dakshin Foundation and a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Meera Anna Oommen is a Founder Trustee of Dakshin Foundation and a doctoral candidate at the School of the Environment, University of Technology, Sydney. Contents Preface ........................................................................................i A Place for Knowledge: Tracing Governance from the Late Colonial to Contemporary India ............................................. 1 1 Meera Anna Oommen and Aarthi Sridhar Introduction ......................................................................... 2 Diferent ways of knowing ............................................................. 3 Te knowledge-power nexus ........................................................... 4 Tracing sites and processes within the knowledge discourse .......................6 Forestry .............................................................................. 6 Fisheries and other maritime knowledges .............................................. 12 Agriculture and water resources governance ...........................................18 Pastoral landscapes and common property resources ..................................23 Conservation arenas .................................................................26 Te role of knowledge: Summary and critiques .................................. 31 Colonising knowledges and ecological watersheds ...................................... 31 Dismantling monoliths ............................................................... 32 Valorisation of pre-colonial traditions .................................................33 Criticisms fom post-colonial theory ..................................................34 Critical junctures ....................................................................35 LEK in India: A Biogeographic Analysis ........................................... 37 2 Meera Anna Oommen, Seema Shenoy and Aarthi Sridhar Introduction ....................................................................... 38 Methods and analysis ............................................................. 39 Types of publications ............................................................. 42 Tracing LEK research with respect to legislation .................................. 48 State-wise representation of studies ............................................... 50 Biogeographic zones of India ..................................................... 51 Communities in India ............................................................. 55 Research themes .................................................................. 56 Nutrition and health ................................................................. 56 Wild and domesticated species ........................................................58 Fisheries and aquaculture ............................................................58 Natural resource management, prediction, etc. ......................................... 60 Other important themes .............................................................60 Regional focus ..................................................................... 62 Trans-Himalaya ..................................................................... 62 Himalaya ...........................................................................65 Desert ...............................................................................68 Semi-arid ...........................................................................70 Western Ghats .......................................................................72 Deccan Peninsula ....................................................................75 Gangetic Plain ....................................................................... 78 Coasts. .80 Northeast ...........................................................................82 Islands ..............................................................................85 Knowledge at the Margins: LEK on Coastal and Marine Systems of India ........................................................................................87 3 Aarthi Sridhar Introduction ....................................................................... 88 Identifying LEK literature for analysis. 88 LEK studies across publication types ............................................. 92 LEK and technology .............................................................. 94 State-wise distribution of studies .................................................. 95 Cross references and citations: Contributions to existing knowledge . 98 LEK publications on traditional management .................................... 99 Challenges of making a place for LEK in modern legal frameworks . 101 Knowledge management and documentation ................................... 102 Engaging the Divide: Knowledge and Democracy in India . 105 4 Aarthi Sridhar and Meera Anna Oommen Te problem of legibility: Language and the demarcation divide . 106 TEK/LEK - Museumisation to practice ......................................... 107 Knowledge as a constructed ideal ................................................ 107 Te relation between resources and knowledge ................................. 108 Interdisciplinarity in understanding education pathways and learning cultures . 108 Research agendas and collaborations ............................................109 Plurality of knowledge as experiments with democracy ......................... 110 References .......................................................................... 111 Appendix .......................................................................... 128 Preface Tis study was undertaken by Dakshin Foundation for Deutsche Gesellschaf für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (hereafer GIZ), as part of its project titled ‘Conservation and Sustainable Management of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas, India’ (hereafer CMPA). Te CMPA is a joint project between the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and implemented by GIZ. Te CMPA project aims to improve biodiversity conservation and management practice in a number of existing and potential Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in India while contributing positively to local livelihoods of people at these sites. In doing so, the project operates within the framework of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in particular Article 8(j) which emphasises the promotion and engagement with the local, indigenous and traditional knowledge of communities which are relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and