Towards a Sustainable Future
People and Resources

The modern development process has resulted in increasing exploitation of natural resources. The new development paradigm demands a sustainable resource management strategy. This could emerge from revisiting traditional community based resource management systems, some of which have survived till date.

Incipient efforts at understanding community based resource management systems have improved our knowledge base. These resource management systems vary widely depending on the prevailing cultural and social patterns, economic and political structures and ownership and use of resources.

Recently, Development Alternatives completed a study on Community Based Natural Resource Management Systems (CBNRMS). The study examined some of the existing systems in the country with the objective of understanding the critical factors which determine their success.

The rivers, forests, mineral wealth, sea, flora and fauna are all natural resources to which people have varying degrees of ownership and access. This study focussed on three resources - land, water and forests. The ownership and use patterns were examined. It was seen that the processes involved in natural resource management were conservation, supply, distribution, use and regeneration. A process-use matrix helped identify two resource use situations where successful community management was possible - minor irrigation and non-timber forest produce.

For a comprehensive understanding of community based management in the above stated resource use situations, an array of systems based on climatic zones were studied through primary surveys. The sampled areas included the Himalayan foothills (Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), the deserts (Rajasthan), the Gangetic plains (West Bengal), the semi-arid western plains (Gujarat and Maharashtra) and the Western Ghat slopes (Karnataka).

A variety of groups managing one or more natural resource, both formal and informal, were studied. Some of them were indigenous and some resulted from collaborations with Government, NGOs, private sector and external funding agencies.

Three issues emerged from the analysis: One, the institutional designs vary considerably, having evolved in response to specific situation requirements. These institutions could be categorised by their formality, size, composition, affiliations and functions.

Two, whatever be the climatic zone and institutional design in operation, three phases can be distinctly demarcated in the life of a system : genesis, growth and sustenance. In the genesis phase the community forms a group to manage a resource. The community action originates from an urgency to conserve it for fulfillment of basic needs. The benefits from this community action being transparent, it facilitates assessment of the group's capacity in terms of the tasks to be undertaken and the technical and financial requirements.

Actual implementation takes place in the growth phase. The design of the system is finalised. Subsequently rules and regulations are formulated, generally by consensus to ensure regular maintenance and to deal with conflicting interests and possible pilferage.

The sustenance phase does not foreclose further growth in the system. Once the system is functioning and its validity is demonstrated, it ensures growth of the system and its possible diversification. Continuity signifies the strength acquired by the group to deal with the evolving scenario.

Two critical factors, which ensured the sustainability of these systems, were the choice of technology and the effective management of the system.

The sustainability of a resource management system, to a large extent depends on the appropriateness of the technology. An appropriate technology may be defined as low cost, using local materials and skills and a user-friendly system.

It was observed in many cases that formulation of rules and regulations with consensus provided the basis for management of the system. The management was found to be endogenous in its thinking towards formulation of guidelines. It relied heavily on local intellect.

The analysis helped identify an issue important for future strategy - that a successful system can emerge out of the internal dynamics within a community and/or be externally catalysed. The primary role of an external catalyst is to ensure that the missing elements for successful community action are systematically introduced, preferably from within the community.

The external catalytic agent may be an NGO, a government agency or even an external-funding agency. This interface is most often undertaken best by NGOs who have the basic orientation and over time have imbibed the necessary skills also. Government and external funding agencies have displayed the capacity to provide access to financial, technical, managerial and other support facilities.

This study primarily focussed on providing guidelines for externally catalysed systems. The guidelines pertained to policy and resource-specific operational issues.

At the policy level, it is essential to define the legal status of the resources amenable to community management. This implies that the formal system needs to define and recognise rights, concessions and obligations of users. Also, it is necessary to establish mechanisms for community management not only in sectoral programmes but also in integrated development programmes.

At the operational level, sequential activities and precautions were enumerated for the three phases of genesis, growth and sustenance of a system.

Apart from policy and operational issues common to most resources amenable to community management, resource specific guidelines were given. For this, the processes of resource development conceptually outlined earlier as - conservation, supply, distribution, use and regeneration - were analysed for six aspects:

Activities - the salient tasks involved.

Technologies - the choice, design and materials to be used

Actors - the role players that could be involved

Decisions - the type of decisions that need to be taken.

Problem areas - the possible internal and external hurdles

Special effort - the site specific measures needed

For the success of an externally induced system, the catalyst has to guard for the above factors. Based on this analysis, process specific guidelines were outlined for 'water for minor irrigation', and 'non-timber forest produce'.

Back to Contents