Rapid growth in population and the unprecedented pace of development in our country is resulting in widespread degradation of our natural resources (land, water, biodiversity, biomass resources, forests, livestock and fisheries). According to a recent declaration by India’s Environment Minister, about a quarter of India’s land is turning into desert and degradation of agricultural areas is becoming a severe problem, potentially threatening the food security of our country. Careless agricultural practices such as over use of marginal lands, imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers and misuse of irrigation water have further lead to deteriorating soil health, shrinking aquifers and creation of wastelands, there by resulting in the agrarian crises we are witnessing today.

In the face of widespread land degradation and climate change affecting the socio-economic lives of our people, there is an increasing recognition to involve various local stakeholders in the process of natural resource management. People’s participation is viewed as a dynamic group process in which all members of a community not only contribute to the attainment of common objectives, but also share the benefits accruing from the common group activities. Need for people’s participation is articulated in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, equity in distribution of benefits, sustainability and empowerment of people at the grassroots. Despite the fact that the Participatory Approach has been promoted in India for the last 10 -15 years through Joint Forest Management, Integrated Pest Management and Participatory Watershed Management; more than 30% of these natural resource management programmes continue to be implemented with a top-down approach. This has resulted not only in the continued over-exploitation of natural resources due to low emphasis on proper management of the resources, but also in non-inclusive growth and social inequity.

Unequal access to land, water and other natural resources is a major constraint to promote people’s participation in the effort to conserve the same as it gives rise to conflicting interests between different group of farmers and non-farming communities which only increases degradation of the natural resources. Insecurity of land tenure in case of share croppers is another reason which prevents them from improving and conserving the natural resource base.

Therefore, in order to protect our natural resources, reduce vulnerability of agriculture to changing climatic factors and to increase the quality of life of the rural population; we need to promote social equity and participatory natural resource management by effectively involving stakeholders from the community to mainstream development needs in local governance.

Women have the potential to play a critical role in this process as they are responsible for using and maintaining the natural resources for their daily household and community requirements. From collection of fuel-wood, fodder and forest produce to fetching water for household needs and working on the agricultural land; women are constantly engaging with the natural environment. Ironically, their efforts are rarely acknowledged by the community or the local government and most often women are discouraged from participating in the decision making processes regarding the planning and management of their community’s natural resource base.

Promotion of social equity and inclusive growth is an imperative for successful management and protection of natural resources. Natural resources cannot be conserved without sustaining people’s social, economic and livelihood interests through equal participation by all the sections in the community and through continuous dialogue, negotiation and deliberation amongst them.    q

Shailendra Nath Pandey
snpandey@devalt.org