Cooperative management of natural resources / edited by Katar Singh and Vishwa Ballabh

The management of natural resources, especially common pool resources, is an important factor in determining the pace and level of a nation's development. Most of India's natural resources are currently in a very poor shape due to a variety of reasons such as sheer neglect, over-grazing or indiscriminate exploitation. With both privatisation and nationalisation having failed to stem the rot, it is imperative that alternative ways are found to restore the productivity of the country's degraded natural resources. The contributors to this volume argue forcefully for collective or cooperative management as the most politically and socially suitable method for the management of natural resources.

Beginning with an overview of the rationale for and evolution of the cooperative management of natural resources, this volume brings together experiences from diverse regions of India. Fourteen case studies covering a wide range of natural resources such as wastelands, forests, groundwater, surface water and fisheries are examined in depth. Both descriptive and analytic in nature, these case studies present the salient characteristics of the resource in question and its users, while describing in detail the existing system of resource use and management. Finally, the contributors provide practical guidelines on how to organise resource users and enable them to manage common pool resources more efficiently, equitably and sustainably.

An important book for development practitioners and policy makers, it will also be valuable supplementary reading for courses in natural resource economics, environmental management, agricultural economics and rural development.