Commons Convening 2024: Experts Call For Stronger Integration Of Local Communities In Governance To Protect India’s Common Resources

The Commons Convening is organised by a coalition of partners including Common Ground, which works on systems change initiative in the domain of environmental governance and rural livelihoods

FPJ News Service Updated: Wednesday, August 28, 2024, 07:26 PM IST
Panelists at the Commons Convening in Delhi on Wednesday, from left to right, Sudarshan Iyengar, noted Gandhian and former vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, a university founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi; Arun Maira, former member of the Planning Commission of India;  Jahnvi Andharia, director and research fellow at the Institute of Social Studies Trust; Thomas Isaac, former Kerala finance minister; and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, professor at Ashoka University.  | @CommonsConv

Panelists at the Commons Convening in Delhi on Wednesday, from left to right, Sudarshan Iyengar, noted Gandhian and former vice-chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, a university founded in 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi; Arun Maira, former member of the Planning Commission of India; Jahnvi Andharia, director and research fellow at the Institute of Social Studies Trust; Thomas Isaac, former Kerala finance minister; and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, professor at Ashoka University. | @CommonsConv

In a global economy, no local community can insulate itself from global markets, and while India already has a strong constitutional governance structure for local communities, there is a need for better integration of local communities with local governance to improve the managing of the ‘Commons’, former finance minister Thomas Isaac said in New Delhi on Wednesday. 

He was speaking at the ‘Commons Convening’, a three-day conference featuring representatives of government and private organisations to discuss best practices on protecting India’s community forests, pastures and water bodies, all critical for rural and tribal communities to meet basic needs such as food, water, firewood and fodder.

“This will ensure that local communities will have power over the resources,” said Isaac.

Arun Maira, former member of the Planning Commission of India, highlighted the linkages between community, governments, and markets. He emphasised the need for a ground-up approach to ensure that both governments and market mechanisms serve the larger society and nature.

On Wednesday, the second day of the conference, delegates also discussed how to undertake a valuation of the economic value of such forests, pastures, uncultivated lands, grazing lands and water bodies that benefit millions of poor Indians.

A brief released at the event by the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Federation University and International Food Policy Research Institute identified 66.5 million hectares of land as ‘land commons’, valuating it at an average annual value of Rs 6.6 lakh crore (USD 90.5 billion). The value is derived from tangible forest produce including food, water and raw materials, and also from these lands’ ability to create benefits for society through climate regulation, soil fertility, water purification, soil regeneration and habitat provision, etc.

Through various panel discussions and workshops on forest produce, the Forest Rights Act of 2006, empowerment of village communities and gram sabhas, delegates discussed how 350 million rural people’s livelihoods depend on these common resources, and that 40%-60% of the earnings of tribal communities comes from forest produce, most of it collected by women.

The Commons Convening is organised by a coalition of partners including  Common Ground, which works on systems change initiative in the domain of environmental governance and rural livelihoods; the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) which works towards conservation of nature and natural resources through collective action of local communities; Landstack, a leading land think tank; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Published on: Wednesday, August 28, 2024, 07:22 PM IST

RECENT STORIES