Communities across the world interact with common pool resources in distinct ways, including for economic as well as social and cultural purposes. The involvement of local communities in the conservation and management of these resources requires recognising and building upon their customary de facto governance arrangements. However, the absence of a comprehensive database around the customary governance arrangements hinders their recognition, also weakens these arrangements and the institutions around them. The absence of such a database weakens the trust of external stakeholders in these customary arrangements and in local communities’ abilities to act for sustainable management of resources. In an attempt to address this issue, this research was carried out for preparing such a database to record the customary governance arrangements around the common pool resources, namely the People’s Commons’ Register (PCR). This participatory action research was conducted at three locations in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This paper shares the methodology evolved as an outcome of the research. It also highlights some key insights into the complex relationships of different stakeholders around the common pool resources. The creation of a database such as PCR is an essential first step in creating awareness and collectivising local communities for the conservation and management of the common pool resources. PCR aims to become a people’s document by enabling them to access opportunities to secure their rights to use, protect, manage and establish claims on their resources.
Based on an empirical exploration, the dominant objective of the paper is to understand the impact of industrial projects, for example, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) on the sustainability of tribal communities as well as the surrounding natural environment. The contemporary industrial project has devastated the natural capital through its industrial practices, such as over-extraction of natural resources, over-passage of decomposed wastes, contamination of water bodies, inordinate drilling out of groundwater, etc., without any concern for the existence of nature as well as the rich culture developed by the tribal communities. In this context, the study unearths an empirical understanding of NALCO in Koraput, Odisha, and its impact on the sustainability of the tribal village communities as well as their symbiotic relationship with the natural environment. The empirical investigation has been conducted in selected tribal villages located in and around the NALCO.
The study of the erosive manifestation in El Ogla and El Hadada watersheds showed a strong and accelerated erosive dynamic. The aggression of the rains, the unstable nature of the Lower Eocene clays and the pressure of humans on the marginal lands seem to be at the origin of the instability of the slopes. Thus, the preservation of lands requires a colossal effort from the part of the State as well as the peasants. Unfortunately, the majority of developments have been implemented on an ad hoc basis and are far from being implemented comprehensively. In El Ogla and El Hadada watersheds, bench terracing is the most spectacular form of State intervention. It is considered by technicians as the unique solution for all forms of erosion. However, the appearance of forms of failure in various sectors cannot neglect the good functioning of some of them in the stability of the slopes and the reduction of the water slide. The objective of this applied research is to evaluate the behaviour of these benches as an interactive system with the other components of the natural environment based on photointerpretation, field monitoring and the results of the diagnosis of the balance sheet displacement of sediments obtained from the application of the isotopic method of Cesium 137. This assessment of bench terracing is largely based on the Bugeat formula, which seems to be the most appropriate method for determining the suitable dimensions of both height and terrace spacing.
The soybean stock availability in Pasuruan, Jember and Banyuwangi regencies of East Java Province has experienced a very worrying development in the past few years due to decline in production by above 29 per cent. This has implications for the sustainability of the tofu and soybean cake (tempeh craft). Along with the limited availability of raw material, i.e. soybean, the production costs tend to reduce the added value. The purpose of this study was to analyse the added value, the relationship of soybean commodity stock availability and added value, the factors that influence profit, and the added value of the tofu & tempeh craft. Descriptive correlative method with survey and non-probability sampling techniques as well as data collection techniques through in-depth interviews were used for this study. For data analysis, Hayami method, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and Cobb-Douglas Model Multiple Regression were used. The results of this study revealed that i) the average value added of tofu & tempeh products is IDR 8,608.09 per kilogram of raw materials with an added value ratio of 47.11 per cent; ii) there is a fairly strong positive relationship between the variable stock availability of raw materials and the added value of tofu & tempeh products, iii) the variable of the amount of production, and the price of production have a significant effect on the profit of the tofu & tempeh craft at the real level α1 per cent; and 4) variable amount of soybean raw material significantly influences the added value of tofu & tempeh products at the real level of 1 per cent.
