Her Work and its Contribution to tHe tHeory and PraCtiCe of Conservation and sustainable natural resourCe ManageMent Policy Matters iuCn CoMMission on environMental, eConoMiC and soCial PoliCy issue 19 aPril 2014

POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

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language that can be used to understand 

the patterns of interactions and outcomes 

occurring in complex urban systems (Ostrom 

2007). Ostrom recommended that the SES 

framework be used as the initial organizing 

language by scholars, citizens, and officials 

who are trying to understand a complex 

system so as to achieve effective, fair, and 

sustainable policies over time (Ostrom 

2009). This framework provides a common 

analytical language to identify the broad 

characteristics of a Resource System and 

related Resource Units, a Governance System, 

and Actors that together impact on the 

structure of Action Situations, leading to 

specific Interactions and Outcomes. During 

the last year of Ostrom’s life, she and one of 

the authors of this paper (HN) had initiated 

research applying the SES framework to an 

urban context in the south Indian city of 

Bangalore, to examine the effects of diverse 

structural variables on interactions and 

outcomes achieved related to seven of the 

city’s lakes (Plate 2). 

Bangalore, a city in a semi-arid region of 

south-central India, was formerly dependent 

on numerous artificial lakes that have 

witnessed tremendous encroachment and 

pollution in recent years (D’Souza and 

Nagendra 2011). Once managed as commons 

by local communities, these lakes are now 

governed by a number of government 

departments with overlapping jurisdictions. 

While many lakes continue to be severely 

polluted, a few lakes have been effectively 

restored in recent years and managed 

collaboratively by local citizen groups 

working with the city municipality (Nagendra 

2010). Nagendra and Ostrom applied the SES 

framework to investigate the conditions that 

may shape the ecological and social outcomes 

associated with these lakes. Collective action 

was high in six out of the seven lakes studied. 

Yet, only in two of these lakes were citizens 

able to successfully translate collective action 

into positive ecological outcomes. 

The Bangalore example highlights the 

challenge of protecting and cleaning up 

urban lakes in a setting of continued 

pollution, which is very difficult without 

the involvement of citizens (to closely 

monitor and manage local challenges) and 

government organizations (to solve large 

scale technical problems and deal with 

social challenges such as sanctioning major 

polluters). Contrary to the trend of increased 

centralization in the country’s urban areas, 

a polycentric structure seems most effective 

for solving the numerous environmental 

challenges plaguing Indian cities (Nagendra 

et al. 2012)—especially through the 

explicit provision of opportunities for 

local communities to work effectively with 

governmental agencies.  

TRANSLATING OSTROM’S IDEAS ON 

THE COMMONS INTO PRACTICE: 

THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Though the Indian economy is growing at 

a rate of 9% annually, the geographies in 

which this development is located and the 

constituency it benefits, remain narrow. 

Commons or common pool resources form 

critical components that supplement and 

support rural communities dependent on 

agriculture, livestock and forests in large 

parts of India, but especially across dryland 

and tribal areas. The role of land and water 

resources commons in strengthening the 

viability of the agro-pastoral production 

systems and the resilience of household 

livelihoods has been insufficiently recognized 

so far.   

A recent study by the Foundation for 

Ecological Security (2012) further 

documented the importance of the commons 

for rural livelihood support. Conducted in 

seven states—Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya 

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra 

Pradesh and Odisha—the study spanned 

3000 households in 100 villages in arid, 

semi-arid and sub-humid parts of the country. 

Dependence on the commons was very 

high, with 98% of households accessing the 

commons for different types of use, with 

69% using the commons for grazing, 30% for 

fodder collection, 53% using the commons for 

agriculture and 38% for food, 74% deriving 

fuelwood, and 38% collecting non-timber 

forest products. In sub-humid areas, people 

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POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

17

largely utilized the commons for meeting 

agricultural needs, while in arid and semi-

arid regions, the commons were critical for 

livestock grazing. Dependence on community 

sources of water, such as tanks, ponds, rivers 

was also high, as was dependence on forests 

for timber, fuel wood and non-timber forest 

products. Resources from the commons 

contributed to a substantial proportion of 

household income, about 25%—and an even 

higher proportion of 31% of net income for 

the landless, who were highly dependent 

on fuel wood from the commons. This study 

indicates that India needs to strengthen its 

information databases on common land 

and water resources, along the lines of the 

databases developed by Ostrom and her 

colleagues on forest, irrigation and marine 

commons across the world. Such databases 

could help to dispel myths related to their 

‘residual’ character and thereby their 

degradation, by assessing the actual extent 

and status of resources that are generally 

considered as common pool in nature as well 

as the nature of property rights governing the 

same. 

The studies described above clearly 

demonstrate that continued access to the 

commons helps provide stability and security 

in an unpredictable environment. Although 

especially critical for landless households, 

commons are also very important for large 

rural land-owners. Yet, land use data from 

Indian states demonstrates that common 

lands have seen an overall reduction in 

area, with a marked decline in grazing lands 

and cultivable “wastelands”. The crisis is 

a manifestation of institutional apathy, 

following neglect of traditional institutional 

arrangements and the customary rights of 

people in the institutional solutions proposed 

Plate 2: Elinor Ostrom planting a jackfruit tree at the Kaikondrahalli lake in Bangalore in February 2012, surrounded by 

members of the local community closely involved in restoration and lake management (Photo credit: Harini Nagendra).

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