POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM
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Governing India’s Commons
The Influence of Elinor Ostrom’s Ideas
Harini Nagendra
1 2
, Rucha Ghate
3 4
, Jagdeesh Rao
5
Abstract
Elinor Ostrom’s research on the commons has fundamental implications for the governance
of commons in India. Research from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions
(IFRI) network, coupled with remote sensing analyses conducted by Ostrom and colleagues,
has been fundamental in demonstrating the importance of self-governance for the sustainable
management of the commons in Indian forests and cities. Recent field experiments conducted in
two predominantly tribal communities in central India further demonstrate that communities
with strong previous traditions of shared norms and mutual trust, tend to be non-exploitative,
non-commercial, and cooperate towards the sustainable harvest of forest resources. Forests
and other commons form critical components that supplement and support rural communities
dependent on agriculture, livestock, water and other types of natural resources in large parts
of India, providing stability and security in an unpredictable environment. In addition to rural
commons, urban commons such as lakes play a very important role in Indian cities. Recent
studies on lakes in the rapidly growing incipient megapolis of Bangalore demonstrate the
importance of polycentric arrangements, involving local citizen groups along with Government
agencies in monitoring, restoration and protection. Yet, institutional apathy has led to the
neglect of traditional institutional arrangements and the customary rights of people in the
solutions proposed under different Government policies and programmes. Currently, common
and public lands cover almost a fifth of the geographical spread of India. Such land, if brought
under the ambit of local self-governance institutions, could contribute significantly to the rural
economy, providing critical ecological functions besides meeting livelihood needs. Recent
initiatives by the Supreme Court, coupled with State government and national policy changes
are promising, but much remains to be done. Large scale changes are needed while keeping in
mind the pillars of Ostrom’s vision—the need for self-governance of the commons at a local level
that permits flexibility, adaptation and innovation, with the ultimate goal of ensuring equitable
and sustainable access to the commons for all citizens.
Keywords: Collective action, sustainable use, self-governance, rural and urban commons, India
1
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560064,
India, nagendra@atree.org
2
Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University, 408 N. Indiana Avenue,
Bloomington IN 47408, USA.
3
SHODH: The Institute for Research and Development, 106, K.T. Nagar, Katol Road Nagpur-440013, Maharashtra State, India;
ruchaghate@gmail.com
4
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Khumaltar, Lalitpur G.P.O. Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal,
rghate@icimod.org;
5
Foundation for Ecological Security, Post Bag 29, Anand, Gujarat, India, jagdeesh@fes.org.in
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POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM
13
GOVERNING THE COMMONS: ELINOR
OSTROM’S IDEAS
Born in 1933, Elinor Awam Ostrom’s
perspective of the world was shaped in an
era impacted by economic depression and
global war, resulting in a life-long, deep
awareness of the limited nature of the earth’s
natural resources, as well as the capacity
of communities to come together in times
of difficulty, to cooperate and provide a
helping hand to those in need. These beliefs
were purposeful in shaping a career of
path-breaking research that demonstrated
the importance of collective action for the
sustainable use of natural resources.
Ostrom strongly believed in the power of the
local. Yet her impact and influence was global.
She had a special attachment to South Asia,
working for decades on issues of irrigation
and forest management in Nepal (personally
conducting field work there), and on collective
action in urban and forest contexts in India
(Plate 1). Her research on the commons has
fundamental implications for the governance
of common property resources in India.
Ostrom’s analysis of long-term local
institutions for the commons was done with
a view to identifying the conditions that
shaped how “a community of citizens can
organize themselves to solve the problems
of institutional supply, commitment and
monitoring” (Ostrom 1990). Impatient
with a predominant focus that searched for
“simple” solutions, she argued for the need to
distinguish between complexity and chaos,
often pointing to the importance of complexity
in biological systems and challenging political
scientists to go beyond the formulation of
simple, one-size-fits-all rules. Thus, rather
than develop a set of rules that presumed to
dictate how communities would respond in
all contexts, she articulated her famous set
of Design Principles—both elegant in their
simplicity and yet profound. For instance,
one design principle—often ignored by
policy makers—states the importance for
communities to have a “Minimal Recognition
of Rights to Organize”, i.e. to ensure that the
rule-making rights of a local community are
respected by external government authorities.
Unless this is provided, any group—such as a
polluting industry—who wants to break the
rules on sustainable use created by local user
groups, only has to turn to the government
to be able to bypass or overturn these
community rules.
This Design Principle has profound
implications for the long term sustainability
of Indian commons—as is obvious from the
many recent clashes between industry and
indigenous communities across the country,
and discussions between the Indian Minister
of Environment and Forests and the Minister
of Finance about setting up a fast-track
National Investment Board to provide rapid
clearances to mega-infrastructure projects,
even in environmentally critical forests where
indigenous communities are located.
Commons are of immense importance to
issues of environmental sustainability, equity
and democracy in India. Currently, common
and public lands cover an estimated 45 to
60 million hectares—almost a fifth of the
country’s geographical spread. Such land,
if brought under the ambit of local self-
governance institutions, could contribute
significantly to the rural economy, providing
critical ecological functions besides meeting
various needs such as fodder, food, medicine,
firewood, etc. This would benefit large rural
populations.
In this article, we discuss a number of
applications of Ostrom’s research on Indian
commons, and the applications of her far-
sighted analyses to governance of those
commons.
OSTROM’S RESEARCH ON INDIAN
COMMONS
A key factor in Ostrom’s research was
the development of the Nepal Irrigation
Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database,
which collated and organized information
on farmer-managed irrigation systems in
Nepal. Following a request from the Food and
Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United
Nations to prepare a similar database to study
forest governance, Ostrom and her colleagues