I. Baud and R. Dhanalakshmi.

Cities, Vol. 24, No. 2, Apr 2007, pp. 133-147.

Current debates on urban governance suggest that multi-stakeholder arrangements between providers and users of environmental services - especially those in which there are direct links between providers and users in decision-making - lead to more accountability and better performance in service provision. The article analyses the situation in two municipalities around Chennai, India, with regard to a major type of environmental service under construction. It compares a successful and non-successful case of underground sewerage system investment, analysing the factors in multi-stakeholder arrangements that led to different results. The study is based on strategic interviews with governmental and civil society organisations involved, and on-site observations on the level of service. The study looks at inclusion of citizens and other stakeholders, decision-making patterns and accountability, and assesses outcomes in terms of equitable distribution of services. It concludes that multi-stakeholder arrangements are limited to middle-class neighbourhoods, where a high level of RWA organisation promotes accountability. Trusted political leadership is a pre-requisite for success, and political interference from opposing parties at the higher state level, are important factors explaining the differences in the outcomes found.

Vinish Kathuria.

Ecological Economics, Vol. 63, No. 2-3, August 2007, pp. 403-417.

Recent policy discussions recognise the limitations of formal regulations to stem pollution in developing countries. As a result, there is a growing interest in the potential of informal regulations to achieve environmental goals. In India, many polluting industries fall under the rubric of the unorganised sector. In such a context, localised pollution may be influenced by discussions and reports on pollution in the vernacular press. This study attempts to test the hypothesis that the press can act as an informal agent of pollution control. This hypothesis is tested using monthly water pollution data from four hot spots in the state of Gujarat, India for the period 1996 to 2000. The results show that the press can function as an informal regulator if there is sustained interest in news about pollution. However, not all pollution agents are affected by pollution news. Press coverage appears to mainly influence industrial estates with a mix of small, medium and large industries.

P. Rishi.

Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 51, No. 2, Aug 2007, pp. 345-354.

Participatory approach to forest management started in India with the National Forest Policy, 1988, when joint Forest Management (JFM) was introduced. The study conducted the attitudinal analysis of 110 stakeholders from 14 villages forest committees of Madhya Pradesh State of India, which were constituted under JFM programme. Results indicated that both forest officers and rural communities were in the process of developing positive attitudes towards each other and a significant improvement in the inter relationship between the two was found. Rural communities were not able to express a clear attitude towards functioning of forest committee and role of women. However, they had a clear positive attitude towards forest protection and management. Forest officers were also not clearly positive in their attitude towards forest department in terms of freedom of working and participatory approach as they wanted more freedom in their work environment with limited external pressures. It was felt that JFM is yet to be institutionalized and joint efforts on the part of all the stakeholders are essential.

Stephan Rist, Mani Chidambaranathan, Cesar Escobar, Urs Wiesmann and Anne Zimmermann.

Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1, Jan 2007, pp. 23-37.

The present paper discusses a conceptual, methodological and practical framework within which the limitations of the conventional notion of natural resource management (NRM) can be overcome. NRM is understood as the application of scientific ecological knowledge to resource management. By including a consideration of the normative imperatives that arise from scientific ecological knowledge and submitting them to public scrutiny, 'sustainable management of natural resources' can be recontextualised as 'sustainable governance of natural resources'. This in turn makes it possible to place the politically neutralising discourse of 'management' in a space for wider societal debate, in which the different actors involved can deliberate and negotiate the norms, rules and power relations related to natural resource use and sustainable development. The transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources can be conceptualised as a social learning process involving scientists, experts, politicians and local actors, and their corresponding scientific and non-scientific knowledges. The social learning process is the result of what Habermas has described as 'communicative action', in contrast to 'strategic action'. Sustainable governance of natural resources thus requires a new space for communicative action aiming at shared, intersubjectively validated definitions of actual situations and the goals and means required for transforming current norms, rules and power relations in order to achieve sustainable development. Case studies from rural India, Bolivia and Mali explore the potentials and limitations for broadening communicative action through an intensification of social learning processes at the interface of local and external knowledge. Key factors that enable or hinder the transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources through social learning processes and communicative action are discussed. [Copyright 2006 Elsevier Ltd.]

Manoj Kumar Teotia.

Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 1, 2007, pp. 65-87.

In the states of north-west India -- Punjab, Ilarvana & Himachal Pradesh -- and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the urban areas are growing with serious deficiencies in infrastructure, housing, civic services, environment & governance. This article highlights the challenges that the urban areas of north-west India are facing & to see their short-term as well as long-term implications. An attempt has also been made to suggest alternative strategies & innovations to meet the urban challenges. References. Adapted from the source document.