Assessing legislative frameworks for conservation

The effectiveness of legal measures for conservation in having positive ecological and social impacts is dependent on the appropriateness of its design. Marine conservation and fisheries management approaches in the country have followed largely terrestrial systems of management, which are often not appropriate from an ecological point of view and may ignore socio-economic complexities. Dakshin members have been researching the effectiveness and appropriateness of several marine conservation designs and programmes in the country from ecological as well as socio-legal perspectives.

Marine ecosystems require management measures that are distinct from those currently practiced in terrestrial areas. In practice, however, the terrestrial approach is being increasingly applied to marine wildlife protection, as more conservationists look towards existing laws to provide solutions to marine challenges. This trend needs to be examined and revised as reports of conflict over these styles of marine conservation increase. There are also important lessons for the conservation of terrestrial areas from existing marine management strategies.

In areas such as the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve (GoMBR), these laws would need to have suitable conservation objectives and legal clauses and mechanisms that consider the ecological context of the GoMBR. Our members were involved in a research study undertaken for the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust along with the Citizen, consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai where we have employed a combination of research approaches to explore the relationship between legislations related to conservation and fisheries and the conservation and sustainable use of the GoMBR’s resources. In places like Orissa, where sea turtle conservation has fueled conflicts between conservationists and local communities, our team and collaborators have assessed the impact of legislations on local fisher livelihoods, and to the exacerbation of internal conflicts in the fisheries sector.  

Our research interests are not just focused on coasts, but our experiences with these systems raise many concerns and questions on the overall subject of law and environmental governance in society, whether in coastal or terrestrial systems and our work highlights their impacts on various ecosystems and communities.

Investigators: Aarthi Sridhar, Manju Menon, (Centre for Policy Studies, JNU and Kalpavriksh, Delhi)

Collaborators: CAG, Chennai

Publications

Sridhar, A. and Shanker, K. 2007. Lessons from marine paradigms. Seminar No. 577 (2007) pp 63 – 68.    

Sridhar, A., R. Pearlin., A. Kasturi Rangan., V. Natarajan, B. Jairaj. 2007. Assessing and enhancing legislative provisions for natural resource conservation in the Gulf of Mannar Draft submitted to GoMBRT, Ramanathapuram. 

Sridhar, A. 2006. Environmental Governance Reforms, Rephrasing the Reform Process. International Institute for Environment and Development, New Delhi. 15p.

Sridhar, A. & K. Shanker. 2005. Editorial: Surmounting the people vs. parks conundrum - conservation lessons from marine resource management in India. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter 2:1-2.

Sridhar A., Tripathy B., Shanker K. 2005. A review of legislation and conservation measures for sea turtles in Orissa, India, Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter 1:1-6.