Equipping local self governments and development practitioners in managing common pool resources – A case of Pampa River in Kerala State, India

Governments face challenges and constraints in managing Common Pool Resources (CPRs) worldwide. Almost all developing countries have begun to implement decentralised policies and decision-making systems for delivering public services and the management of environmental goods. In any government structure, distributing public goods is difficult as it will be challenging to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining the goods. Similarly, it’s challenging to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining benefits from common pool resources. The phenomenal work ‘Governing of Commons’ argues that the CPRs can be managed locally, provided there need to be well-defined institutions at the local level. The actors can govern CPRs themselves to obtain mutual benefits from the CPRs by avoiding problems of exclusion of beneficiaries, conflicts and exploitation of resources. For establishing well-defined rules and norms, it is essential to have constant deliberations and participation of various actors for collective action in managing CPRs. However, at the decentralised level, most local governments have given less attention to prompt decision-making in CPRs, especially concerning environmental resources. This article investigates the capacity and role of local-level institutions in managing CPRs by discussing a Training of Trainers (ToT) programme associated with the health of the Pampa River in Kerala State, India. The ToT programme has helped 41 development practitioners to change their approach toward River Health Management. The deliberations have resulted in an alliance of practitioners and a people’s framework for action projects. It was also studied that the role of local governments and civil society organisations in influencing the decisions made regarding River Health Management has to be improved.