Water Equity and Tourism: A Case of Nainital District, Uttarakhand
Case details
- Resource system
- Watershed
- Resource units
- Groundwater
- Location
- Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India (India)
Location map
Description
The current case is based on findings specific to ten villages in two blocks, Ramgarh and Dhari located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India. This study is based on fieldwork that was carried over the course of a few years since 2014; originally with the intent to ascertain the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of mountain farmers. It was found that urbanization and the increase in tourism infrastructure in the district over the past decade has resulted in a conflict over water access and equity. An increase in tourism operators in the region has led to the erosion of the social and cultural fabric of norms that had been in place for decades. The development of tourism infrastructure entails putting pressure on an already fragile mountain ecosystem and necessitates the inequitable sharing of an extremely limited natural resource. The key resource relevant to the commons dilemma faced by the community is the availability and access to groundwater and spring water for irrigation and domestic purposes.
Institutional analysis
Institutional analysis document
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Coded institutional data
No coded case data available.
System representation
Resource system
Watershed
Resource users
Farmers (locals) and Tourism operators (non-locals)
Public infrastructure
Public hard infrastructure: Handpumps, storage tanks, sprong water-heads, and other rainwater harvesting infrastructure
Private hard infrastructure: Boundary walls created to fence off locals from accessing water sources of land owned by non-locals
Public infrastructure providers
Local Self-Government (Panchayat)
State Government
Relationship 1
Locals (usually farmers) and non-locals (tourism operators) rely on water from the watershed or domestic and irrigation purposes.
Relationship 2
The locals elect the members of the self-government or the Panchayat, which is tasked with ensuring equitable distribution of water within the village
Relationship 3
PIP => hard public infrastructure:
- PIP build and maintain spring water heads, handpumps, irrigation pipes, water storage systems, and roads.
Relationship 4
Handpumps, irrigation pipes to draw water from rivulets and spring water heads facilitate appropriation of water.
Relationship 5
Appointed members of the Panchayat are tasked with ensuring equitable appropriation and distribution of water within the village, however, they do not have any sanctioning power.
The conflict can be taken to a court of law.
Relationship 6
RU (non-locals)--> PI and PI --> RU (locals):
With the influx of tourism operators fencing off land, the ability of the locals to appropriate water when needed from the resource system is restricted.
Exogenous drivers (7) - Resource
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (7) - Infrastructure
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Users
(none specified)Exogenous drivers (8) - Providers
(none specified)Human infrastructure (users)
(none specified)Human infrastructure (providers)
(none specified)Sources
Contributors
- Yamini Yogya, Arizona State University