The Bagmati flowing through Kathmandu is deeply polluted. [Image: taylorandayumi]

On a short trip to Kathmandu, as the taxi made its way to the hotel, I was unpleasantly surprised by a foul odour.  Looking out the open window I saw the Bagmati, the river that is Kathmandu’s lifeline, full of garbage and stinking. When I posted on Twitter about why we allowed our rivers to be so badly treated, a person responded with “the tragedy of the commons”.

For most people familiar with economics, or even beyond it, this theory is well-known. The term was popularised by Garrett Hardin in 1968 to explain why common resources – particularly pastureland – are prone to overuse by individuals unless there is governmental control or private ownership. It has been used to explain everything from why public toilets are dirty, overfishing and fish collapse in the ocean, to the tragedy of climate change.

There is a strong and instinctual logic to the argument, one we can all understand, possibly explaining its very strong appeal. We all understand that when responsibility is not fixed, things run afoul.

Whether it is sharing a common fridge in an office, or cleaning up after ourselves in a school, college, or university setting, we have all been witness to how divided responsibilities can lead to big, stinking messes. If it is true for students, why should it not be true for the world?

And yet Hardin was profoundly wrong, both in the examples and data he used to make his arguments, to the argument itself. Elinor Ostrom would become the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for proving Hardin wrong. What Ostrom showed was that there were multiple ways of managing common resources without conflict and overexploitation, and – in fact – unless there were external factors undermining the traditional and established practices of commons management, they were already better managed without a recourse to private property rights or top-down governmental control. We see this in real life as multiple reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show the scientific consensus that biodiversity and land are better managed by indigenous communities.

How Ostrom proved her point is possible even more important than what her point was. Lee Ann Fennell has coined what she calls “Ostrom’s Law”: A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory. What makes Ostrom stand out, Fennel argues, is her attention to detail, to learning from what was actually working on the ground, and drawing theories out of that. What this meant is that Ostrom did not propose a universal theory in the way that Hardin. When she studied practices that were working in Turkey she was aware of the specific cultural, political and economic context in which that practice worked. It could not simply be extracted and applied globally.

This kind of grand theory into practice is what defined British colonial practices of profitability in Nepal and India, as we discussed in a previous issue dealing with the works of Prakash Kashwan, Amitav Ghosh, and Dane Huckelbridge, and how environmentally destructive they were. The most important aspect of their work is that they identified that land management practices built up over time – as with the Tharu and Nepali kings – emerged out an understanding of the carrying capacity of ecological spaces. A purely extractive, top-down, form of governance destroyed that balance, leaving both the ecology and humans far more vulnerable, even if a small fraction became far more rich in monetary terms.

Ostrom’s Law has enormous implications for managing the environment of India. Why is it that we have such polluted rivers? Why, after so much investment, so much political capital, are they still filthy? Why is it that, despite repeated disasters and little economic sense, we continue to try to manage rivers through dams and embankments?   

Maybe the very quick answer to that is that we are not really listening to the people that live by the rivers.

We do not see local communities as anything other victims. We have no formats through which traditional methods of resource management can become part of government policy.

This is why it is such a pleasure to feature an interview with Siddharth Agarwal, who has been walking along India’s rivers, and helping others to do so, documenting what the rivers are to the people that live alongside. In this he is doing what Ostrom taught us to do: listening.

The Interview

Siddharth Agarwal is a photographer and filmmaker. He studied aerospace engineering at IIT Kharagpur before becoming involved in documenting issues of India’s rivers. He is the founder of Veditum India Foundation, a non-profit research & media organisation, working in the fields of environment, culture and society.

Q. What are you doing? What is Veditum?

For the past few years I have been walking across India, mostly along rivers (Ganga, Ken, Mahakali), trying to document and bring stories of marginalized communities and the environment into the mainstream. As part of this work, I've recently directed and produced a documentary - Moving Upstream: Ganga - filmed on my walk along the River Ganga from Ganga Sagar, West Bengal to Gangotri, Uttarakhand. The film explores the river's human, ecological, political and spiritual stories - seen from the perspective of riparian communities. You can watch the film's trailer here: Moving Upstream: Ganga trailer

This documentary has been produced under the Moving Upstream project hosted by Veditum India Foundation. Founded by me, Veditum is a not-for_profit research and media organisation where we're working towards environmental research, documentation and accountability initiatives. Our current work is centred on Indian rivers, and life in and around these rivers, with an aim to create publicly accessible records - ecological, anthropogenic, hydrological, social and even more contextual layers - of these spaces and of people's stories.

An important part of our work has been the Moving Upstream fellowship program that we co-host with the Out of Eden Walk. As part of this fellowship program, over the past 3 years, 14 fellows have walked over 1,000 kms along River Betwa and River Sindh. The fellows interacted with communities and the riverscape, creating their own documentation and then telling these stories in forms that are their strengths. We have stories in the forms of articles, photo stories, soundscapes, scientific records, zines, posters, thesis reports and more. We continue to make efforts towards broadening our perspective, and the fellowship helps us do just that, as we continue to grow.

One of the zines produced from the Betwa walks

Q. How does this help us? Or the people along the rivers?

Our relationship with nature in modern society has become one of indifference paired with ignorant exploitation. Lost somewhere in this speed at which we are throwing ourselves into an increasingly bleak future, is reality. An antidote to this could be simply slowing down, and walking does precisely that. Slowing down or walking is obviously not a new discovery, but its mindful practice is where the emphasis lies.

In the case of the Ganga for example, most people visiting Haridwar to bathe in the "Holy Ganga" at Har ki Pauri do not think about the fact that they're bathing in a canal and not the river itself. How can we make this visible? How can this connection be made? Through the kind of practice we undertake at Veditum, we hope to shine a light on and reignite our lost connections with the natural world.

These connections are our key to a future where mindfulness and empathy drive our decision making, where a river drying up or a riverside village getting unjustly submerged behind a dam is not an acceptable sacrifice for the material comforts of society.

Q. What are some things that stay with you from the walks along the rivers?

Of the many things that one carries with them from such a practice, the unfettered generosity of people sits right at the top. Irrespective of people's economic or social conditions, with a few exceptions, they have been generous beyond measure. This goodness of people however exists with a contrast of acute and unfortunately growing hatred - especially on religious grounds. My large beard has often made me a target of this hatred, with suspicions of a 'Muslim terrorist' running free and far.

As a society, we continue to exploit the powerless through these same social fractures, finally using these to inflict violence on nature. Social and environmental injustice are extremely prevalent. It is often the case that the weak social security that our fellow citizens inherit is what allows environmental injustice to exist. Modern news cycles that rely on 'breaking news' and sensationalism, often do not find a space for these stories. In the odd cases that people do step out to report, they're mostly chained to the tyranny of the road - which are far and few in many of these sites of injustice.

Walking continues to be a blessing in breaking away from this tyranny of the road, in accessing landscapes and stories which seem to be off radar for even basic developmental activities, but most of all it allows for a break from the speed of modern society.

The river is a wonderful companion, as one takes the time to introspect.

Q. How did you get involved in this?

My introduction to issues of the environment and people started with a desire to slow down, to meet fellow citizens and our landscape. I wanted to understand the country and its challenges better before deciding on the next steps in my life. Learning has now become a major part of my life, coupled with solution building / problem solving based on what we learn as we slowly move through landscapes.

An illustration of life by the river by Kabini Amin

What has definitely become evident is that one doesn't have to go too far to encounter issues of the environment and people. We're literally swimming in a sea of injustice. Involvement now seems more a matter of choice, than of place.

Q. What is the major issue that should be spoken about, but is largely missing in our discussions?

Ganga, the word, means 'that which flows', and is a word often used to describe rivers everywhere. This very tenet that forms the idea of a river is unfortunately missing, both physically as well as in discussions. As far as rivers are concerned, our common idea of what makes a river - a flowing body of water, is itself an endangered idea.

But if we move one step away, we see that the river is made up of all that exists in its watershed. This includes all the pristine forests, degraded lands, sanctuaries, polluting urban centres, extraction of water, tributaries, humans, animals, plants, as well as all forms of justice and injustice.

Our discussions need to become more inclusive and expansive, and need to stop missing the water for a river.

Critical reading:

1. Indian banks found wanting on the climate change challenge and green transition: A new report says major Indian banks are “unprepared” to address climate change even though the country’s banking sector has a critical role to play in responding to the climate crisis by “managing the risks that climate change poses to their operations” and “financing the energy transition”. The report, Unprepared: India’s big banks score poorly on climate challenge released earlier this month by think tank Climate Risk Horizons (CRH), ranks the 34 biggest banks in the country (based on market capitalisation) and finds that barring a few, most Indian banks have not even begun to factor climate change into their business strategies even as the “rosiest projections indicate significant economic challenges for the Indian economy”. It points out that the bulk of India’s banking sector “has not even started to put in place the most rudimentary mechanism to address the climate threat.”

2. Eco-sensitive zones shrink to make way for mines, real estate: An investigation into the process of creating such zones finds that state governments rarely miss an opportunity to cut them down, so commercial activities can be allowed near protected areas. The Morning Context parsed through the published minutes of all 47 meetings of the ESZ expert committee since the process to delineate ESZs began in 2012. The ESZ expert committee consists of officials, activists and researchers who deliberate and approve ESZ proposals from states. The minutes reveal that states have furnished a variety of reasons for seeking a reduction in ESZ area or a dilution of some of the restrictions within such zones. States have either attempted or been successful in reducing eco-sensitive zones in at least 40 protected areas, show the minutes of meetings between 2012 and 2022.

3. Plan adaptation and mitigation to factor in growing risk of compound extremes, study suggests: Climate change is modifying multiple types of climate-related events or hazards, in terms of occurrence, intensity and periodicity, states the IPCC’s Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. It increases the likelihood of compound hazards, that comprise simultaneously or sequentially occurring events, to cause extreme impacts in natural and human systems. India faces a growing risk of compound extremes with some central and northern Indian states likely to be most exposed to these correlated extreme events, such as simultaneous heatwave and heavy rains or droughts swiftly followed by extreme rain, according to a recent study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment. It says that states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha are likely to be most exposed to the troubling trend of these correlated extreme events. A rethink is needed on traditional ways of categorising extremes and assessing their risk for such compound events emerging from complex processes. Identification, mapping and avoiding high-risk zones are among the slew of measures suggested by experts. 

4. Citing Ganga Rejuvenation 'Success', Govt To Use Same Model for Other Rivers: On March 14, the Union environment ministry unveiled a plan to rejuvenate 13 major rivers in India using “forestry interventions”. A major thrust of the plan is to afforest river banks; others include “riverfront development” and installing “eco parks”. According to the ministry, the project is based on the “successful implementation” of a pilot afforestation programme in 2015 as part of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) – a Central scheme to rejuvenate the ailing Ganga river. However, experts said they are not convinced for two reasons. There’s no proof the NMCG-funded project succeeded, and the new promises could further deteriorate the rivers, they said. 

5. 'Forgotten People': Sundarbans' Climate Refugees Forced to Move Again: Sagar Island, the largest of the Indian islands of the Sundarbans delta with a population of 200,000 and growing, has been the destination for climate refugees from neighboring islands. Now Sagar Island is itself under threat. Over the last two decades, the sea level in the delta has risen by 3 centimetres (1.2 inches) a year on average. That's much faster than elsewhere in the world. Sagar has already lost around 50 square kilometres of land — around a sixth of its former area — to coastal erosion.

6. In Odisha, regular cyclones push people to turn towards renewable energy: The demand for rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and other solar-powered appliances has risen in Odisha during recent years as people seek to meet emergency needs during disasters and to reduce their electricity bills. Solar-powered appliances are now popular across Odisha, from capital Bhubaneswar, to remote villages in the state’s tribal areas. Odisha plans to install 1,000 megawatt (MW) rooftop PVs by this year, but there are many challenges in both cities and villages. The government provides a 40 per cent subsidy to install residential rooftop solar systems – but in most cases, people have not received it yet. Lack of consumer awareness, difficulty in processing and timely approval of net metering applications and more recently, an increase of goods and services tax (GST) percentage on solar panels are among the problems. The increase in GST on solar panels from 5 to 12 per cent has had a negative impact on demand. 

7. Modi Govt Slashes Wildlife Habitat Funding by 47% in 3 Years: Report: Contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s much-hyped wildlife conservation efforts, the funding for the ministry of environment, forest and climate change’s development of wildlife habitat in 34 states and Union Territories has been reduced by 47% from 2018-19 to 2020-21. According to Down to Earth’s ‘State of India’s Environment 2022’ report, released by the Centre for Science and Environment earlier this month, the funding was reduced from Rs 165 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 124.5 crore in 2019-20 and further to Rs 87.6 crore by 2020-21.

8. In Himalayan Kashmir, Migratory Birds Fly Into Poaching and Wetland Loss: The Hokersar wetland, part of the Central Asian Flyway – a route used by some 182 species of water-birds, including 29 species threatened worldwide, to migrate – is a refuge for waterfowl and wading birds that arrive every winter from Siberia, China, Central Asia and Northern Europe, and a home to many species of fish. Over the years, human activities, including hunting and encroachment, have changed the character of the site in drastic ways – even as poaching activities have increased. Prof Anzar A. Khuroo said that to protect the ecosystem services the region’s biodiversity provides, we need to protect the interactions between the wetlands and the birds. “Land-use changes like filling of wetlands for construction and agricultural purposes have drastically reduced the expanse of wetlands in Kashmir,” Khuroo said.

9. Air Pollution Cut India's Solar Energy Output By 29%, Study Says: India’s solar energy output is being harmed by air pollution – a study by a team at IIT Delhi has reported that India lost 29% of its utilisable global horizontal irradiance potential due to air pollution between 2001 and 2018. The utilisable global horizontal irradiance potential is shortwave radiation received from above by a surface horizontal to the ground, like a flat solar panel. The impact of attenuation and soiling was “greatest” in the eastern power grid, “with 16% less sunlight reaching horizontal solar panels” in the 18-year period. The authors say that if the National Clean Air Programme is successfully implemented – i.e aerosol pollution is reduced by 20-30% by 2024 compared to 2017 levels – and household emissions are mitigated through the supply of cleaner fuel, the additional solar energy generated by India would translate to an “economic benefit of $325-845 million annually”.