Sustainable Development and Community Based Monitoring - A Case Study of Two Indian River Communities

1. Community Based Monitoring in India:
A Tale of Two Rivers
Presentation by Nadia B. Ahmad, Esq.
Community Expectations for Sustainable Development
in Natural Resources Projects (Fall 2011)
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
October 29, 2011

2. Community Based Monitoring:
A Tale of Two Rivers
 Kaveri River
 Energy – Hydroelectric Power
 Sand Mining
 Flooding
 Eco-tourism
 Sarsi River – (tributary of Sutlej)
 Irrigation
 Pollution
 Grassroots activism
 Meaningful Public Participation
 Barriers to Entry for Community Based Monitoring

3. River
Systems
in India

4. Kaveri River
Krishna Raja Sagara Dam

5. Kaveri River
o Located in south India
o Unique ecosystem
o Source for vast irrigation system
o Provider of hydropower
o Krishna Raja Sagara dam near Mysore
o Sand mining
o Flooding concerns
o Brindavan Gardens

7. Dam
o 3,000 meters in length
o 40 meters in width
o Sheet of waters in the reservoir
created by the dam spreads
over 130 sq. kilometers
o Constructed from 1911 to
1931.
o Simsha Hydroelectric Power
Project at Shivanasamudram
o Suited for pleasure boating
Krishna Raja Sagara Dam

8. Simsha Hydroelectric Power Project
o Installed capacity of 17,200
kilowatts.
o First hydroelectric project in
Asia.
o Kolar Gold Fields was
supplied with the electricity
generated in 1902.
o In 1905, Bangalore got
electricity.

9. Sand Mining Issue
 Sand found on the river bed of the Shimsha river is
mined and used for construction activities, sometimes
illegally.
 Due to the environmental issues caused by sand mining,
this activity is currently banned.
 Discharge of waste from towns and cities on the way are
major contributors to pollution in the Shimsha.
 The Government is trying to clean up the river and has
released funds to do so.

10. Flooding Concerns
o Overflow water from Karnataka dams
o Release of water into neighboring areas has led to
severe flooding
o Unauthorized developments
o Choked drains in residential areas
o Traffic resulting from flooding stranded thousands of
office-goers on Bangalore’s waterlogged roads.
o Schools in the city closed and several apartment
complexes flooded.
o Water entered office-buildings, including one of the
offices of India's third largest software exporter,
Wipro.
o Bangalore accounts for one-third of India's annual
export revenue of $17.2 billion in software and
back-office outsourcing.

11. Sustainable Development of
Water Resources
Current technologies
 Large scale dams
 Canals
 Turbines Alternatives
 Rainwater harvesting
 Water conservation
 Hydrokinetic Energy
 Solar Energy
 Ecotourism
 Community Based Monitoring

12. Eco-tourism
Seizing the spirit of India

13. Brindavan Gardens

17. Sirsa River
A Tributary of the Sutlej

19. Sirsa River Valley
o The ground water level = shallow
o Water level varies on an average from 5.5 to 6.3
meters near the riverbed and increases towards
the hills.
o Dry except during monsoon season
o Ground water is the only water source for
domestic, agricultural and industrial use.

20. Sirsa River
Region
Monthly average
rainfall and reference
evapotranspiration
(Hargreaves method)
1960-90 in the Sirsa
Irrigation Circle.

21. Pollution Control
 The state Pollution Control Board stepped up its
drive to check the units violating pollution control
norms with its environmental surveillance squads
conducting extensive raids in the Baddi-Barotiwala-
Nalagarh (BBN) industrial hub.
 The Board discovered that toxic sludge had not
been disposed of properly through the Hazardous
Waste Management Plant, but was openly dumped.
 Increased probability of toxic chemicals ending up
in the soil.

22. The Pollutors
o Dr. Reddy’s Lab
o Brooks Lab
o HRI Cosmetics
o Hindustan Unilever Limited
o Vaishnavi Kosmeticos Industries
o Torrent Pharmaceutical

23. Community Monitoring Campaign
 While the Sirsa river is choked with effluents, dust
and bad odor due to chemical leaks have become
serious nuisance across the industrial area.
 Since there is little awareness about the actual
extent of industrial pollution in this area and the
impacts on the local environment, Community
Environmental Monitoring Campaign is educating
and training community members to address the
industrial pollution through environmental
monitoring campaigns.

24. Campaign Coordination
 GCM’s regional partner, Shweta Narayan has been
coordinating a campaign with Him Parivesh, a local
environment action group based in Nalagarh, under the
banner of Community Environmental Monitoring
Campaign.
 Communities affected by pollution can monitor and
document pollution levels:
 Air
 Dust
 Water

25. “People living next to polluted
facilities are much more aware
about pollution and do not need
any educational degrees to
identify when pollution levels
are excessive. Documenting
their common sense
experiences in a scientific
manner can provide the best
evidence of pollution which
cannot be refuted by Pollution
Control Board and other
agencies”
- Shweta Narayan

26. Stressed Water Resources
 Intense industrialization in the Baddi, Barotiwala and
Nalagarh (BBN) has stressed the water resources in
region for the recently released state environment report
has held that water quality was a lowly D grade because
of low levels of oxygen due to organic pollution.
 Speaking about the BBN industrial belt, Nagin Nanda,
member secretary state pollution control board said,
“being a water stressed region and increasing effluents
adding to the pollutants, we have raised the bar for
those intending to set up new units in Baddi, Barotiwala
or Nalagarh. We insist that any upcoming new unit
incorporate a reverse osmosis affluent treatment plant in
its proposal in order to contain water pollution in the
belt.”

30. Training Program for CBM
 “The objective of the training is not only to build community
capacities and knowledge on pollution check and monitoring but
also to build a body of local evidence to pressurize bodies like
the Pollution Control Board into action. It is truly appalling that
in such a scenario, where people's health, livelihoods and
environment are at stake, the state government is demanding
extension of the industrial subsidy package instead of making
Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh free of polluting units.”
 Balkrishna Sharma, a founding member of Him Parivesh
o Tour of the industrial area to identify the areas most affected by
pollution
o Community training in Kaduana, Baddi and Jhidiwala, Nalagarh
with almost 50 participants including members of Him Parivesh.

31. Meaningful Public Participation
 Integration of meaningful public participation into
environmental management is not only important, but
critical for sustainable development and perhaps even
one of the most significant developments in resource
management since the environmental movement itself.
 Stewardship-driven environmental monitoring initiatives
improve community environmental and civic capacity,
while adding substantial social capacity that can have
measurable beneficial impacts.
 Public participation in environmental monitoring has
emerged in an effort to work towards informing society’s
decisions. In order for this to occur, there is a need for
new approaches to environmental policy and ecosystem
management.

32. Dilemma of Indian River Communities
 Although the merit of public participation in
environmental monitoring and management has been
recognized, the need to move from simple participation
to that which is meaningful and linked to relevant
decision-makers remains.

33. Barriers to Entry
 The lack of integration and use of information collected
by community-based groups in decision-making can be
traced to social and organizational barriers, as opposed
to technical barriers, meaning that investments in
ecological research and its supporting information
technology alone will not provide a solution.
 When information and data gathered via community-
based monitoring initiatives fail to be integrated into
mainstream decision-making processes, the reason is
that they are often developed apart from the
management and policy making processes; rather than
emerging from within.

34. Transparency +
Accountability Program
 TAP's mission is to increase the capacity of civil
society organizations to reduce corruption and
better hold government accountable for efficiency
in social sector public spending.

35. Community Based Monitoring Strategy
1) Conversation Discovery
2) Conversation Aggregation
3) Conversation Escalation
4) Conversation Participation
5) Conversation Tracking
6) Conversation Archival

36. Increasing Effectiveness of CBM
1) Process should be gradual.
2) Strong ethic of learning by doing.
3) Careful and adequate attention paid to the
training and development of a core cadre of
facilitators.
4) A commitment on the part of the country to a
cultural change in the institutional environment
which has to become more participatory,
responsive, transparent and with downward
accountability.

37. Sources
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5. Catherine Conrad, “Towards Meaningful Community-Based Ecological Monitoring in Nova Scotia: Where
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