31 INSTITUTIONS, POLICY MAKING & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Dr. Jupaka Madhavi

epgp books

      CONTENT: –

 

     -Concept of Resource Management

 

–   Stakeholder Analysis in Resource Management

 

–  Institution for Resource Management and Policies Making

 

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

 

. Explain the concept of resource management

. Analyze the role of stakeholders in resource management

. Criticize the bureaucratic practices in resource management

 

KEYWORDS

 

Sustainable development, resource management, stakeholders

 

CONCEPT OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 

Resource management is the physio technique human interference in the process of their interactions with the scarce natural resources. Human beings since its very cultural inception has been using their mental abilities to transform stuffs around them into resources, for their usages. The mental abilities are manifested in the overall technical advancement which the humankind have achieved. Higher the technical advancement the better and efficient is the way to use the stuff around in a manner to satisfy the growing human needs. With an eye on the future needs the management seek to address the present need of economic growth. Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with an eye on its future availability and present consumption pattern(Chapin 2009).

 

Natural resource is the backbone of human activities it drives the human political economic needs. Individuals and organizational at various level are engaged in resource appraisal this is done with a blind eye on future needs of upcoming generations placing the efficient and equitable principle on the forefront this sort of management is to be done. The states across the globe have invested heavily on the economic means to facilitate resources extraction by means of technology. The industrial set up by the growing capitalists’ economies have facilitated the unsustainable extraction of renewable resources. This has led to unprecedent damage to the environment at large. The growth of reliance on the natural resource have turned the attention of policy makers to the concept of sustainability and the need therefore is to look for the alternate source of energy measures. But the research on the management of resources are quite meager to provide an academic space for alternate source of resource management.

 

The need of resource management dates back to Malthusian fear of resources getting exhausted with the rising human population. Malthus wrote:

 

“That the increase of population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence, That population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase, and, That the superior power of population is repressed by moral restraint, vice and misery” (Malthus 1798).

 

      The Malthusian paradox of incapability of the humankind over the metaphysical resource depletion was challenged by Marx, who said that resources are not independent of the historical and cultural reality of human and the absence of private ownership would account for the resource appraisal. To elucidate the Marxist perspective and critique to Malthusian paradox of resource we need to explain the following terminology.

 

1) Subsistence. Unlike Malthus who regards subsistence as absolute Marx says that subsistence is a process which is relative. Marx says that needs are not a creation of metaphysical outlook of humans but are entirely the manifestation of cultural and economic make-up of the surroundings. But at one point both Marx and Malthus agreed that needs are created through material substances in the society. The needs and the wants are the manifestation of economical mode of production. Thus, subsistence is defined not in terms of Malthusian law of population but by the mode of economic production in the society. There is a direct link between subsistence level and the capitalist means of production.

 

2) Resources. Resources are defined in terms of its utility to humans. Resources can be determined only with respect to cultural make up of the society in which the stuff has turned into resources. The making of resource is the combination of technological developments and the cultural make up of people. Resources are the part of realist agenda of state making that deliberately challenges the indigenous right over the resource of the people and their resource management techniques which are more environmentally sustainable.

 

3)  Scarcity. The metaphysical aspect of looking at the concept of scarcity has made the concept of scarcity as the one which has its origin in the nature itself. The delinking of scarcity from human activities have turns the concept of scarcity into a metaphysical narrative. Scarcity imagines the existence of future market and with the goal to distribute and accumulate capital scarcity in particular field is created. Scarcity has a lot to do with the resource control and management rather than on the bio-chemical nature of the resources. Several of the scarcities around the world are created by human and human made organizations, creation of scarcity ensures the monopoly of a particular corporation which works in the field of the resource. Scarcity is of utmost importance for the survival of capitalism, the contradiction of overproduction and the inability of the capitalists’ system to absorb the surplus, led to creation of scarcity(Harvey n.d.).

 

The resource management is purely a human, cultural and material response to the change in means of production. The history of societal development has seen change in human perception with respect to the resources appraisal. From feudalism to the modern ultra-form of capitalism, management in the field of natural resources has shifted from being a purely ruling class agenda to the concerns for every human and even for humans yet to be born on earth. In this perspective resource management has to be a scope for the development of collective human consciousness. It needs to be realized that the management can no longer be a cause of conflict, rather it should encourage community participation for the sustainable development of human kind.

 

STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 

Resource management is accomplished by the combined effort of individual, society and the state. These stakeholders have their functions designed w.r.t. their location in the given spatial and temporal dimensions. The development of stakeholder analysis in the field of resource management has cropped up due to the conflict among the different interest group with respect to the resources. The interest group demands a more human perspective for resource management which is in contradiction to the realist approach developed by states. Further the resource management projects that have considered the role of different stakeholders like the participation of local people in management agenda have turned the management program into a fruitful exercise both for the management bodies and for the non-state actors. The stakeholder frame of analysis defines the groups of people who have the interest linked with resources it solves the disputes which might arise among the different stakeholders. Stakeholders cut across the group of people and the various organization both at the central or at the local level (Grimble 1998).

 

WHO IS A STAKEHOLDER?

 

     The process of natural resource management is a tedious task as it involves people of different interest group and the institutional structure in the management process. The management has to consider the geographical cycles operating in the atmosphere. As all the cycle operating on the geographical space are interrelated that is to say a change in one of them is likely to affect change into another. The need for a better resource management mechanism is to look for all the geographical factors and its influence on the people and the organizational role played by state and non-state actors. Besides an eye on natural process the natural resource management programs has to look on the political economic structure build in the society. The management programs also have to involve the anti-state social structures that would cater the need for unhindered management process. The involvement of large number of stakeholders in the management process there are chances of resource related conflicts. The need therefore is of pro people approach to resource management taking into account the needs of different interest groups. Any disputes need to be settled amicably. Neither the resources management should be too bureaucratic to skip the people`s needs and aspirations nor it should be left at the peril of the people with no or indigenous means of resource management. It should be kept in mind that resource development and management is the collective task of the human being but there are certain interests which should not be compromised. The development of few at the cost of many ‘unpeople’ is certainly not a better management of resources rather this is mismanagement of resources (Chomsky 2011). This mismanagement may lead to acceleration in the primitive means of accumulation but that is done always at the cost of dispossessing the poor and vulnerable. Thus there is an urgent need to identify the stakeholders in the management of the natural resources failing in conflicts are bound to arise as we have already experienced the movements in India circled around jaal, jungle, jameen.

 

Investigation for the stakeholder’s analysis requires collecting data of all sorts that helps in building the framework for research related analysis. The best way to collect such data is through primary survey. The first-hand information regarding the people concern for resource management is through one to one collection. Field data are more efficient in their data collection for resource management unlike formal system which relies on secondary means of data collection for the purpose of resource management. Qualitative as well as quantitative information on the resource management process has to brought for the purpose of resource management. Questions has to be framed in the light of interests which the community have with regard to the resource management. The following questions has to be framed with regard to the resource management framework:

 

•  questioning the knowledge of the people and highlighting the lack of knowledge in the fields and also to question the correctness of their activity

 

•  What sorts of improvements in the field of resource management would they like to see?

 

•  What do they think about the proposed management solution offered by the research? What are the actual and perceived costs and benefits to the stakeholder, including opportunity cost of benefits foregone? Is the distribution of costs and benefits deemed to be fair? Who is seen to win, and who to lose?

 

•  How could the research proposals be improved (from the stakeholder’s view point)? What would he/she be willing to pay or sacrifice for these improvements (labor, income, compromise with other stakeholders)? Stakeholder Methodologies in Natural Resource Management 6 As in other stages there is a need for cross-checking. Stakeholders can be asked about their views on other stakeholders’ use of the resource, and how he or she interacts with other stakeholders over the use and management of that resource. Such approaches may be particularly important for certain topics, e.g. a group might not mention their own involvement in illegal activities, but may be willing to talk about the illegal activities of other groups.

 

 

APPLICATION AND USE OF STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 

Stakeholder analysis is particularly useful for the analysis of natural resource management. This approach takes into considerations the different interest group. Wherein issues are characterized by:

 

•  Stakeholder holders interest in the physical and other anthropogenic field have resulted into cross cutting of system across the political, economic and legal sections. Problems and its solution if any are likely to affect large number of stakeholders at regional, local and state level.

 

•  Multiple usages of resources can be assured only by stakeholder’s analysis. This sort of management encourages various actors like that of the indigenous people to facilitate resource management in the indigenous manner

 

•  Subtractability and temporal trade-offs of Natural resources such as soils and water may be non-renewable or ‘gifts of nature’ which can be depleted or contaminated but cannot be created. Some resources, such as aquifers, may be subtractible and appropriation of the resource may adversely affect future supply. Natural resource management is often conducted in the context of a degrading resource base which threatens future welfare, a fact which gives rise to difficult questions concerning optimum rates of exploitation and conservation.

 

•  Multiple objectives Natural resources are subject to potentially crucial differences between economic, social and environmental concerns and the best interests of different stakeholders. Potential differences include those between wider society and local people.

 

•  Unclear or open-access property rights Where traditional management systems are breaking down as a result of demographic, economic and political pressures, property rights are often unclear. In these situations, the economically rational actions of individual resource users may not be compatible with community interests, leading to degradation. Especially in case of the tribal in the third world whose property rights are dubious, this has led to the dispossession for the sake of imperial capitalist expansion.

 

•  Negative externalities where impacts are in part off-site or delayed, individual decision makers will not bear the full costs of their actions and market distortions occur. Thus prices do not reflect true values and inadequate weight is given to the future flow of benefits (e.g. to future generations) and to off-site costs (e.g. downstream impacts). Note, however, that not all externalities are negative — soil eroded from upland slopes may replenish the fertility of fields below as well as silting up dams and irrigation systems.

 

•  Untraded products and services Natural resources may produce multiple products and perform a variety of natural functions and services that are not traded competitively and have no monetary value in the market-place. Where they are traded, prices are likely to reflect only the cost of extraction rather than the resource value itself or the cost of its depletion. This applies to most water, forest and grazing resources, and the greater part of the world’s biological diversity.

 

•  The growing imperialist exploitation of the third world countries which comprises of the poorest of poor has caused a snatching of agency with regard to resource appraisal(R. W. Grimble 1997). The imperial appropriation of resources has called for a stakeholder based analysis that concern resource management.

 

    INSTITUTIONS FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND POLICIES MAKING

 

Policy making regarding the management of natural resources is done at the different level in the global world. Right from the local community based groups to the United Nations organs policy making regarding the management has been vacillating from being bureaucratic centric to a collective act of resource appraisal. These policies are largely oriented towards sustainable development goals set-up by UN. UN has set-up several special bodieswith a view to manage the scarce natural resources.

 

Of which the most important body is The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is composed of both the state government and the various non-state actors who have been working in the field of resource management. The institution provides tools so as to increase the peoples` participation in the management and the conservation of resources. It has world largest network of institutions. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its 1,300 Member organizations and the input of some 16,000 experts. IUCN is the premier institution that safeguard the natural resources around the globe. It provides a platform for the interaction of governments, NGOs, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples groups, faith-based organizations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges (https://www.iucn.org/about/ n.d.).

 

The UN General assembly passed a proposal called SDG (sustainable development goals). The proposal contains methods to check the global poverty and climate control. These methods seek to achieve sustainable development with an idea to maintain the resource efficiency. The SDG programs includes ending hunger and poverty, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. To achieve proper management at different levels UN at its organizational level has “The Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post 2015 Development Agenda (IGN) began in January 2015 and ended in August 2015. Following the negotiations, a final document was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit September 25–27, 2015 in New York, USA. The title of the agenda is Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ n.d.).

 

In India too, resource management is done by Natural Resource Management Division of ICAR that conducts researches to facilitate technological development for resource management and sustainable utilization of the natural resources ensuring food, nutritional and environmental security in the country through 16 research institutes, 10 All India Coordinated Research Projects, 3 network projects and 2 Consortia Research Platforms namely on Water and Conservation Agriculture with a wide network of the Cooperating Centers and State Agricultural Universities. The NRM conducts research programs in various field viz; “Soil Inventory and Characterization, integrated Soil-Water-Nutrient Management, Watershed Management, Resource Conservation Technologies, Crop diversification, integrated weed management, integrated farming System including Agroforestry, dryland farming, arid, coastal and hill agriculture, abiotic stress management, climate resilient agriculture, conservation agriculture, waste water utilization, solid waste management and applications of nanotechnology to enhance nutrient and water use efficiency”. The division work in researches which have the link to farmers cost effective environment friendly and socially acceptable use of resources for the agriculture.

 

 

SUMMARY

  • – Natural resource is the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with an eye on its future availability and present consumption pattern.
  • – The resource management is purely a human, cultural and material response to the change in means of production
  • – Natural resource management should be done in a way which best satisfies the need of each and every person having their interest in the particular resource. Neither it should be too bureaucratic to skip the people`s needs and aspirations nor it should be left at the peril of the people with no or indigenous means of resource management. It should be kept in mind that resource development and management is the collective task of the human being but there are certain interests which should not be compromised.
  • – Right from the local community based groups to the United Nations organs policy making regarding the management has been vacillating from being bureaucratic centric to a collective act of resource appraisal. These policies are largely oriented towards sustainable development goals set-up by UN.

 

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References

  • Buanes, A., et al. 2004. “‘In whose interest? An exploratory analysis of stakeholders in Norwegian coastal zone planning,’ .” Ocean & Coastal Management, vol. 47.
  • Chapin, F. Stuart III, Gary P. Kofinas, and Carl Folke. 2009. Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship: Resilience-Based Natural Resource Management in a Changing World. .
  • Chomsky, Noam, interview by AMY GOODMAN. 2011. Democracy Now: Noam Chomsky, on people and “unpeople” (October 18).
  • Gass, G., Biggs, S., Kelly, A. 1997. “‘Stakeholders, science and decision making for poverty-focused rural mechanization research and development,’.” World Development, vol. 25, Issue. 1 pp. 115–126.
  • Grimble, R., Wellard, K. 1997. “Stakeholder methodologies in natural resource management: a review of principles, contexts, experiences and opportunities.’ .” Agricultural Systems vol. 55, Issue. 2 pp. 173–193.
  • Grimble, Robin. 1998. “Stakeholder Methodologies in Natural resource management.” Natural Resource Institute,University of Greenwich.
  • Harvey, David. n.d. “The political implications of population-resources theory.”
  • http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.
  • https://www.iucn.org/about/.
  • Malthus, Thomas Robert. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population.