Conservation of tanks/lakes in the Bangalore metropolitan area

Gowda, Krishne; Sridhara, M.V.

doi:10.1108/14777830710725812

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The system itself began to lose its defining characteristics: many connections were blocked or destroyed, which meant that some lakes dried (and were subsequently replaced by built-up structures) while others flooded with wastewater (as the seasonal rains were mixed with a year-round inflow of untreated sewage). Ensuing problems with smell and mosquito-borne diseases encouraged further draining of lakes to benefit other land uses (Gowda and Sridhara 2007;Sawkar 2012).…”

Section: Bangalore: a Thirsty Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

Against the current: rewiring rigidity trap dynamics in urban water governance through civic engagement

2016

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This paper investigates how the agency of local residents can affect persistent and unsustainable practices in urban water supply governance. Using a case study from Bangalore, India, we analyze a social-ecological trap which developed after a shift to external water provision paired with rapid urbanization. The reluctance of forsaking initial investments in infrastructure and competence, and the subsequent loss of the local network of lakes built for harvesting rainwater, reinforced dependence on external sources while undermining groundwater levels in the city. These feedbacks made water scarcity a structurally persistent feature of Bangalore. This situation started to change when local residents recently started organizing to preserve and restore Bangalore's lakes. By entering collaborative management agreements with municipal authorities, these lake groups have restored and established effective protection of five lakes. Through a case study of this civic engagement we show that the lake restorations have the potential to counteract trap mechanisms by restoring ecological functions, and by reducing water scarcity as groundwater levels rise and authorities are relieved from maintenance and monitoring tasks. Importantly, these lake groups have also created opportunities for over a dozen similar groups to form across the city. This demonstrates that social movements can be an important source of change in social-ecological traps.

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Section: Bangalore: a Thirsty Citymentioning

confidence: 99%

Against the current: rewiring rigidity trap dynamics in urban water governance through civic engagement

2016

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“…The dramatic decrease in blue space reflects the loss of Bangalore's 'keres' or man-made waterbodies, the creation of which began centuries ago as a means of harvesting rainwater in a river-less landscape. Models of skilful engineering these keres were constructed to complement the area's undulating topography, so that during periods of heavy rainfall water would flow from higher elevation keres to lower ones through canals called rajakaluves (Gowda and Sridhara 2007). Year-round water supply was then ensured by the construction of open-wells around the keres, which filled through groundwater recharge and in-coming rain during monsoons (Nagendra 2016).…”

Section: Study Area: the Transition Of Bangalore's Lakes From Disappearing Places To Places Of Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without adequate protection, the keres became increasingly threatened, and over the coming 5 decades, an estimated 800 were built on, encroached, or used as storage pits for debris and sewage (Nagendra and Ostrom 2014). In an attempt to halt this development, in 1985, the State Government deemed restoration to be the only viable option and entrusted the Forest Department, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP; Greater Bangalore Municipal Corporation) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) with the responsibility of their preservation (Gowda and Sridhara 2007;Nagendra 2016)-notably all disassociated with the BWSSB's water supply mission. These agencies adopted an engineering-based approach to restoration that involved fencing the periphery to prevent 'encroachment', diverting sewage inflows, removing silt to maximise water holding capacity, and constructing a raised bund and walking track around the water (Fig.…”

Section: Study Area: the Transition Of Bangalore's Lakes From Disappearing Places To Places Of Concernmentioning

confidence: 99%

Place-making to transform urban social–ecological systems: insights from the stewardship of urban lakes in Bangalore, India

2019

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With cities expanding globally and human populations becoming increasingly urban, sustaining ecosystems that support human well-being in cities is both increasingly challenging and urgent. City residents can take on important roles in the stewardship of public parks, trees, and waterbodies in their neighbourhoods, and sense of place is often brought forward as a motivation for engagement. In Bangalore, neighbourhood lake groups have partnered with public authorities to improve the restoration and upkeep of the city's disappearing and increasingly polluted lakes. In this study, we focus on five lake groups to investigate the influence of sense of place on stewardship, specifically place-making-a term used to describe intentional practices to design, improve, and manage 'good' public spaces. In each group, three-to-six members were interviewed and a survey tool was used to assess the place attachments and meanings associated with their specific lakes. Findings show that approaches to place-making were influenced by childhood experiences with nature, and an appreciation for what is becoming increasingly scarce in a fast-growing city; greenery, pleasant temperatures, free-flowing water, clean air, and access to nature. Over time, involvement in lake care has reinforced attachment for certain place meanings, but also broadened the range of meanings people are attached to, including seeing the lakes as places to express national and cultural pride. Findings also show that longer involvement in stewardship tends to give rise to a more complex understanding of the lakes' social and ecological functions, which in turn motivates the lake groups to advocate for a more socially just and nature-oriented approach to lake management. Based on our findings, we propose that stewardship groups can influence how a broader community interacts with and cares for urban green spaces, foster a more complex understanding of the varied benefits green spaces generate, and carve out alternative and more sustainable pathways for the governance of urban ecology.

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“…The number of government departments involved with aspects of lake management has now expanded to include the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Department of Fisheries, Department of Minor Irrigations, Ecology and Environment Department, Karnataka Forest Department, Lake Development Authority, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, Bangalore's municipal government), with multiple overlapping jurisdictions (Gowda andSridhara 2007, D'Souza and. The public's perceptions of lakes have also changed with urbanization, transitioning from community spaces valued for water and cultural services to urban recreational spaces used largely by joggers and walkers (Srinivas 2004, D'Souza and.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying the social-ecological system framework to the diagnosis of urban lake commons in Bangalore, India

Nagendra¹,

Остром²

2014

E&S

145

109

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ABSTRACT. The south Indian city of Bangalore provides a challenging yet representative context within which to examine issues of governance of urban social-ecological commons. The city was once famous for its numerous large water bodies, which have witnessed tremendous encroachment and pollution in recent years. These water bodies, called tanks or lakes, were typically managed by adjacent village communities but are now administered by a number of government departments involved with aspects of lake management, with multiple overlapping jurisdictions. The public's perceptions of lakes has also changed with urbanization, transitioning from community spaces valued for water and cultural services to urban recreational spaces used largely by joggers and walkers. We focus on a set of seven lakes located in the urbanizing peripheral areas of southeast Bangalore. Some water bodies have been restored and managed effectively by newly forged collaborations between citizens and local government. Others are extremely polluted, and some have completely dried up and have been encroached. We use a social-ecological system (SES) framework to investigate why some locations have been successful in negotiating changes in governance from community-based systems to state management following urbanization, whereas other lakes have deteriorated. We use seven second-tier SES variables that were associated with self-organization in previous research: size of resource system, number of actors, leadership, social capital, importance of resource, existence of operational-choice rules, and existence of informal mechanisms for monitoring. We also include three third-tier variables previously identified as important in urban lake commons in Bangalore: scale and type of pre-existing pollution, exclusion of socioeconomic groups from the planning process, and networking with government organizations. We use this subset of 10 variables to examine social outcomes of the lakes, which we define as the extent of collective action by residents working together for lake restoration and ecological outcomes based on the ecological condition of the lakes. Collective action was low in only one of seven lakes, which challenges the presumption that citizens will not organize efforts to cope with common-pool problems. However, only two of seven lakes were highly successful in regard to both the extent of collective action and the level of ecological performance. While one lake was small and the other moderate in size, these two cases shared similar ranking in all other variables. Both lakes were polluted at a relatively low level compared with the other lakes, and in both cases, the leaders of local groups were able to network with government officials to clean up the lakes. Unfortunately, the challenge of cleaning up urban lakes after many decades of pollution is very difficult without effective interaction with various governmental units. Our analysis illustrates the usefulness of the SES framework in examining the combination of variables that makes a coll...

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Conservation of tanks/lakes in the Bangalore metropolitan area

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Against the current: rewiring rigidity trap dynamics in urban water governance through civic engagement

Against the current: rewiring rigidity trap dynamics in urban water governance through civic engagement

Place-making to transform urban social–ecological systems: insights from the stewardship of urban lakes in Bangalore, India

Applying the social-ecological system framework to the diagnosis of urban lake commons in Bangalore, India

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