Natural resource management action plan development for Hubli-Dharwad PUI - Final technical report on the Natural Resources Systems Programmes (DFID)

This report by the DFID describes the outcomes and the process of implementation of the project that aimed at developing ‘Natural resources management strategies for peri-urban areas, which could benefit the poor and could be developed and promoted’. The project, along with NRSP funded peri-urban interface projects in Kumasi and Kolkata (Calcutta), was designed to address the following aspects of this goal:

1. To develop an understanding of natural resource based systems before they   could be managed effectively.

2. To identify the peri urban poor and understand  and  characterise their livelihood strategies.

3. To promote natural resources management strategies at different levels and scales, both spatially and temporally.

Spatially, this can include within the village and its locality, which can be managed by the research team; in non-project areas around the city, which needs the co-operation of government line departments such as the local extension services; wider afield, which can be achieved through media at the regional or state level; and internationally through conventional academic dissemination routes and by DfID. The temporal aspect refers to benefits generated being sustained beyond the life of the programme.

This implies changes in attitudes of government line departments, particularly
among those that develop policies and enact regulations, if these are considered to be inadequate for managing natural resources in the peri-urban interface and if they are inherently biased towards the wealthier and more educated sectors of the population.

This project sought to contribute to the above goal by addressing the important researchable constraint: ‘How can plans of action for management for natural resources which benefit the poor, best be developed in the context of the peri-urban interface.’

The outputs achieved were:

• Enhanced capacity of research team to establish and facilitate participatory action plan development processes
• Improved understanding of the participatory process for action plan development in the PUI by the research team.
• Target institutions and PU stakeholders recognise what the NR management issues arising from change driven by urbanisation are, their effects upon the PU poor, and the need for increased commitment to pro-poor approaches.
• Knowledge of stakeholders’ criteria for evaluating and prioritising issues identified, and any differences in prioritisation by various categories of stakeholders understood by all participants, through an interactive process.
• Plans of action produced by working groups consisting of poor peri-urban stakeholders and target institutions

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