Project 1-032 India

Partnerships for enhanced engagement in research (PEER) SCIENCE
Cycle 1 (2011 Deadline)

Institutional dynamics of adaptation to climate change and urbanization: analysis of rain-fed agricultural-urban lake systems in Bangalore, India

PI: Harini Nagendra, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

U.S. Partner: Tom Evans, Indiana University

Project Dates: May 2012 - May 2016

Project Overview

Adaptation to climate change poses a substantial challenge in the often data-poor contexts of the developing world. This is especially so for freshwater resources, which will play an increasingly critical role in ensuring the sustainability of agricultural-urban systems. This project examined how institutions can facilitate adaptation to climate change and urbanization in the highly vulnerable, rain-fed, semi-arid agricultural-urban system of Bangalore. The study focused on a network of 65 lakes in southeastern Bangalore. Differences between lakes within and outside the city boundary provide useful contrasts to address core questions. While both lake subsets have a similar exposure to climate change, the lakes outside the city exhibit greater institutional nestedness compared to lakes within the city, while the city municipal institutions have greater technical and financial resources.


A class picture from the workshop on lake conditions workshop in the summer of 2014 (Photo:Dr. Nagendra).	Students from the lake conditions workshop in the summer of 2014 pose with their illustrations (Photo: Dr. Nagendra).

The PEER project addressed three core research questions: the historical evolution of institutional regimes of water allocation, the current role of institutional nestedness in enabling adaptation to climate change, and future assessments of the ability of user groups to respond to potential climate change. Researchers used an interdisciplinary approach, integrating data on changes in climate and precipitation, historical datasets on land cover and common property resources, current land cover from high resolution satellites, ecological and environmental analyses of lake condition, archival and policy research, interviews with individuals, communities and government institutions, and qualitative scenario building.

Final Summary of Project Activities

The research team was able to procure village maps, high resolution satellite imagery to develop a GIS database on lakes and commons in the study area, mapping changes in lakes, wells, cultivation and tree cover from 1791 until 2015. Through field visits to over fifty villages, researchers identified 20 lakes for further in-depth study. In those lakes, they conducted water testing, interviews with local residents and government officials, taking measurements before and after monsoon season. The PEER team also conducted larger scale field visits on lakes across the city, as well as archival research on changes in governance from the colonial period onwards to investigate centralized vs decentralized governance’s impacts on the condition of the lakes.

Three female PhD students and one Master’s student worked on the project and used their research as part of their required theses. The PI incorporated material from the project for an undergraduate course on remote sensing she presented at Macalester College in Minnesota, a Master’s in Development course on land change at Azim Premji University, and a course on sustainability in planning and practice also at Azim Premji. As part of this latter course, students visited five community-restored lakes in Bangalore that the PEER project studied, using the information gathered from the project to guide field-based learning about issues of sustainability in practice in the context of Bangalore’s lakes.

By the time they submitted their final report in 2016, the research team had published 11 journal articles and two book chapters and made more than four dozen conference presentations and public talks. Researchers contributed input to lake restoration work by communities, civic and government bodies, and corporate groups. They also led heritage walks around lakes at two festivals, introducing participants to sacred and keystone trees, birds and insects, and fishing and grazing areas.

Publications

H. Unnikrishnan, S. Mundoli, B. Manjunatha, and H. Nagendra. 2016. Down the drain: the tragedy of the disappearing urban commons of Bengaluru. South Asian Journal of
Water Studies 5: 7-11. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301754513

H. Unnikrishnan, B. Manjunatha, and H. Nagendra. 2016. Contested urban commons: Mapping the transition of a lake to a sports stadium in Bangalore. International Journal of
the Commons 10: 265-293. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26522866

H. Nagendra. 2015. Wild beasts in the city. Seminar presentation, September 2015: 29-43. https://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/87/

D. Gopal, M. Manthey, and H. Nagendra. 2015. Vegetation in slums of Bangalore, India: Composition, distribution, diversity and history. Environmental Management 55: 1390-
1401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0467-3

S. Mundoli, B. Manjunatha, and H. Nagendra. 2015. Effects of urbanization on the use of lakes as commons in the peri-urban interface of Bengaluru, India. International Journal of
Sustainable Urban Development 7: 89-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2014.982124

H. Unnikrishnan and H. Nagendra. 2015. Privatizing the commons: impact on ecosystem services in Bangalore’s lakes. Urban Ecosystems 18(2): 613-632. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-014-0401-0

H. Nagendra and E. Ostrom. 2014. Applying the social-ecological systems framework to the diagnoses of urban commons. Ecology and Society 19(2): 67. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06582-190267

D. Gopal and H. Nagendra. 2014. Vegetation in Bangalore's slums: Boosting livelihoods, well-being and social capital. Sustainability 6(5): 2459-2473. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6052459

H. Nagendra, H. S. Sudhira, M. Katti, M. Tengö, and M. Schewenius. 2014. La urbanización y su impacto sobre el uso de la tierra, la biodiversidad y los ecosistemas en
la India. Interdisciplina 2: 169–178. (Adapted from Nagendra, Sudhira, Katti et al. 2013). http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/ceiich.24485705e.2014.2.46531

H. Nagendra, H. Unnikrishnan, and S. Sen. 2014. Villages in the city: spatial and temporal heterogeneity in rurality and urbanity in Bangalore, India. Land 3(1): 1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/land3010001

Hita Unnikrishnan. 2013. Lakes in the Anthropocene. Global Water News 13 (August 2013), pp 12.

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