Browsing by Author "Basu, Doyita"

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Valuing the invaluable : an ecosystem valuation and stakeholder analysis of the Rabindra Sarovar lake in Kolkata
(National Law School of India University, Bangalore, 2023-10-17) Basu, Doyita; Dr. Sneha Thapliyal, - Supervisor
In the study of Commons, following the established approach by Ostrom, the role of community participation has gained increasing traction within policy-making circles as solutions to resolving the dilemma of competing interests between various stakeholders. Taking in account this conceptual rooting, this study intends to apply the community-based approach towards an example of Urban Commons i.e. the Rabindra Sarovar lake; and attempt to understand the use value attributed by visitors to the lake and the consequent role of stakeholder groups in terms of their power and interest in influencing policy making. By employing a quantitative revealed preference technique for ascertaining use value; this study established that the user does indeed accord a large recreational value to the site and thereby becomes the crux of developing a more deconcentrated approach to urban commons management in the case of the lake. The user thus represents the balancing point of contending viewpoints between increased access on one hand, and decreased human activity to ensure biodiversity of the site on the other hand as the user relies on the biodiversity of the site in question to glean a positive net benefit from visiting the site. Furthermore, this study then establishes the use value of the visitor and the dominant stakeholders that are key to the competing interests in the site and create deconcentrated and alliance-building strategies to ensure effective participation of stakeholder groups, while increasing government capacity for decision-making and revenue earning.