No common solution for development issues,Ostrom tells govt

Ostrom,who won the Nobel for her work on how to effectively govern common properties like forests or rivers,said solutions have to be found mostly at the local level and by the communities themselves. “It is naive to expect one single solution for all cases. But it is important to ensure that indigenous peoples are empowered and made stakeholders in developmental projects. They should be in a position to effectively bargain for themselves,” she said.

A legislation like the Forest Rights Act (FRA),which seeks to recognise the rights of forest-dwellers over forests and their produce,is therefore only an enabling provision and not the solution to the problem. “I would not agree if I am told that FRA is the panacea for all the problems related to people adversely affected by developmental projects. It is a good and powerful first step but not the solution,” she says.

FRA has been used to block some big-ticket projects,including POSCO’s proposed iron and steel plant and Vedanta’s mining and refinery projects in Orissa,citing non-implementation of its provisions.

Ostrom said there is strong statistical evidence to suggest that when local communities are made stakeholders in a project,they become willing partners and make healthy contributions to the project.