A presentation by R. Suresh, Director, Public Affairs Centre, on community centered governance in the Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu. The presentation was made at a colloquium on Citizen Voices in Environmental Governance on August 23, 2012 organised by the Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore, India.

1. Community Centred Governance
in the Gulf of Mannar
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTRE

2. IMPROVING GOVERNANCE
Experiences of PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTRE
(1994-2012)

3. PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTRE
MISSION STATEMENT
“ IDENTIFY AND PROMOTE INITIATIVES THAT FACILITATE A PRO-ACTIVE
ROLE BY CITIZENS TO ENHANCE THE LEVEL OF PUBLIC
ACCOUNTABILITY AND PERFORMANCE”
A KNOWLEDGE DRIVEN - ACTION SUPPORT ORGANIZATION

4. MANDATE...
 CITIZEN REPORT CARDS / OTHER RESEARCH
 CITIZEN ACTION SUPPORT & ADVOCACY
 CAPACITY BUILDING
 INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

5. Citizen Report Cards
 Pioneering application in Bangalore in 1993; Repeated benchmarks –
1999, 2004 & 2012
 Widening applications – Sectoral, Rural, National, Programmatic (PDS,
SSA, Health)
 Building capacity of partners to design & implement
CRCs
 Innovating eLearning Modules to scale-up CRCs

6. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
CMCA
Administrator
and Assistant
Director Internal Auditor PAF
to Director
Publications Communication IT Services
Advisor and Media and Web
Advisor Outreach
PPRG PGRG ENGG CASG
Programme Officers Programme Officers Programme Officers Programme Officers
Programme Associates Programme Associates Programme Associates Programme Associates
Interns Interns Interns Interns
Field Manager
Administration and Finance

7. Environmental Governance
Group (EnGG) at PAC
The EnGG will be a resource
centre for promoting people
centered environmental
governance in India

8. Thematic Focus Areas
Action Capacity Networking Creating Knowledge
Research Development Policy Management
Dialogue through
of Environmental Platforms ‘Resource
Developing
Climate Change Governance actors by building Centre’
on Good Regional and to generate a
Score Cards, demand for to document
Impact of Climate Governance, National experiences &
Change Social Coalitions on transparency
Monitoring tools, Accountability in and learnings and
Environmental disseminate
Community combating the
Governance accountability in
Centred impacts of environmental knowledge on
Environmental Environment & governance best practices
Impact Climate Change.
Assessment Tools

9. Current Projects
Enhancing Community Centred Governance in Climate Change
Affected Coastal Areas – Gulf of Mannar Region –TN
Preparation of Green Manifesto to address the issues of
Coastal communities in Tamil Nadu and Building Coalition
for Environmental Governance.
Understanding the link between Environment, Livelihood &
Governance in Wayanad, Kerala
Development of citizen-centric EIA for Road Monitoring Project
Resource Centre Development

10. INTRODUCTION

11. COMMUNITY CENTRED GOVERNANCE
IN GULF OF MANNAR
Environment
& Climate
Change
CCSC
Livelihood Governance

12. COMMUNITY CENTRED GOVERNANCE
IN GULF OF MANNAR
Aims
- To develop a tool(s) which facilitate citizen participation to
protect their livelihoods from climate change and other
threats.
- Assess the effectiveness of local environmental regulation and
livelihood schemes. Identify gaps and shortcomings and
constructively engage with authorities to make things better.
- Develop mechanisms whereby communities can meaningfully
engage with governance structures and sustainably
participate in local environmental & livelihood management

13. Climate Change – People Do Matter!

14. PROJECT AREA AT A GLANCE
2 Districts – Ramanathapuram & Tuticorin
117 Villages – 15 villages chosen by Stratified Random
Sampling technique
Main livelihoods – Fishing, Palmyrah Tapping

15. CLIMATE CHANGE SCORE CARD
• Climate Change Score Card is an adoption of the popular tool
“Community Score Card”
• To bridge the dialogue between communities and governments
• Inputs: Scoping exercises, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
exercises, climate change analyses
• Scoring: by communities based on indicators
• Action plan: by livelihood community leaders/representatives
• Interface Meeting: bringing together all stakeholders at the
district level
Knowledge Creation | Empowerment | Constructive Engagement
PEER LEARNING

18. INPUT TRACKING: PRA TOOLS
1.Social Map
2.Resource Map
3.Livelihood matrix
4.Seasonality diagram
5.Venn diagram
6.Problem Tree
7.Climate Change Matrix: changes in key climatic indicators
like intensity & timing of rainfall, wind patterns and directions,
temperature and floods and its impacts on their livelihoods as
observed by the communities are captured in this exercise.

19. Social Map; Resource Map; Livelihood matrix;
Seasonality diagram; Climate Change Matrix;
Venn diagram; Problem Tree

20. FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY - PRA
1960-70 1970-80 1980-1990 2004-2009 2019
Fish catch 500 kgs 500 kgs 300 kgs fish 100 kgs 20kgs of fish
50kgs of 30kgs No prawns
prawns prawns
No. of fishers 550 550 400 350 Children will
look for
alternatives
Beach land 50mts 35 mts 15mts 5 mts - 15mts
Problems in Only natural Middlemen, Forest Forest dept., The fishers
Fishing disturbances Conflict department, Cross Border will be
between conflicts, Problem, displaced.
trawlers and Cross Border Coast guards
artisnal Problem problems,
fishers Sedu canal
project, CMZ
etc
Findings from PRA conducted by PAD in Kadaladi Block, Ramanathapuram

21. Resource Mapping
Trend Analysis

22. CLIMATE CHANGE IN GULF OF MANNAR
••Only rare livelihoods like palmyrah are resilient.
Rapidly rising temperatures
• High uncertainty in seasons, in predictability of weather.
An interesting finding is that the number of rainy days during the palmyrah season (Mar-Sep) is reducing steadily in
the region. The number is going down by roughly 0.9 rainy days per decade (99% confidence level).

23. SCORE CARD
Indicator Score
1. Livelihood schemes
1.1 Welfare schemes
1.1.1 Awareness /5
1.1.2 Process /5
1.1.3 Impact /5
Overall Score / 15
1.2 Relief schemes
1.2.1 Awareness /5
1.2.2 Process /5
1.2.3 Impact /5
Overall Score / 15
1.3 Training support & Skill building
1.3.1 Awareness /5
1.3.2 Process /5
1.3.3 Impact /5
Overall Score / 15
1.4 Technology & Technical support
1.4.1 Awareness /5
1.4.2 Process /5
1.4.3 Impact /5
Overall Score / 15
2. Responsiveness of Agency / 10
3. Grievance Redressal / 10
4. Promotion of Alternate Livelihoods / 10

26. GOING FORWARD FROM
SCORE CARDS
• Community groups came together to draft an action plan to
address the various issues that came up.
• Highlights of the action plan includes issues, suggested actions,
delegation of roles:
Government, CBOs, Communities
It is the ultimate aim of the climate change score card that all
stakeholders come to a common understanding of the way forward,
and share roles and responsibilities to secure livelihoods of the
people.

27. THANK YOU