P. H. J. van der Hem
Supervising teacher: M. Bavinck
Bachelor thesis project on
Ecosystems – Governance and services
The Ecosystem based Adaptation of
wetland residents
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Table of Content
1. Introduction ... 3
2. Wetlands‟ services ... 5
Flood control and ground water recharge ... 6
Water purification and water filtration from pollutants ... 7
Biodiversity and recreation ... 8
The problem with financial valuation of ecosystem services ... 8
3. The Pallikaranai Marshland ... 9
Geology of the Pallikaranai Marshland... 12
Biodiversity of the Pallikaranai Marshland ... 12
Wasteland status ... 13
Increasing population and waste ... 14
Flooding ... 15
Size deterioration ... 16
4. Theoretical Framework ... 17
Ecosystems and their services ... 17
Resilience ... 17
Ecological resilience ... 17
Social resilience ... 18
Ecosystem based Adaptation ... 18
5. Methodology ... 22
Choice of study area/population ... 22
Data collection ... 23
Marshall‟s indicators... 25
6. Results ... 25
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Contemporary natural problems ... 30
Historic natural problems ... 31
Contemporary counter measures ... 34
Historic counter measures ... 35
The water problem... 36
Entrepreneurial adaptations ... 38
Shopkeeper ... 38
The waste collectors ... 39
School ... 39 Recognized barriers ... 40 Government actions ... 41 7. Conclusion ... 43 Literature ... 46 Appendix ... 52 Questionnaire ... 52
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1. Introduction
Climate change is a fact. Since prehistoric times until the current 21st century global temperature has been increasing and declining in steady paces. However, the last centuries the global temperature has been rising at an increasingly alarming speed. This increase in speed is for a relatively large part attributed to mankind (IPCC, 2013; Rockström et al., 2009). The effects of this partially human induced climate change radiate on both nature and men. Quantities of phytoplankton are reducing due to increasing temperatures (Hays, Richardson, Robinson, 2005), nitrogen and phosphorus cycles are being disrupted (Rockström et al., 2009), ozone within the stratosphere is decreasing (Rockström et al., 2009), and with regard to biodiversity this era is already denominated as the start of the fifth mass extinction in planetary history (Ehrlich, 1994; Myers, 1996; Pimm, Russell, Gittleman, Brooks, 1995; Wilson, 1992).
Climate change heavily affects the nature and composition of ecosystems,
particularly wetlands (ICEM, 2012). There are different types of wetlands however, some being more threatened by climate change than others. Especially urban wetlands endure more stress due to their proximity to cities. In these areas the societal uses of the wetlands compete with the alternative of (urban) development of the area. With an increasingly urban world population these pressures are only expected to increase over the span of time. One of the countries where this is a very current issue, is India. In the metropolitan region of Chennai in the south eastern part of India lies the Pallikaranai Marshland. The Pallikaranai Marshland is one of the few surviving urban wetlands in India. The difficulties that go along with the coexistence of wetlands and human development continue to portray their effects in the
contemporary situation of the Pallikaranai Marshland. Sewage treatment facilities, dumpsites, residential areas and commercial areas have all encroached the wetland over the last decades and continue to do so (Vencatesan, 2014).
Urban wetlands differ from other wetlands in their competitiveness for space with the urban areas. Up until relatively recently wetlands were regarded as unhealthy areas which provided none or not many benefits to the people making use of them and were often perceived as a barrier for economic development (Vileisis, 1997).
4 | P a g e Urbanization thereby poses a threat for urban wetlands. By developing commercial and residential areas and infrastructure the wetlands have to give in to urban development (Booth, 1991; Knutson et al., 1999; Lehtinen et al., 1999; Azous and Horner, 2000). While commercial and residential areas utilize primarily the surface area of the wetland, infrastructural projects might not be just but are rather impairing to the wetland. This impairment is done by changing the characteristics of the
wetland such as water flow, fragmentation, etc. and thereby destabilizing the overall stability and equilibria of the wetlands. Degradation of water quality by (chemical) waste disposal plays a highly influential role in impairing a wetland.
The trade-offs between development and ecological conservation are particularly hard for planning agencies because the (potential) costs and benefits are high in both the development scenario as the conservation scenario (Boyar & Polasky, 2004). A particularly difficult predicament is the calculation of costs and benefits of wetlands. Contemporary literature agrees that wetlands play important role in human society but also in major ecosystems and/or climates.
This thesis aims to add knowledge about the current ecosystem based adaptation of local residents in or near the Pallikaranai Marshland. This information is important to understand who lives in these contested areas, what their problems are and how people cope with those problems. The study evaluates perceived problems and adaptations between the years 1959 and 2014. The thesis revolves around the following question:
How do local households adapt to changes in the waste disposal ecosystem service of the Pallikaranai marshland?
The thesis will start off with a basic understanding of some of the ecosystem services a wetland provides. Second general information is provided concerning the
Pallikaranai Marshland, Chennai, and several current and major problems regarding the marshland are highlighted. Third social and ecological resilience is discussed and linked to the concept of ecosystem based adaptation. Fourth, the methodology and experiences are discussed within the framework of this research. Fifth, results of the study are analyzed and discussed. This thesis will finalize with conclusions and a discussion.
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2. Wetlands’ services
The benefits a wetland provides, if are known as an ecosystem service. There are four categories of ecosystem services: (1) provisioning services, (2) regulating services, (3) cultural services and (4) supporting services. Provisioning services are the production services in goods and services produced in the ecosystem such as food, water, fuel, medical resources etc. Regulating services comprises of the capacity of the ecosystem to regulate climate, hydrological and bio-chemical cycles, earth surface processes and a variety of biological processes. One could think of air quality regulation, carbon sequestration etc. Cultural services refer to the benefits people obtain from ecosystems through recreation, cognitive development, relaxation and spiritual reflection. Lastly, supporting services are those services that recycle, maintain and even primarily produce within the ecosystem, such as providing habitat to species and maintaining genetic diversity within flora and fauna populations (TEEB, 2014; MEA, 2005; Venkatachalam, 2014)
An overview of ecosystem services is provided in Table 1. This table, derived from Barbier et al. (1997), places use values of wetlands in several categories. The use values refer to specific services that we can utilize, whereas non-use values refer to the value of existence, which cannot be utilized but only appreciated by humans. Within the use values there is the direct use values, which directly provides physical benefits for its users whereas the indirect use values are more cyclic benefits which can be used only indirectly. Option values refer to potential values of wetlands. It is important to go into depth into a few ecosystem services to better understand the status and appreciation of this study‟s focus and its context. To be precise: (1) flood control, (2) ground water recharge, (3) water purification, (4) water filtration from pollutants and (5) biodiversity and recreation. The reason for looking in depth in these specific ecosystem services is that these services refer to contemporary highlighted problems of the Pallikaranai Marshland.
6 | P a g e Flood control and ground water recharge
Firstly, wetlands influence to a high extent Earth‟s hydrological cycle of surrounding region. The wetland‟s recharge groundwater can function as a „sponge‟ for rain water affluent. When water discharge levels of the marsh are exceedingly high, water is stored in the marsh (Namma Pallikaranai, 2014). In dry times, this freshwater stock is drained again and released into the aquifer (Seifelislam, 2013), providing fresh water for communities. In the meantime high differences between fluxes are taken up by the wetland and prevent (severe) flooding. This interplay between the wetland and the aquifer is visually represented in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Visual representation of aquifer storage and recovery (Raj, 2014) Table 1 Classification of ecosystem services for wetlands (Barbier et al., 1997)
7 | P a g e Water purification and water filtration from pollutants
All the while this interplay, the wetland actually filters sediments and thus improves water quality, adsorbs heavy metals and plays a critical role in maintaining the
general health of water bodies (Vijayakumar, 2011; Bullok & Acreman, 2003; Nixon & Lee, 1986; Seifelislam, 2013). Three specific characteristics of wetlands play a vital role in the use of wetlands for purification purposes (Verhoeven & Meuleman, 1999). First, being semi-aquatic systems, wetlands contain vast quantities of water.
Wastewater can thereby easily be diluted in the water of the wetlands. Secondly, wetland‟s soils are part oxic and partly anoxic which enables the breakdown of organic matter involving electron acceptors. Wetlands differ in this aspect from upland ecosystems because of their nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics. Thirdly, wetlands are mostly made up by productive and tall emergent vegetation. This vegetation is capable of taking up large amounts of nutrients to sustain their growth. A visualization in Figure 2, provided by Verhoeven et al. (2006), depicts the process of water purification of wetlands. Although this image starts off with agricultural output rather than waste water, the interplay between plant uptake, denitrification and the water table remains the same for wastewater.
8 | P a g e Biodiversity and recreation
Wetlands are also famous for their biodiversity (Jayanthi, Duraisamy, Sharma, Paramasivam, 2012). Due to the constant water availability and high productivity of soil, wetlands provide a pleasant stay for flora and fauna (Gibbs, 2000). Mostly wetlands are home to wetland-specific species. In case of the Pallikaranai and other wetlands the wetlands is also used terrestrial and aquatic species from surrounding areas. Especially migrating birds use the marshland as a pit stop.
The problem with financial valuation of ecosystem services
However, there is a complication with ecosystem services. While it sounds easy to define specific costs and benefits for ecosystem, the services cannot be sold, nor do they have a common market price. Costs and benefits are thus calculated per
specific service, but the calculations for these costs are mostly disputed. Thus
coming to a mutual understanding of financial valuation of ecosystem services proves very hard.
In addition to this complication, once the costs and benefits are well defined, the future of the wetland might still be in danger. A landowner of wetland area might have large initial returns by opening his/her lands to development. Where conservation is concerned time of return plays an important part. Most of the returns are long term and basically go by the rule of thumb that the larger the returns, the more distant they are returned in the future. Therefore conservation of wetlands and their services are often regarded as unviable from an individual point of view (Boyar & Polasky, 2004). From a societal view however quite the opposite might be true (Boyar & Polasky, 2004). The cumulative advantage for all users of a wetland probably outweighs the value of development (Boyar & Polasky, 2004).
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3. The Pallikaranai Marshland
Wetlands are commonly defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether
natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres” (UNESCO, 1971). Although old, this definition is still used by
168 countries across the globe. This definition however is very generic in its description and may provide an observer with many different landscapes. To avoid ambiguity, it is wise to take a more specific look in different and very specific aspects of the Pallikaranai Marshland. The Pallikaranai Marshland only got its name recently (Vencatesan, 2014). Before 2000 it was mainly known as „Kazhiveli‟, which is a Tamil epithet for marshes and swamps in general. After several attempts from the NGO Care Earth Trust to raise awareness the name Pallikaranai came to designate the wetlands (Vencatesan, 2014). The Pallikaranai Marshland consists of one major marsh, surrounded by smaller satellite wetlands. These satellite wetlands have been cut off from the main wetland because of urbanization, which can be seen in Figure 3, a road map of the city of Chennai.
Figure 3 A map of the city of Chennai. The Pallikaranai Marshland is highlighted with a red square. (Google Mapstm, 2014)
10 | P a g e This cut-off poses varies problems which will be discussed later on in this chapter. The northern part of the marshland holds freshwater, provided by the river and rainwater. The southern part of the marshland consists of brackish and salty water due to saline intrusion of the coastal delta (Venkatachalam, 2014). The appearance of this wetland varies from pasture lands to patches of dry forests. The wetland has a surface area of over 50 km2. Figure 4 contains a satellite image in 2014 of the major wetland of the Pallikaranai Marshland along with several highlights that are
numbered.
1 connection between Pallikaranai and Buckhingham Canal
2 Southern part of Pallikaranai, mostly salty 3 Northern part of Pallikaranai, mostly freshwater 4 Perungudi dumpsite
5 Sewage treatment plant 6 Study area
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Figure 4 Satellite image of the Pallikaranai Marshland, Chennai, and its immediate surroundings, 2014 (Google Earthtm)
12 | P a g e Geology of the Pallikaranai Marshland
The surroundings of Chennai, India, vary hugely geologically. The oldest formations are from the Archeans, while the youngest formations are recent alluviums. The formation of the Pallikarnai Marshland consists of Charnokite rock bed, topped with unconsolidated coastal and river alluvium (Seifelislam, 2013; Maheswari,
Boominathan, Dodagouder, 2010) and granite gneiss (Namma Pallikaranai, 2014). In these geological formations the Pallikaranai Marshland is a low lying area, also called the Pallikaranai Depression (Vasanthi, Kaliappan, Srinivasaraghavan, 2008;
Jayaprakash, Ragarajan, Velmurugan, Sathiyamoorthy, Krishnamurthy, Urban, 2012). This depression stretches from + 10 km north to south and + 3 km west to east, debouching at the Kovalam Estuary. Also there is a freshwater aquifer running parallel to the coast, which is in contact with the Pallikaranai Marshland.
Biodiversity of the Pallikaranai Marshland
The Pallikaranai Marshland holds enormous recreational and aesthetic value. Being one of the last urban wetlands in India, its existence provides benefits for both humans and animals. According to Namma Pallikaranai (2014) 125 bird-, 10
mammal-, 21 reptile-, 9 amphibian-, 49 fish-, 9 molluscan-, 5 crustacean-, 7 butterfly- and 120 plant species are found in the Pallikaranai Marshland. A recent study has shown that in the past three years the number of bird species that were seen in the Pallikaranai Marshland from October 2010 to March 2013 has nearly doubled. Figure 6 displays this increase. The increase of bird species demonstrates not so much that the Pallikaranai Marshland has improved its ecological status as that fauna is seeking sanctuary in one of the last entrapped ecosystems in the metropolitan region of
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Figure 5 Quantification of bird species identified in the Pallikaranai Marshland (Venkatachalam, 2014)
Namma Pallikaranai (2014) has indicated that there are three major problems that threaten the very existence and quality of the Pallikaranai Marshland. These problems are (1) definition of the wasteland, (2) increasing urbanization, (3)
increasing flood risk of the nearby settlements and (4) continuing encroachment of the marshland. Below these problems will be discussed in more detail.
Wasteland status
Environmental awareness has been historically very low for marshlands, especially in developing countries because of the status they have (Vijayakumar, 2011;
Seifelislam, 2013). Until recently, wetlands have been regarded as lands without
social importance. Therefore, many of these ecosystems were treated as waste lands. Therefore (un)official dumping was regarded as legal, since these lands were
supposedly not of use in any way. Understanding this historic denomination is crucial to understand the contemporary role wetlands and in particular the Pallikaranai Marshland, play in Indian ecology. Many of the wetlands still show the scars and effects that this historic denomination has. For the Pallikaranai Marshland the major disturbance is the presence of a dumpsite and a sewage treatment plant – the Perungudi Dumpsite and Swamy Aqua and Enviro Systems Pvt. Ltd. – in the ecosystem. Both dumpsite and sewage treatment plant were positioned within the contemporary Pallikaranai Marshland precisely because the marshland was not recognized as valued land. Starting from the year 1986 the Perungudi dumpsite has continued to increase in size (Jayanthi et al., 2012). From the year 2000 to 2008 the dumpsite has increased in surface area from 32 ha to 57,22 ha (Venkatachalam, 2014). The sewage dumping takes place from at least six local bodies around the
14 | P a g e marsh. Official figures reveal that the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and
Sewerage Board is dumping 32 million litres of untreated water per day in the Pallikaranai Marshland (Venkatachalam, 2014).
Increasing population and waste
In addition to the presence of the dumpsite and sewage treatment plant, the amount of waste they dump/treat is increasing as well. In the 1990‟s India‟s economy and Indian wellbeing significantly rose thanks to economic reforms. One example of this economic prosperity is the rising of household income in urban India with about 30% from 1993/1994 until 2009-2010 (Meyer et al., 2012). And with this economic
prosperity also the so called consuming capacity increased. The size of the Indian population is steadily increasing with 1,3% per annum (Annepu, 2012). Additionally to the already 13,68 million and growing population of the Chennai metropolitan region (Indian Government, 2011), the amount of waste from the population is incredible. With 4500 MTs garbage and 700 MTs of solid waste per day Chennai is the most wasteful city within India (The Times of India, 2014). This generation of solid waste is partly because the average household income in urban India has grown by about a third between 1993/1994 and 2009/2010 and so did the consuming capacity (Meyer et al., 2012). Figure 7 displays the observed and estimated urban population and its generated waste in GM per capita per day in Chennai.
Figure 6 Observed and estimated urban population and waste production gm/capita/day ( (Venkatachalam, 2014)
15 | P a g e Flooding
Due to processes such as „hardening‟ of the soil, encroachment and urban planning the catchment of the Pallikaranai Marshland has been steadily decreasing over the years. In Figure 8 below one can see the catchment area of the Pallikaranai
Marshland between observed 2001 and the projected 2015.
Figure 7 Observed and projected catchment area of the Pallikaranai Marshland (Care Earth Trust, 2014)
The decline of the catchment has several impacts; however, one of the most
important features is the risk of flooding. The risk of flooding is increased whenever a catchment area declines. The sponge function of the wetland to absorb and distribute water decreases and thus imposes greater risks like flooding and drought onto
16 | P a g e Size deterioration
In the year 1965 the Pallikaranai was estimated to have a surface area of about 5500 ha (Namma Palikaranai, 2014; Care Earth Trust, 2014). Since that year the observed decline of almost 90% in surface area to a meagre 593 ha in 2000 (Venkatachalam, 2014; Namma Palaikaranai, 2014) has worried many NGO‟s. In 2008 the surface area further declined to 541,61 ha (Venkatachalam, 2014). Due to the vicinity of the municipality of Chennai to the state Andhra Pradesh, the city could not expand to the North. Nor could it expand to the East due to the presence of the Bay of Bengal. Therefore the city of Chennai hád to expand southwards and westwards, thereby encroaching the Pallikaranai marshland.
The surface area of the Pallikaranai Marshland lost most of its surface area to residential areas like Thuraipakkam, Pallikaranai – the neighbourhood – and Perungudi. Habitat fragmentation also contributed to the loss of area of the
marshland. Roads, infrastructure, municipal landfills, sewage treatment facilities all
„cut‟ the marshland into smaller portions, leaving it more vulnerable to environmental
degradation (Skole & Tucker, 1993). Thirdly, the unscientific manner of addressing flood control also contributed to the surface area and catchment area loss of the marshland (Seifelislam, 2013). This inappropriate manner and bad urban planning, aimed to negate the effects of floods and economic loss, have resulted in further encroachment.
On the 9th of April, 2007, however 317 ha of the Pallikaranai Marshland was declared as reserved land under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. Further encroachment on the southern side of the marsh was thus prevented since “any forest land or any
portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose” (Forest Conservation Act, 1980).
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4. Theoretical Framework
Ecosystems and their services
In the past the area that is now called the Pallikaranai Marshland has been subject to major changes. These changes influenced both the marshland‟s ecological
surroundings as well as social surroundings. The immediate future of the marshland is projected to rapidly change. Due to these changes there is an increasingly louder cry for appropriate policies that protect the ecological value of the marshland, the livelihoods of people and the community in place. Deterioration in the ecology of the marshland might have cascading influences on the livelihoods and communities and vice versa (Adger, 2003). The interlinkages of the ecological realm and the social realm inherently lead to trade-offs. Ecosystems should therefore be approached as a source of benefits, looking at the ecosystem services it provides to the community and at the benefits a community derives from the ecosystem.
Resilience
The ecosystems and their ecosystems services as well as the human communities residing there highly depend on the amount and intensity of external natural
disturbances or pressures. For example, the nature of ecosystems might change due to global warming or rising sea levels. However, equilibria of ecosystems – a stable state – and also communities show a certain amount elasticity with regard to external disturbances. This elasticity for ecosystems is referred to as ecological resilience and the elasticity for social systems is referred to as social resilience.
Ecological resilience
Multistate ecological resilience refers the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting damage and recuperating to a previous equilibrium. Events like fires, flooding or changing temperature might disturb the ecosystem and force the equilibrium of an ecosystem to a so called threshold. Whenever the equilibrium is pushed beyond a threshold it is relatively hard for an ecosystem to return to its previous state. Instead, the ecosystem will take up a new equilibrium. The ecosystem might
Figure 8 Visualization of multistate ecological resilience (Scheffer et al., 2001)
18 | P a g e then have a higher pH equilibrium than before and thus might sustain species that could not inhabitat the ecosystem before. A visualization of multistate ecological resilience is contained in Figure 9.
Social resilience
Social resilience is apparent on many different levels; from individual resilience to the resilience of a nation state. Social resilience refers to one‟s “ability to respond to
changes through learning, managing risk and impacts, developing new knowledge and devising effective approaches” (Marshall et al., 2010). Paramount for learning
and developing new knowledge as well as devising effective approaches is the use of experiments (Gunderson, 2000) and reflection. Social resilience is mainly created by the existence of institutions and networks that store knowledge, experience and learn from case studies. Also institutions and networks that make up the flexibility of the problem solving capacity contribute to social resilience (Scheffer et al., 2001).
Ecosystem based Adaptation
The trade-offs between ecosystems and societies call for well thought policies, i.e. an ecosystem approach. The definition of an ecosystem approach is “a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes
conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. Humans, with their cultural diversity, are an integral component of ecosystems.” (MEA, 2005). It is wise to highlight one of the most current and influential strategies: ecosystem based
adaptation (EbA). This approach aims to obtain social benefits while maintaining or improving ecosystem resilience. One of the advantages of a framework approach compared to a pre-defined approach is the ability to recognize the diversity of local situations and maximize effective local adaptation and ecosystem management (Vignola et al., 2009; Mercer et al., 2012; Huq, Renaud, Sebesvari, 2014). EbA achieves social benefits while making sure that critical ecosystem services remain intact, reducing a community‟s dependency on natural resources – especially that of poor communities -. (Naumann et al., 2014). Figure 10 portrays the aims and effects of EbA on local communities and ecosystems.
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Figure 9 Aims and effects of Ecosystem based Adaptation, differentiated in four segments (Naumann et al., 2014)
Community based adaptation is an approach that solves environmental problems from a community point of view. Although this approach better serves the purpose better of increasing the sustainability of communities in comparison to EbA (Hug & Reid, 2007), it is not as well applicable on this thesis‟ study population. The study population of this thesis is not a community but rather a neighbourhood, thus the problem would be better analysed from an ecosystem approach than a community approach. Therefore this study focuses more on EbA rather than community based adaptation.
The foundation of an EbA approach is to increase the adaptive capacity or resilience of individuals, households, communities, organizations and/or nation states (Marshall et al., 2010) and thereby lessen their dependency on ecosystems. Using an inductive approach based upon literature and open qualitative interviews, I have constructed a questionnaire which aims to provide information about that individual and/or
household adaptive capacity. Marshall and Marshal (2007) frame specific indicators that constitute the individual or household adaptive capacity. These indicators are depicted in Table 2.
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Table 2 Indicators of individual adaptive capacity (Marshall et al,, 2010)
1 Perception of risk 9 Business size and approach
2 Ability to cope with change 10 Financial status and access to credit
3 Level of interest in change 11 Income diversity
4 Ability to plan, learn and reorganize 12 Local environmental knowledge
5 Attachment to the occupation 13 Environmental awareness, attitudes and beliefs
6 Employability 14 Access to technology
7 Family characteristics 15 Formal and informal networks
8 Attachment to place 16 Perceptions of equity in accessing resources
An analysis of responses to these indicators can provide a substantial knowledge basis of the needs of the local population. When those needs are better specified, an EbA approach can be more attuned to those needs. This might improve stakeholder involvement and thus maximize both environmental as social aims. For example, through an attuned EbA approach specific vulnerable groups like women or minorities might be better protected.
This research focuses on four of Marshall et al.‟s (2010) indicators, since they
coincided with indicators based upon my own literature research and open qualitative interviews. This link with my own literature research will be explained more
thoroughly in the methodology chapter. First, the ability to cope with change is assessed in a variety of ways. The indicator refers to the emotional and financial ability to cope with negative disturbances.
Second, the employability of the residents was analysed in the study area by obtaining information about the respondent‟s age, level of education and the attachment to this particular area.
Third, family characteristics were asked with regard to the size of the household. This might influence the flexibility to move or work at other locations.
Lastly, the financial status and access to credit were analysed by asking the respondents‟ income. Especially income of a resource user and his/her ability to access credit can influence the ability of response to change (Overdevest & Green, 1995). Poorer resource users may have to refrain from using risk-reducing measures
21 | P a g e because they do not have the financial means and often need to resume taking (increasing) risks (Peluso, Humphrey, Fortmann, 1994).
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5. Methodology
In this study I have chosen to do three types of data collection: (1) observations and open interviews, (2) semi-structured interviews and (3) structured interviews, i.e. questionnaires. I have chosen these three types of data collection because of their complementarity. In this manner this study is based upon both qualitative as
quantitative data. This study uses interviews and questionnaires to obtain historic explanations to better understand contemporary behavior.
Choice of study area/population
The study population consists of residents of the blocks (1) Sri Sai Nagar, and parts of (2) Seevaram and (3) Perungudi in Chennai, India. The population size is hard to determine, since the study population comprises Sri Sai Nagar fully, partly Seevaram and partly Perungudi. However population estimates revolve around 1500 persons in the chosen study area. Based upon the average size per household in India – 4,2 persons per household – one can deduce that the response was 63
/357,14 which sums up for more than 17,64% of the entire population. I have selected this particular population for my studies due to 5 factors: Proximity to the dump yard itself. It is probable that the severity of problems increases when closer to the source of the problems, i.e. the Perungudi dump yard. Second, the three blocks are relatively old compared to other encroaching areas around the Pallikaranai Marshland. Thirty years ago, these neighborhoods were mainly agricultural lands. The fact that these neighborhoods rapidly urbanized might create a contrast between the problems now and the problems in the past even more. In further line of this argument one could argue that these neighborhoods are particularly important because they were the ´frontrunners‟ of the encroachment of the Pallikaranai Marshland. Therefore they are interesting to look at due to their history of encroachment. Last but not least, the study area varies greatly in terms of the characteristics of the population. Residents are comprised of house owners, as well as rentals as well as IT personnel or expats. The first mentioned is different in the sense that the house owners are mostly long term residents whereas others are of a temporary nature.
23 | P a g e Data collection
With the collection of data, the study was divided into three phases. The first phase encompassed one week and was an initial reconnaissance which aimed to obtain a general idea of the context in which the study took place. This context had several parts. The social part revolved around the residents and encroachment of the Pallikaranai Marshland. The type of residents of encroached areas are essential for understanding the observed reactions to the Pallikaranai Marshland. Second, the economical part: this segment was about where the richer and poorer social groups resided around the Pallikaranai. This was particularly important for the choice of my study area since it had to contain both richer and poorer social groups. Next was the governing segment which concerned the governing actors and the (in)activity in the area.
In the data collection phase I tried to colour these segments with observations and open qualitative interviews, thereby allowing the research to be as unbiased as possible. Whenever respondents told us they did not want to participate we came back the next day. Interviews mostly took place on the streets or in offices, between 9 am and 4 pm. Especially the open qualitative interviews highlighted several important aspects that were considered as such by residents and influential actors. Although most of them were not by appointment, some of them were. The interviewees with whom appointments were made, were mostly researchers who had done previous research on the Pallikaranai Marshlands.
The second phase enveloped two weeks and concentrated on taking the structured interviews, i.e. questionnaires, which were further specialized and streamlined during a first phase of reconnaissance. The second phase was done in team, consisting of one Dutch researcher and one translator. The translators were diverse, in the sense that their age differed, the education level, their caste, etc. For instance, one of the translators was a Muslim of 31 years old and was a graduating PhD student at the Madras University. The teams went from door to door, interviewing one person in each household. Preference was given to the head of the household. About half of the structured interviews were taken inside, after the owner gave permission to enter the house. The other half of the structured interviews was taken from outside, on the streets. This was mostly the case when only women were present in the house. In total the two teams made 63 questionnaires. The structured interviews were also
24 | P a g e taken in a timeframe from 9 am to 4 pm. Regarding the questionnaires there was a high use of convenience sampling as research method.
The last and third phase was the rounding off of the research. This also
encompassed one week. In this week several semi structured qualitative interviews were held with government officials and entrepreneurial actors within the study area. Especially the government officials were able to answer more specific questions regarding the area and its policies.
Also observations were made regarding the mapping of the study area to get a documented grip on the situation at hand, regarding population divisions and encroachment of the Pallikaranai Marshland.
In these four weeks the two Dutch researchers resided in the Southern district of Thuraipakkam, outside but close by to the study area. This district was located outside the research area. In the first few weeks the researchers were definitely regarded as outsiders. But as the days and weeks passed we were regarded as increasingly trustworthy by the population. This trust reflected itself in the manner of answering questions. The answer became increasingly longer and very
comprehensive, as time passed.
However, during the research period I could not shake off my status as outsider. Part of this inability to become regarded as a local was the language barrier: for I could not speak any Tamil. Therefore it is possible that answers of the questionnaires and interviews might have been strategic, since some residents saw an opportunity to voice their concerns and beliefs to me so that I could help or assist them in any way.
25 | P a g e Marshall’s indicators
In this research I have operationalized four of the 16 indicators that Marshall et al. (2010) uses to assess individual adaptive capacity. These indicators were (1) ability
to cope with change, (2) employability of the population, (3) family characteristics of households and (4), financial status and access to credit. I came to these indicators
only after the fieldwork was done. From my questionnaires it be apparent that a multitude of questions could function as either one of these four indicators. These respective indicators were operationalized with the following questions within the questionnaire: 1 17, 37, 38 2 3, 4, 30, 32 3 5, 37, 38 4 37, 38
6. Results
Prior to the question of how did local households historically and contemporarily adapt to the Pallikaranai marshlands with regard of the ecosystem service of waste disposal we introduce the study area and give an assessment of the general
characteristics of the study population. It is important to know who lives in the study area to interpret the findings. Following upon this basic analysis, it is of paramount importance to know what kinds of problems are found in the study area. Once you know the problems you can identify adaptations or counter measures that people undertake. To observe a change in adaptation, the problems and adaptations of 2014 and the moment people started to take up residence in the area - > 10 years ago – will be shown against each other, thereby depicting a change in problems and a change in counter measures. The reason for applying a selection of respondents in this case for > 10 year residents is because in order to perceive any substantial change in problems, you would have to be a longer period of time in the same study area. Following upon this analysis of problems, historic and contemporary,
entrepreneurial adaptations are further analyzed, since they vary from individual adaptations. In these entrepreneurial adaptations I found three exemplary cases of
26 | P a g e different businesses within the study area, a local kiosk, a waste collection center and a private secondary school. This chapter will conclude with the recognition of
(institutional) barriers and contemporary government actions against the different natural problems in the study area.
It is important to note that this study makes primarily use of questionnaires. These questionnaires were taken between 9am and 4 pm, already influencing population figures. For instance, the common working person would not always be at home and thereby missed a chance to fill in the questionnaires. The questionnaires could therefore have been influenced in mainly the woman/men distribution of the study population. The results are also influenced by the use of translators. These were necessary since the two research teams were led by Dutch students, unable to speak the Tamil language. These appearance, caste or demeanor of these translators might have slightly influenced answers. There is also the possibility of interpretation of questions with these sorts of research methods.
27 | P a g e
Introduction of the study area
The study area, comprising Sri Sai Nagar and parts of Seevaram and Perungudi, lies in the North of the Thuraipakkam district in Chennai with the following latitudes and longitudes; - from left to right and top to bottom - 12°57‟14.27 “N and 80°13‟52.27 “O; 12°57‟18.29 “N and 80°14‟06.01 “O; 12°56‟59.98 “N and 80°13‟51.52; 12°56‟59.50 “N and 80°14‟11.14. Thuraipakkam is known for the IT expressway, the first six lane road in Chennai (Wikipedia, 2014).
Figure 10 Three images depicting from left to right and top to bottom, Indian states with highlighted Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu with highlighted Chennai district, Southern part of Chennai with highlighted study area
28 | P a g e The district is also known for relatively high income and a high number of IT
companies and employees. Due to its vicinity to a dump yard and the technically denominated „wasteland‟, or Pallikaranai Marshland, the value of the houses there is lower than average and thus the study area comprised of a relatively high number of lower income residents and respondents.
The study population consisted of 63 respondents. The respondents were individuals representing households. The mean age of the respondents was 41,87. 55,6% of the population was female whereas 44,4% was male. The distribution of females and males in different age groups is depicted in Figure 12. I have chosen these age categories since it gave the best division in the results, differentiating particular groups such as 15 year olds and 17 year olds.
Of this population 11,1% admitted to be illiterate, 20,6% finished primary school, 19% finished secondary schooling, 14,3% finished high school and the majority, 34,9%,
graduated from college or university. The educational level in the study population is relatively high, since more than 1/3rd of the study population has finished higher education. Thus the employability of the study area is relatively good, potentially benefitting the adaptive capacity of the wetland‟s residents.
Figure 12 Pie chart presenting percentages of individual finished levels of education – this however does not exclude any further education -.
Figure 11 Distribution of gender and age in the study population
29 | P a g e
Table 3 Income categories and their respective percentage of the study population
Income per month (Rupees) Percentage of the study population
1000 – 5000 11,9%
5.000 – 35.000 59,3%
35.000 – 55.000 16,9%
> 55.000 11,9%
The Indian average income is 19.727 Rupees (CIA World Fact Book, 2014).
Considering that the urban income average is higher than the rural income average, the results indicate a relatively mixed income area in a metropolitan city such as Chennai. This may directly affect the ability to cope with change, the financial status and potential access to credit of the study population.
In Figure 14 on the left the number of individuals in the respondent‟s house is
depicted. What is apparent is that more than half of the households are smaller than five household members. The size of the household
attributes to the family characteristic indicator of Marshall et al. (2010). Smaller families make the family more able to adapt to environmental change due to their inherent increased flexibility.
30 | P a g e Contemporary natural problems
When the population was asked whether they are currently experiencing any natural problems in their residential area, 100% of the study population said yes.
When looking in the data, the following problems were identified as perceived problems:
Figure 14 Perceived problems by respondents
Several highlights come to attention: First, when asked if mosquitos were a problem, the study population unanimously agreed upon labeling it a perceived problem. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of the respondents acknowledged the foul smell and the water quality and the flooding as major problems. Regarding foul smell, most of the respondents admitted that the smell intensified especially during the rainy season – between June and September – the smell from the dump yard becomes almost unbearable. Water quality is defined as the groundwater quality of that location at that time. For years appropriate water quality has apparently been a problem in the Pallikaranai, especially around the dumpsite. Due to the dumping of chemical – medical and especially industrial – waste, the groundwater carries heavy metals and other toxic elements which are dangerous for the human health. Noise disturbances where mainly acknowledged as a problem by residents closer to the main road. On this road is the main entry point of the dumpsite for the lorries. A majority also indicated the presence of snakes as a problem. They are especially a nuisance to youngsters (<16 years) since kids tend to play with friend outside en thereby possible can come into conflicts with snakes. One of the least perceived problems was the soil degradation. Although this is acknowledged as a problem almost throughout the entire study population, most respondents did not see a severe problem in the degradation of soil. Mostly the area is residential and few
31 | P a g e Other problems that were indicated as such by the study population are:
- Ash, caused by the illegal burning of waste by the Chennai Corporation - Smoke, caused by the illegal burning of waste by the Chennai Corporation - Rats, attracted by open waste systems
- Scavenging dogs, which plundered the dumpsite and garbage containers on
the streets
- Dust, caused by the passing Lorries on the dump yard which drive on sandy
roads.
Historic natural problems
The respondents were also asked which kinds of problem were already there when they took up residence in the area. A filter was applied on the outcomes, excluding respondents who lived less than ten years in the area. The outcomes were somewhat mixed:
Figure 15 Perceived problems at the time respondents took up residence in the area
Figure 16 Frequencies of perceived problems now and at the moment respondents took up residence in the area 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Contemporary problem frequency Historic problem frequency
32 | P a g e When comparing these outcomes in Figure 17 it becomes apparent that at the time over their arrival in the area the above noted problems were perceived less as problems in the past. Almost all of the topics above were less of a problem in the past, with an exception of flooding. Part of an explanation for this outcome may be that the Pallikaranai Marshland was less encroached 10+ years ago and therefore residents were geographically closer to natural phenomena like flooding and fauna than they currently.
Next to the perception of the natural problems in the area, the respondents were asked to recall any of the problems perceived by them. The results are a quantitative approach of how many problems were apparent in the residential area in 2014 and the moment the respondent took up residence in the area. The mean of the results was somewhat more than two, indicating that currently the population as a whole perceives more problems than there were before.
A cross reference with the perceived problem change and the years respondents were residential to this area indicated the following logarithmic relationship between the two variables. The longer you live in the area, the more you perceive a negative change, i.e. new problems arising. The Figure 18 on the left depicts the logarithmic function extracted using IBM SPSS while Figure 19 on the right depicts a bar chart of the mean of groups, differentiated as to years of residence, and their respective perceived problem change.
Figure 17(left) Logarithmic function of perceived problems and years spent living in the area
Figure 18 (right) Mean of quantification of problem change per age group
33 | P a g e This problem change is further strengthened by the findings when respondents were asked if they feel the natural state of the Pallikaranai Marshland has worsened over the years. 63,6% of the study population said „ yes, the Pallikaranai Marshland has
indeed worsened over the years‟, while 36,4% of the population contradicted that
statement. Within the contradicting part of the study population nobody lived in the area for more than 20 years. This indicates that generally problems are perceived to have worsened, which can be especially seen when respondents reside for over twenty years in the study area. The distribution of answers to this question is depicted in Figure 20.
Figure 19 Frequencies of answers given concerning the worsening of the Pallikaranai Marshland per age group
34 | P a g e Contemporary counter measures
Interesting is one‟s ability to counteract upon the problems experienced. The most often used counter measure against the mosquito problem - which was the biggest perceived problem of the study population – is the use of Good Knight, ointments or other mosquito repellent. 42,9% uses these mosquito repellents. When cross
checking that with income it becomes apparent that only 2/7th of the low income category was buying mosquito repellents while more than 50% of the average incomes did buy mosquito repellents. One has to bear in mind that with less income you probably also live in lesser house quality, thus have less insolating factors like windows in your house. Higher incomes will have more expensive houses and thus have more windows and screens and thus have probably less need for repellents. With a Pearson‟s Chi2
significance of 0.084 one can state that income definitely has something to do with being able to buy and use mosquito repellents to make life more enjoyable.
Several other measures are also commonly used. Portrayed in Figure 21 and 22 are respectively the frequencies of usage of counter measures against contemporary and historic problems. One can deduce from Figure 21 that many respondents make use of the mosquito nets. Secondly a vast majority of the low income class make use of these nets. This is particular striking, since mosquito nets are supplied by the government. Regarding usage of smoke repellent, there is a relatively large
proportion of high income respondents that do not use smoke repellent. This might be because higher incomes regard more expensive repellents like sprays as more desirable. Also a vast majority of the average and higher income classes use bottled water, whereas the difference of usage of bottled water in the low income class is much smaller.
35 | P a g e Historic counter measures
When looking at the historic usage of the same countermeasures a few things
become clear. First, the usage of mosquito nets used to be lower than it is nowadays. This might be partly explained by the current government program that distributes mosquito nets to the population, which was not in place yet ten years ago. Secondly, smoke is not used by higher incomes as much as the lower incomes. This accords with the contemporary usage of smoke. Third, higher incomes make use of their windows more. This phenomenon might be explained by the simple fact that higher incomes have (more) windows to close. Lastly, it becomes apparent that less people were buying bottled water at the time they took up residence, indicating that the water problem has gotten worse.
Figure 20 Frequency of the usage of countermeasures against perceived contemporary problems. From left to right and top to bottom: Usage of mosquito nets, usage of smoke repellent, closing of windows, usage of bottled water
36 | P a g e
Figure 21 Frequency of the usage of countermeasures against perceived problems at the time respondents took up residence in the area. From left to right and top to bottom: Usage of mosquito nets,
usage of smoke repellent, closing of windows, usage of bottled water
The water problem
One problem has to be explained in more details and that is the problem of water quality. Since the dump yard is increasingly polluting the groundwater with heavy metals and toxic elements from the waste, groundwater quality has apparently been degrading. In the study area a relatively large part of the residents had their own groundwater wells in the backyard. Others used water, supplied by the government through „metro water‟, by tanker lorries, etc. And others bought water from
37 | P a g e Yet in the study area where people had access to water thanks to private
groundwater wells, most of the people there refrained from using the groundwater. In most cases they claimed people they knew – close relatives and/or neighbors – were getting sick from using the water. The Figure 23 portraits the types of water use in the study area.
Figure 22 The individual use of drinking water in the study area
Only 12,9% of the study population still uses the ground water, despite the severe contamination. Within the uses of groundwater there is a difference. About one third of the users of groundwater purify the groundwater before utilizing it, whereas two thirds of the groundwater users do not purify it. The vast majority of the population uses government supplied water. Most of this water is distributed through the use of lorries. The water comes from desalination plants and water treatments plants. The water is primarily treated with the high use of chlorine.
Following up upon this statement, one has to take a close look at the use of bottled water in specific. When referring this data to the respective income of the households it becomes clear that in the highest income class an overwhelming majority uses bottled water, while in the lower income regions almost 45% does not use bottled water.
38 | P a g e
Figure 23 Individual usage of bottled water by contemporary income categories
Entrepreneurial adaptations
In the study area several entrepreneurial sites or businesses are located, namely; local shops/kiosks, a private school, waste treatment businesses and some private home located businesses like computer services and barbers. It is important to note that there are several differences between individual adaptations and entrepreneurial adaptations. Entrepreneurial adaptations refer to adaptations made to increase – or counter decrease – of profit, while individual adaptations refer to the adaptations undertaken to increase one‟s quality of life or even to assure one‟s survival. In this study I have included interviews with an exemplary shopkeeper, the private school and one of the waste treatment businesses. Their adaptations vary greatly as their problems also differ on many aspects.
Shopkeeper
The local kiosk started in 2001 and over 13 years the shop slowly expanded. Starting with the selling of fruits and vegetables, packaged goods such as chips, nougat, and now the shops also sells soft drinks and water bottles. Especially the latter is
exemplary for this particular region. Since water quality has been a severe problem, the shop specialized in reselling water bottles of 5+ liters. Next to the problem of water quality there are problems experienced by the shop owner like foul smell, smoke in the morning due to the burning of waste at the dump yard, mosquito‟s and dust. These problems negatively influence the expiration dates of especially the fruits
39 | P a g e and vegetables in the shop. Another problem is the flooding, especially during the rainy season which significantly decreases the sales by making it impossible for customers to come to the shop.
There are some counter measures the shopkeeper can take against some of these problems, although he feels it is not much. For instance, against the mosquitos and the dust he puts cloths over the fruits and vegetables. And whenever the color of the vegetables changes due to dust or something alike he washes the vegetables again. Although problems significantly influence his sales, the shopkeeper says that in the recent past his entrepreneurial problems are slighter getting less.
The waste collectors
In the north of the study area there is a waste collection center. This waste collection center obtained residual waste from a canteen of an IT company in the
neighborhood. The waste was separated in the waste collection center and later sold back to the same IT-company for reuse. Furthermore the collection center buys empty milk cans and old newspapers from residents in the neighborhood and sells them to companies that reuse those materials.
There are several problems that cause nuisance in the collection center. Due to proximity to the dump yard the smell is bad, employees have problems like wheezing, abundant mosquitos and flies in the shop and several skin irritations/diseases due to direct contact with waste.
The owner of the collection center bought a fan to fend off the mosquitos and also uses spray cans for this problem. However, in the end, the owner of the collection center feels helpless against these problems because he cannot tackle the problems on his own.
School
Also the private secondary school experiences troubles, related to the dumpsite. Again, there is the foul smell which emanates from the dump yard, it also
experiences smoke from the burning of the waste. Due to the smell and burning of the waste at the dump yard the principal of the school ordered all classrooms to have their windows closed at all times. The groundwater, which is used for cleaning and washing, is polluted and most of the time has an orange color, indicating the
presence of heavy metals within the water. The students are suffering from the smell during transportation with the school bus in and from school. Because of the air pollution there are also health issues in the school. Some students have skin
40 | P a g e irritations, irritations in the eye and commonly wheezing problems. Flooding of the playground is also a problem. These problems significantly decrease the yearly student intake of the school. Every year less and less students join the school. The principal notes that especially the richer parents rather put their kids in another private school than this school, thanks to the problems it faces – particularly
regarding health and safety issues -. This drain of „richer‟ students leaves the school with more relatively poor students. This in turn affects financial status of the school. Understandably, there is not much the school can do about the problems, since most of the problems do not originate from the school‟s property. Therefore the school is not able to take any realistic action. However counter measures such as pleas with the government, making placards against the dumpsite and school rallies are organized and fitted in the learning program of the students to raise awareness for this sort of problems among the younger generation. In an interview the principal stated that he feels that the largest barrier for solving problems, caused by the dump yard, is not the unwilling population, but the political system that creates an idle government, particularly with regard to such kind of issues. Whenever there are initiatives from the school to do something about the dump yard, the politicians strong-arm the school by threatening with stricter inspections, mainly about the student/teacher ratio.
Recognized barriers
Not only the private school, but several other respondents also reported the idle stance of the government as one of the major problems for the absence of positive change. Since the problems mostly originate from locations on government lands, individuals and/or organizations do not have sufficient legal access to get to the problem at the core.
This idle stance of the government regarding such issues is acknowledged by a high ranking ward member of the Thuraipakkam district. The ward member explains that one of the main causes for idleness of the government is the abundant bureaucratic processes that are involved in urban planning. For example, there is a plan to
relocate the dumping activities that are now taking place in the Perungudi dump yard to Kodaigayur, the northern dumpsite of the Corporation of Chennai, and to transform the Perungudi dumpsite into a green park. First the issue is raised by the citizens in the citizens association. Secondly the association goes to the ward member of the
41 | P a g e region and presents a list of the current problems and wishes. Third the ward
member, if he agrees with the issues, goes to the mayor of the city, since he needs the mayor‟s permission for the plans. Fourth, the mayor has to present the plans to the Chief Minister of the state to get the Chief Minister‟s approval. Then the Chief Minister has to obtain approval by the nationwide Forest Department in this case. When the Forest Department gives it approval the Chief Minister can decree the plan. From then on the planning actually starts and ecological assessments are initiated. When those are finished the planning departments can (re)evaluate plans and finally push a plan forward to obtain approval by the mayor of the district. After the final approval the plan will be executed and from that point on citizens will see the effects of the issues they raised a while back in the association
Meanwhile, during this entire cycle, the citizens are not informed of any of the political processes in action for this plan. According to the ward member “No information must
will be supplied [to the citizens] if not all of the green lights are given. Government policies in India need a certain degree of privacy”. Therefore stakeholder involved
processes are rare in India, certainly with such cases as the future of the Perungudi dump yard.
Another public figure, a public health officer in Chennai, states that there are two more problems within the governing system. Aside from the bureaucratic cycle there is little conversation and thus cooperation between different government
departments. For example, the Corporation of Chennai refuses to listen to the advice of its health department. Secondly, although there is “a lot” of theoretical discussion about how to solve natural problems within and around the Pallikaranai Marshland, there is little practical implementation or discussion. Therefore the matter refrains from entering public spheres and stays within the discussion spheres of the government, the universities or like institutions.
Still there are several problems recognized by the government. According to a City Health Officer of Chennai, the government has taken notice of the problem regarding flies and mosquitos, the foul smell and the nuisance of smoke.
Government actions
The government has already taken some measures to alleviate some of the burdening problems. According to the ward member of Thuraipakkam, the government addressed the water problem by providing residents water through
42 | P a g e lorries. Hereby the government separates the drinking water and polluted water by providing corporation water to residents of polluted areas. Additionally the
Corporation of Chennai sprays diesel mixed smoke against the mosquitos. The Corporation set up medical camps closeby the dumpsite so that if people get sick they have adequate and quick help. The government screens for diseases on regular basis and provides basic medicine for symptoms such as coughing.
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7. Conclusion
Wetlands play an important role in ecosystems around the world. The wetlands provide several ecosystem services to communities in their surroundings. These are (1) provisioning services, (2) regulating services, (3) cultural services and (4)
supporting services. Communities benefit from these services. However, it is highly difficult to valuate these services in the view of development. Therefore most of the urban wetlands are threatened by extinction because of the need for development, especially in an upcoming country like India.
Ecosystems, their services and social systems such as human communities are subject to external natural disturbances or pressures. These disturbances or
pressures can possibly affect a stable state of an ecosystem or community, thereby pushing it into a different stable state. The elasticity of ecological or social systems to withstand such disturbances is called resilience. Communities often affect
ecosystems and thereby trade-offs between ecosystems and societies call for well thought policies, i.e. an ecosystem approach. One of the most recent approaches is ecosystem based adaptation, which aims to increase the adaptive capacity or
resilience of individuals, households, communities, organizations and/or nation states and thereby lessen their dependency on ecosystems.
The Pallikaranai Marshland is a good example of a threatened urban wetland where such trade-offs call for an inclusive and well-thought approach. Being viewed as a wasteland rather than a wetland, the marshland lost around 95% of its surface area, being encroached by all sorts of human activities. Within the marsh now lie an imminent increasing dumpsite, a sewage treatment facility and increasingly residential areas. Mainly thanks to the dumpsite environmental problems steeply increased. Using an inductive approach, the study focused on a questionnaire concerning the ecosystem based adaptation of the residents of the study area, near the Perungudi dumpsite in the Pallikaranai Marshland. Four indicators were used to assess the adaptive capacity of the study population, to be precise: (1) ability to cope with change, (2) employability, (3) family characteristics and (4) financial status and access to credit.
What became apparent from the study is that the longer respondents lived in the area, the more problems they perceived. In addition respondents perceived a
44 | P a g e worsening of most of the problems. The most prominent and perceived problems were foul smell, bad water quality, presence of many mosquitos, recurring diseases and the presence of snakes. When looking at the historic perception of problems one notes that almost all problems have intensified in time, since all the problems with the exception of flooding is perceived as a bigger hindrance by the study population. This study then investigated several of the potential counter measures against these problems. I found that mosquito nets were equally used by the rich and the poor, since these nets were distributed by the government. The richer part of the
population however tends to use high end mosquito repellents such as Good Knight. Another specific problem is the quality of the drinking water of respondents. Due to the dumpsite and the proximity of most of the wells in the study area, the provided water was unfit for consumption. Results indicate that the richer part of the population makes more use of bottled water, which is relatively expensive, whereas the poorer part of the population still uses groundwater. The counter measures did not vary very much in time, probably due to the governmental nature of problem. Most of the problems originate from the dumpsite, which is governmental land. It is not allowed for residents to enter the dumpsite and getting a permit proved difficult. Therefore the government clearly underlines its own responsibility of the problem, excluding others – i.e. residents – to combat the problems at its core.
This study also looked at entrepreneurial adaptations of local shops, waste collectors and private schools. Interviews indicated that local shops perceived problems with expiration dates of vegetables, the foul smell and smoke. This has resulted in a loss of customers. However, the local store has also started selling water bottles to
respond to the water problem within the study area. Waste collectors endured mostly foul smell, skin irritations and mosquitos. Although the shop owner is not able to counteract upon most of these problems, he was able to buy a fan against the
mosquitos. A private school perceived sickness of its students as its biggest problem. A secondary problem was the decline of students with relatively rich backgrounds, leaving an increasing percentage of poor students within the school. This decline directly negatively influences the school‟s budget.
A common complaint of residents and businesses is that the idle stance of the government poses a major barrier for the solvability of the perceived problems. Interviews with government officials indicated that the government is aware of, but is
45 | P a g e still unable to tackle many problems, partly due to the high bureaucratic nature of the Indian government.
Also government officials admit that urgent measures have to be taken to ensure the wellbeing or even existence of a future Pallikaranai Marshland. However
policymakers should concern themselves with communities that live in and near ecosystems such as urban wetlands. Protecting and maximizing the benefits communities have of these ecosystems should be first priority in the world wide rescue of the urban wetlands, not in the last place because communities need those benefits and services to sustain (local) live.
46 | P a g e
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