Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Analyzing Social Networks to Examine the Changing Governance Structure of Springsheds: A Case Study of Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The governance of natural resources now attracts greater participation of different stakeholders, ushering in a shift from conventional governance by the state to that by a network of stakeholders—a form of governance marked by a growing role of non-state and local actors. These changing dynamics are highlighted through a study of the governance network for springsheds in the Indian Himalayas by empirically mapping the changes in the Dhara Vikas Yojna, a plan or scheme (yojana) by the state for the development (vikas) of springs (dhara) in Sikkim, India, from policy planning to policy implementation. The study highlights the diverse existing and emerging roles of different stakeholders, the complex relationships between them, and the power dynamics that influence the management of springsheds. The study (1) identified some new but missing actors/actor groups that were critical to managing springs; (2) showed that although state governments continue to play a dominant role, decision making is shifting to non-state and local actors; and (3) highlighted the importance of exchanging knowledge and information in implementing a policy more effectively. Understanding the characteristics of the governance network helped in drawing lessons to make the plan more sustainable and replicable, which include considering the policy in the wider context of policies for other sectors such as sanitation and hydropower development, incentivising the emerging actors, and building a stronger interdisciplinary and inclusive knowledge network. Such an integrated approach to policymaking can also be adopted to analyze governance networks related to natural resources other than water.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ansell C, Gash A (2008) Collaborative governance in theory and practice. J Public Adm Res Theory 18(4):543–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azhoni A, Goyal MK (2018) Diagnosing climate change impacts and identifying adaptation strategies by involving key stakeholder organisations and farmers in Sikkim, India: challenges and opportunities. Sci Total Environ 626:468–477

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes F (2009) Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning J Environ Manag. 90(5):1692–1702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes F, Colding J, Folke C (2003) Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodin Ö, Crona BI (2009) The role of social networks in natural resource governance: what relational patterns make a difference? Glob Environ Change 19(3):366–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodin Ö, Crona BI, Ernstson H (2006) Social networks in natural resource management: what is there to learn from a structural perspective? Ecol Soc 11(2):r2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP (2002) NetDraw software for network visualization. Analytic Technologies, Lexington, KY

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP, Everett MG, Freeman LC (2002) UCINET for windows: software for social network analysis. Analytic Technologies, Harvard, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson L, Sandström A (2008) Network governance of the commons. Int J Commons 2:33–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cash DW, Adger WN, Berkes F, Garden P, Lebel L, Olsson P, Pritchard L, Young O (2006) Scale and cross-scale dynamics: governance and information in a multilevel world. Ecol Soc 11(2):8. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-01759-110208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Census of India (2011) Sikkim district census handbook, Gangtok. Directorate of Census Operations, Sikkim

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox M (2014) Applying a social-ecological system framework to the study of the Taos Valley irrigation system. Human Ecol 42(2):311–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crona BI, Hubacek K (2010) The right connections: how do social networks lubricate the machinery of natural resource governance? Ecol Soc 15(4):18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crona BI, Bodin O (2006) What you know is who you know? Communication patterns among resource extractors as a prerequisite for co-management. Ecol Soc 11:7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dubé YC, Lange GM, Schmithüsen F (2007) Cross-sectoral policy linkages and environmental accounting in forestry. J Sustain For 23(3):47–66. https://doi.org/10.1300/J091v23n03_02

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fliervoet JM, Geerlin GW, Mostert E, Smits AJM (2016) Analyzing collaborative governance through social network analysis: a case study of river management along the Waal River in the Netherlands. Environ Manag 57:355–367. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0606-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Folke C, Hahn T, Olsson P, Norberg J (2005) Adaptive governance of social–ecological systems. Annu Rev Environ Resour 30:441–473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman LC (1977) A set of measures of centrality based on betweenness. Sociometry 40(1):35–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman LC (1979) Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification. Social Netw 1(3):215–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman LC (2004) The development of social network analysis—a study in the sociology of science. Empirical Press, Vancouver

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of Sikkim (2011) Sikkim state action plan on climate change. Government of Sikkim, Gangtok

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruby RL, Basurto X (2013) Multi-level governance for large marine commons: politics and polycentricity in Palau’s protected area network. Environ Sci Policy 33:260–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanneman RA, Riddle M (2005) Introduction to social network methods. University of California, Riverside, http://faculty.ucr.edu/~hanneman/

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasselman L (2016) Adaptive management; adaptive co-management; adaptive governance: what’s the difference? Australasian J Environ Manag. https://doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2016.1251857

  • Haythornwaite C (1996) Social network analysis: an approach and technique for the study of information exchange. Libr Inf Sci Res 18(4):323–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS (1978) Adaptive environmental assessment and management. John Wiley, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS, Meffe GK (1996) Command and control and the pathology of natural resource management. Conserv Biol 10(2):328–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holvoet N, Dewachter S, Molenaers N (2016) Look who’s talking. Explaining water-related information sharing and demand for action among Ugandan villagers. Environ Manag. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0760-9

  • Howlett M, Ramesh M (2003) Studying public policy: policy cycles and policy subsystems. Oxford University Press, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaja J, Dawson J, Gaudet J (2016) Using social network analysis to examine the role that institutional integration plays in community-based adaptive capacity to climate change in Caribbean small island communities. Local Environ. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2016.1213711

  • Janssen MA, Bodin Ö, Anderies JM, Elmqvist T, Ernstson H, McAllister RRJ, POlsson, Ryan P (2006) Toward a network perspective on the resilience of social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 11(1):15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jedd T, Bixler R P (2015) Accountability in Networked Governance: Learning from a case of landscapescale forest conservation Env. Pol. Gov. 25(3):172–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katani (2010) The role of multiple institutions in the management of micro spring forests in Ukerewe, Tanzania. PhD Thesis

  • Klijn EH, Koppenjan JFM (2000) Public management and policy networks public management. Int J Res Theory 2:135–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719030000000007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishna A (2011) Gaining access to public services and the democratic state in India: institutions in the middle. Stud Comp Int Dev 46(1):98–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauber TB, Decker DJ, Knuth BA (2008) Social networks and community-based natural resource management. Environ Manag 42(4):677–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lienert J, Schnetzer F, Ingold K (2013) Stakeholder analysis combined with social network analysis provides fine-grained insights into water infrastructure planning processes. J Environ Manag 125:134–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu J, Dietz T, Carpenter SR, Alberti M, Folke C, Moran E, Pell AN, Deadman P, Kratz T, Lubchenco J, Ostrom E, Ouyang Z, Provencher W, Redman CL, Schneider SH, Taylor WW (2007) Complexity of coupled human and natural systems. Science 317:1513–1516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Long H, Liu J, Tu C, Fu Y (2018) From state-controlled to polycentric governance in forest landscape restoration: the case of the ecological forest purchase program in Yong’an municipality of China. Environ Manag. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0972-7

  • Mansuri G, Rao V (2013) Localizing development. Does participation work? World Bank, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Meinzen-Dick RS, Pradhan R (2001) Implications of legal pluralism for natural resource management. Institute of Development Studies, IDS Bulletin 32(4), pp.10-17.

  • Moellenkamp S, Lamers M, Huesmann C, Rotter S, Pahl-Wostl C, Speil K, Pohl W (2010) Informal participatory platforms for adaptive management. insights into niche-finding, collaborative design and outcomes from a participatory process in the rhine basin. Ecol Soc 15(4):41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mostert E, Pahl-Wostl C, Rees Y, Searle B, Tabara D, Tippet J (2007) Social learning in European river basin management; Barriers and fostering mechanisms from 10 river basins. Ecol Soc 12(1):19 (online) URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss1/art19/

  • Ndenomina A, Wiersum KF, Arts B (2018) The governance of indigenous natural products in Namibia: a policy network analysis. Environ Manag. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0968-3

  • Newig J, Günther D, Pahl-Wostl C (2010) Synapses in the network: learning in governance networks in the context of environmental management. Ecol Soc 15(4):24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NITI Aayog (2015) Dhara Vikas: creating water security through spring-shed development in Sikkim In: Social sector service delivery: good practices resource book 2015. Government of India – UNDP, New Delhi, Chapter 2.7

  • NITI Aayog (2017) Inventory and revival of springs of Himalaya for water security. Dept. of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsson P, Gunderson LH, Carpenter SR, Ryan P, Lebel L, Folke C, Holling CS (2006) Shooting the rapids: navigating transitions to adaptive governance of social-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 11(1):18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom E (1998) Scale, polycentricity, and incentives: designing complexity to govern complexity. In: Guruswarmy LD, McNeely JA (eds.) Protection of global diversity: converging strategies. Duke University Press, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom E (2010) Beyond markets and states: polycentric governance of complex economic systems. Am Econ Rev 100:641–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pahl-Wostl C, Holtz G, Kastens B, Knieper C (2010) Analyzing complex water governance regimes: the management and transition framework. Environ Sci Policy 13:571–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2010.08.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palau J, Montaner M, López B, De La Rosa JL (2004) Collaboration analysis in recommender systems using social networks. In: International workshop on cooperative information agents. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, p 137–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Prell C, Hubacek K, Reed MS (2009) Stakeholder analysis and social network analysis in natural resource management. Soc Nat Resour 22:501–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putzel L, Kelly AB, Cerutti PO, Artati Y (2015) Formalization as development in land and natural resource policy. Soc Nat Resour: Int J 28(5):453–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2015.1014608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman HMT, Saint Ville A, Song A, Po J, Berthet E, Brammer J, Brunet MD, Jayprakash LG, Lowitt KN, Rastogi A, Reed G, Hickey GM (2017) A framework for analyzing institutional gaps in natural resource governance. Int J Commons 11(2):823–853

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman HMT, Sarker SK, Hickey GM, Haque MM, Das N (2014) Informal institutional responses to government interventions: lessons from Madhupur National Park, Bangladesh. Environ Manag 54(5):1175–1189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasul G (2014) Food, water, and energy security in South Asia: a nexus perspective from the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region. Environ Sci Policy 39:35–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rathwell KJ, Peterson GD (2012) Connecting social networks with ecosystem services for watershed governance: a social-ecological network perspective highlights the critical role of bridging organizations. Ecol Soc 17(2):24. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04810-170224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed MS, Graves A, Dandy N, Posthumus H, Hubacek K, Morris J, Prell C, Quinn CH, Stringer LC (2009) Who’s in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management. J Environ Manag 90(5):1933e1949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rist L, Shackleton C, Gadamus L, Chapin FS, Gowda CM, Setty S, Kannan R, Sheanker RU (2016) Ecological knowledge among communities, managers and scientists: bridging divergent perspectives to improve forest management outcomes. Environ Manag 57(4):798–813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers P (2006) Water governance, water security and water sustainability. In: Rogers P, Llamas MR, Martínez-Cortina L (eds.) Water crisis: myth or reality? Taylor & Francis, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffer E, Hauck J (2010) Net map collecting social network data and facilitating network learning through participatory influence network mapping. Field Method 22:231–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein C, Ernstson H, Barron J (2011) A social network approach to analyzing water governance: the case of the Mkindo catchment, Tanzania. Phys Chem Earth, Parts A/B/C 36(14):1085–1092

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sud R, Mishra A, Varma N, Bhadwal S (2015) Adaptation policy and practice in densely populated glacier-fed river basins of South Asia: a systematic review. Reg Environ Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-014-0711-z

  • Tambe S, Arrawatia ML, Kumar R, Bharti H, Shrestha P (2009) Conceptualizing strategies to enhance rural water security in Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, India. Workshop proceedings on integrated water resource mManagement on 27th November 2009. Central Ground Water Board, Eastern Region, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, Kolkata, India

  • Tambe S, Kharel G, Arrawatia ML, Kulkarni H, Mahamuni K, Ganeriwala AK (2012) Reviving dying springs: climate change adaptation experiments from the Sikkim Himalaya. Mt Res Dev 32(1):62–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tompkins EL, Adger WN (2004) Does adaptive management of natural resources enhance resilience to climatic change? Ecol Soc 9(2):10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varma N, Mishra A (2017) Discourses, narratives and purposeful action – unraveling the social–ecological complexity within the Brahmaputra basin in India. Env Pol Gov 27:207–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wassermann S, Faust K (1994) Centrality and prestige., In: Social network analysis methods and applications (Structural Analysis in Social sciences). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 169-219. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815478.006

  • Young O (2006) Vertical interplay among scale-dependent environmental and resource regimes. Ecol Soc 11​(1): 27. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandso ciety.org/vol11/iss1/art27.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Ghanashyam Sharma for his valuable suggestions. We also thank all the respondents who participated in the workshop, field discussions, and interviews. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments to an earlier draft of this paper. The study was conducted with funding support from the Himalayan Adaptation, Water and Resilience (HI-AWARE) Research Consortium. The views and opinions in the paper are solely those of the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coca-Cola Department of Regional Water Studies, TERI School of Advanced Studies, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, 110 070, India

    Sudeshna Maya Sen, Aprajita Singh, Divya Sharma & Arun Kansal

  2. Centre for Global Environment Research, Earth Science and Climate Change Division, The Energy and Resources Institute, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, 110 003, India

    Navarun Varma

Authors
  1. Sudeshna Maya Sen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aprajita Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Navarun Varma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Divya Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arun Kansal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arun Kansal.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sen, S.M., Singh, A., Varma, N. et al. Analyzing Social Networks to Examine the Changing Governance Structure of Springsheds: A Case Study of Sikkim in the Indian Himalayas. Environmental Management 63, 233–248 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1128-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1128-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation