Assessing the participatory cat plan implementation policies in hep under payment for ecological services: an evaluation of applied innovation system and implications for policy evaluation

Abstract

Hydroelectric projects (REPs) depend on the regular flow of clean water for smooth turbine operation that generates electricity. ~and degradation of the catchment area increases the silt flow. This disrupts electricity generation. In order to sustain even power generation, the Government of India has made Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) binding for HEPs above 10-MW capacity. The CAT plan aims at treating the HEP catchment in order to reduce the silt flow and moderate the peaks of water flow. The cost of the CAT plan is paid upfront to Forest Department (FD) by the HEP agency at 2-2.5% of the HEP cost as Payment for Ecological Services (PES) for posterity. Conceptually, the CAT plan represents an excellent opportunity to incorporate Incentive-Based Mechanisms (IBMs) for upstream communities to increase their interest in catchment protection (Thadani, 2005). However, in practice, this rarely happens because these services are mostly carried out only in the form of plantation and soil conservation works by FD in limited areas without paying much attention to the community's contribution in soil and water conservation measures. The national policy on CAT emerged in 1994 as a part of Environment Management Plan (EMP) under the Environment Protection Act 1986. MoEF instituted Compensatory Afforestation Fund management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) under Supreme Court's directives to facilitate better implementation of CAT and other EMP projects in 2004. MoEF guidelines on CAT came in 2004. Along with this initiative, one ground-level innovation took place in 2003 in Uttarakhand in the revised Vishnuprayag (V -CA T) plan that deviated from traditional treatment methods towards a multidisciplinary participatory approach to implementation. The state guidelines on CAT came in 2006 on the lines of this innovative project. In 2009; the central CAMPA instituted in 2004 got devolved into the state-level CAMP As in all the states to facilitate better ownership and accountability of the state government in planning, implementation and monitoring of CAT plans. There was no flow of CAT funds from the centre to state governments from 2004 to 2009.This study is an evaluation of V -CA T with the purpose of understanding the manner/in which the V...;CAT experiment was implemented and managed by the government. While analyzing this initiative, it was felt that six CAT plans that had been approved by the state government from 2006 to 2010 under the state CAT guidelines 2006 but not implemented till2010 also required to be examined. The focus of the study was also to understand the different types of participatory approaches followed in the other three Himalayan states(Sikkim, HP and Arunachal Pradesh). This helped to strengthen the recommendations in thestudy. The V-CAT analysis has primarily used Quantified Participatory Assessment (QPA).It has applied judgmental grouping using QPA data for interpretation. The study contributes strongly to three theoretical paradigms. First, it attempts to explain the organizational change across central and state government using temporal actor mapping, clarifying the locus of fund flow as well as the administrative control and monitoring system focusing on equity and efficiency considerations. Second, drawing insights from Orlikowski's (1993) model, it explains the institutional context for adopting and using the innovative V -CAT approach in FD. The study attempts to present the cycle of reinforcement or change in each stage of introduction, assimilation and ramification by environmental, organizational and key stakeholders' performances. Third, it tries to assess the compatibility of centralized service delivery in a decentralized system (VP) under such transition, thereby contributing to the. field of organizational culture and change. The study reveals that although there is a steady transition of paradigms In government polices and institutions to introduce reforms in CAT implementation from 2002to 2010, the need for CAT planning to become an inclusive exercise has to be seen as a critical part of the reform process. It needs to be reviewed how FDs are at best monitored for activities undertaken in the catchment and not for watershed service outcomes. Recommendations have been derived both for policy and practice-level interventions for four stakeholder institutions in the centre and in the state government. The major recommendations in the national context include (a) Need for the user agency and implementing agency to correctly understand the concept of PES in CAT. (b) Need to better channelize the public voice in CAT processes and functions. (c) Need to build robust monitoring and evaluation systems for CAT plans (d) Need to evolve modalities to upscale CAT into IBM for securing CPS. (e) Need to develop hydrology research and expertise with a multidisciplinary approach to garner CPS under PES.