Research
Development policies
1. The erosive force of inequalities on citizens’ confidence in their governments: A study of efforts in rural India to restore confidence in local government (with Nathan J Cook and Krister Andersson)
Deeply entrenched socioeconomic inequalities complicate public service delivery, especially for local governments in developing countries. In jurisdictions characterized by deep economic cleavages, it can be exceedingly difficult for local governments to fund and deliver public goods that satisfy most citizens’ needs in a timely and efficient manner. One of the tragic consequences of extreme inequality is that it reduces people’s trust in their government. Some scholars suggest that national-level welfare policies have the potential to dampen the persistent negative effect of socioeconomic inequalities on trust in government. Here, we hypothesize that policy interventions that encourage the co-production of local public goods, such as bottom-up demand-driven public-works programs, help neutralize the negative effect of inequalities on trust in local governance institutions. Using quasi-experimental methods, large-N panel data, and the case of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)– the world’s largest rural employment guarantee initiative – our analysis finds support for these expectations. We also find evidence that these apparent positive effects are not limited to local institutions alone, but can also weaken the negative association between inequalities and trust in governmental organizations operating at broader spatial scales.
Draft available here
Climate and environmental policies
2. Mapping non-state climate action in India and Kenya: Overcoming the “Streetlight effect” in research on sub- and non-state climate action.
*Under review – abstract not available
3. Promoting Women’s Leadership Under Environmental Decentralization: The Roles of Domestic Policy, Foreign Aid, and Population Change (with Nathan J Cook, Michelle Benedum, and Sitashma Thapa).
In recent decades, countries across Asia, Latin America, and Africa have adopted environmental decentralization reforms to encourage community-based management of water resources, forests, fisheries, and other natural resources. While such reforms are meant to empower rural people to participate in environmental governance, experiences from recent decades suggest that these reforms often suffer from gendered inequalities in participation and leadership. We use the case of a forestry-sector decentralization reform in Nepal to test the importance of domestic policy, foreign aid, and population change for promoting women’s leadership under environmental decentralization. Using quasi-experimental research designs and data on local natural resource governance committees formed in villages across the country under the reform, we find that a non-binding government guideline encouraging committees to prioritize women’s leadership resulted in an estimated 7.5-percent increase in the number of female leaders on these committees. We also show that locally-targeted, sector-specific foreign aid projects appear to have a strong impact, with rates of women’s leadership that are estimated to be 24- percent higher in committees formed in areas with projects, compared to rates in comparable committees formed in areas without such projects at the time of formation. Finally, we instrument for international male out-migration in rural Nepal, and find no apparent effect of international male out-migration on the promotion of women’s leadership in local natural resource governance committees. The results highlight the importance of domestic policy, even without stringent enforcement, and targeted foreign aid projects for promoting women’s leadership under environmental decentralization.
Available here
4. Indoor Heat Measurement Data from Low-income Households in Rural and Urban South Asia (with Premsagar Tasgaonkar, Dipak Zade, Sana Ehsan, Nabir Mamnun, Christian Siderius, and Tanya Singh). Nature: Scientific Data, 9 (1), 1-11
Rising temperatures are causing distress across the world, and for those most vulnerable, it is a silent killer. Information about indoor air temperature in residential dwellings is of interest for a range of reasons, such as health, thermal comfort and coping practices. However, there have been only few studies that measure indoor heat exposure, and contrast these to outdoor temperatures in rural-urban areas, of which none are in South Asia. We aim to close this knowledge gap with our indoor and outdoor heat measurement dataset, covering five low-income sites in South Asia. Two sites are in rural areas (Maharashtra, India), while three sites focus on urban areas (Dhaka, Delhi and Faisalabad). Data are based on 206 indoor temperature data loggers and complemented by data from five outdoor automated weather stations. The data-set can be used to examine temperature and humidity variation in low-socioeconomic status households in rural and urban areas and to better understand factors aggravating heat stress. This is important to plan and implement actions for combating heat stress.
Available here
5. Capacity building for proportionate climate policy: Lessons from India and south Africa (with Prabhat Upadhyaya, Manish Kumar Shrivastava, and Saliem Fakir). International Political Science Review, 42:130–145, 2021.
Countries must develop their capacity to credibly revise their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) proportionate to the global climate goal. This paper argues that long-lasting capacity is necessarily embedded in the institutions governing cooperation between state and non-state actors. This institutional capacity for cooperation is determined by the two interactive processes of conception and calibration, where the state plays a definitive role in mediating between competing interests. In conception, the state uses its discretionary power to set the long-term vision, whereas during calibration it exercises flexibility to accommodate concerns and capacity of other actors. We conclude that proportionality of policy response is better understood, and achieved, through the convergence of both these processes. Drawing on climate policy experiences of India and South Africa, we recommend that successful implementation and enhancement of NDCs would require a greater emphasis on capacity building for calibration in developing countries.
Available here
6. Patterns of outdoor exposure to heat in three South Asian cities (with Cor Jacobs, Tanya Singh, Usman Iftikhar, Salar Saeed, Abu Syed, Farhat Abbas, Bashir Ahmad, Suruchi Bhadwal, and Christian Siderius). Science of the Total Environment, 674:264–278, 7, 2019.
Low socio-economic status has been widely recognized as a significant factor in enhancing a person’s vulnerability to climate change including vulnerability to changes in temperature. Yet, little is known about exposure to heat within cities in developing countries, and even less about exposure within informal neighbourhoods in those countries. This paper presents an assessment of exposure to outdoor heat in the South Asian cities Delhi, Dhaka, and Faisalabad. The temporal evolution of exposure to heat is evaluated, as well as intra-urban differences, using meteorological measurements from mobile and stationary devices (April–September 2016). Exposure to heat is compared between low-income and other neighbourhoods in these cities. Results are expressed in terms of air temperature and in terms of the thermal indices Heat Index (HI), Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) at walking level. Conditions classified as dangerous to very dangerous, and likely to impede productivity, are observed almost every day of the measurement period during daytime, even when air temperature drops after the onset of the monsoon. It is recommended to cast heat warnings in terms of thermal indices instead of just temperature. Our results nuance the idea that people living in informal neighbourhoods are consistently more exposed to heat than people living in more prosperous neighbourhoods. During night-time, exposure does tend to be enhanced in densely-built informal neighbourhoods, but not if the low-income neighbourhoods are more open, or if they are embedded in green/blue areas.
Available here
7. Livelihoods, gender and climate change in the Eastern Himalayas (with Suruchi Bhadwal, Ghanashyam Sharma, and Sudeshna Maya Sen). Environmental Development, 31:68–77, 9, 2019.
Climate change impacts are disproportionate and influence lives and livelihoods variedly. One crucial determinant of these disproportionate impacts is gender – existing social norms determine roles and responsibilities, entitlements and capabilities, thereby influencing the individual perceptions of shocks and susceptibility which vary across gender groups. The paper seeks to draw insights from the various field studies conducted in these locations to understand the gender vulnerabilities that manifest through a combination of complex and interlinked factors. It seeks to understand the existing social practices typically associated with these gender groups and how changes in the climate are and potentially influence vulnerability. The study makes use of qualitative research methods to understand the gender roles, responsibilities. The study tries to bridge a crucial gap in research – of providing empirical evidence on gender mediated vulnerability in an under-researched climatic hotspot – the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. The study reiterates the role of place-based vulnerability in influencing lives and livelihoods and emphasises on the lack of access to human, financial and natural capitals as predominantly driving gendered vulnerabilities.
Available here
8. Growing social vulnerability in the river basins: Evidence from the Hindu KushHimalaya (HKH) region (with Tanzina Dilshad, Dwijen Mallick, Pranita B. Udas, Chanda G. Goodrich, Anjal Prakash, Suruchi Bhadwal, Muhammad Zubair Anwar, Neha Khandekar, S. M.Tanvir Hassan, Nusrat Habib, Saqib Shakeel Abbasi, Md Abu Syed, and Atiq Rahman). Environmental Development, 31:19–33, 9, 2019.
Vulnerability is a set of conditions of people that is derived from the historical and prevailing socio-economic, cultural, environmental and political contexts along with understanding future scenarios, especially for climate change. This study aimed at better understanding the nature and types of socio-economic drivers and social vulnerabilities in the context of increasing climatic stresses in four river basins in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. A multidimensional, contextual and integrated approach has been applied using participatory qualitative tools and techniques to identify major socio-economic drivers and conditions along with climatic factors in upstream, midstream and downstream of the river basins. In upstream and midstream region, people’s livelihood is dependent on subsistent agriculture, horticulture, pastoralism and tourism while in downstream, agriculture and fisheries are the major livelihood options. Climate sensitive natural resources based livelihoods are severely affected across the river basins. Poor and marginal population are not able take adequate adaptation measures due to lack of capacities, poor access to resources, services, information, which push them into greater vulnerability. The vulnerable groups in all four river basins are marginalized sections who are conditioned by economic classes, gender and social norms and living in geographically underdeveloped areas. For instance, poor, women, religious/ ethnic minorities, subordinate caste groups, char dwellers. Poor governance and the lack of access to resources and services have made the situation worse. All these factors are enhancing social vulnerability across the basins and study sites. Social protection measures, enhancement of human capitals and livelihood diversification with pro-poor and gender responsive adaptation and socially inclusive policy are needed to address growing social vulnerability.
Available here
9. Perceptions of climate shocks and gender vulnerabilities in the Upper Ganga Basin (with Neha Khandekar, Suruchi Bhadwal, and Vani Rijhwani). Environmental Development, 31:97–109, 9, 2019.
Mountain ecosystems, owing to their skewed development trends and amplified climatic perturbations, are extremely vulnerable to climate change. Existing developmental challenges manifested as limited access to basic services and over reliance on weather sensitive livelihoods further amplify the vulnerability of communities. This study, using empirical evidence from sites in Uttarakhand, establishes an understanding on how place-based vulnerabilities influence the livelihoods – analyzed through the sustainable livelihoods frameworks. The research also highlights the gender differentiated impacts that arise due to existing social norms and practices evident in the study sites. The study further identifies an emerging narrative of socio-cultural norms determining access to resources and influencing an individual’s vulnerability. Moreover, existing social norms differentially impact women by limiting their access to land ownership, decision making powers, amongst others, and subsequently negatively influencing their adaptive capacities. These present as critical challenges that influence gender based vulnerabilities in the mountains and plains of Uttarakhand.
Available here