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Commons provide many ecosystem services that support the livelihoods of billions around the world. However, their contribution to people and the economy are rarely estimated in economic terms. Here, we estimate the economic contribution of the land-based commons in India, which cover 66.5 million hectares. We conducted a systematic literature review of publications between 1990 and 2020 and selected 161 peer-reviewed studies to develop an ecosystem services valuation database for India. We identified 34 ecosystem services from this database. We estimate that forest commons provide ecosystem services worth $2108 ha−1 yr−1. Culturable wastelands and permanent pastures, and other grazing lands provide $861 ha−1 yr−1 each, and barren and unculturable lands provide $196 ha−1 yr−1. Using the value transfer method, the average value of ecosystem services provided by land commons in India is estimated at $90.5 billion yr−1 (range $24–192 billion). This broad range reflects the status and condition of those commons. Based on the trends in the decline of land-based commons, we estimate the value of ecosystem services will decline to $68 billion by 2050: $750 million worth of ecosystem services can be lost each year over the next 30 years. This will have devastating implications for rural populations that depend on the commons for livelihoods and the delivery of critical ecosystem services. We highlight the need to use ecosystem services valuation in decision-making and policy to protect and sustainably manage commons in India.

Common property resources (CPR) are central for the sustenance of biodiversity and rural communities in India. Weak institutional governance and the lack of tenure rights for local communities over CPRs is resulting in degradation and over-exploitation of resources making rural communities vulnerable across India. Climatic variabilities further exacerbate existing socio-ecological imbalances multifold. Within the broader area of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, this paper explores how restoration of CPRs through local environment stewardship initiatives contributes to the resilience of rural livelihoods in the face of climate change. A mixed-methods approach was employed to study this aspect in six villages in two districts in Rajasthan. It was found that secure property rights and collective management of CPRs enhances household resilience and improves ecological health. It concludes that processes supporting local self-governance need to be central to local adaptation to climate change, as they naturally create resilient and sustainable rural livelihoods.

India has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of a larger quasi-experimental impact assessment, we assess the pandemic’s effects on coping behavior in 80 villages spread across four districts and three states (n=772). Half of these villages were targeted by a largescale common land restoration program spearheaded by an NGO, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The other half are yet to be targeted but are statistically similar vis-a-vis FES’s village targeting criteria. Analyzing the results of a phone survey conducting eight to ten months into the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, we find that the livelihood activities of households in both sets of villages were adversely impacted by COVID-19. Consequently, most households had to resort to various coping strategies, e.g., distressed asset sales and reduced farm input expenditure. From the same mobile survey data, we further construct a Livelihoods Coping Strategies Index (LCSI) and find that households in villages targeted by FES’s common land restoration initiative score 11.3% lower on this index on average. While modest, this statistically significant effect estimate (p

Common property resources (CPR) are central for the sustenance of biodiversity and rural communities in India. Weak institutional governance and the lack of tenure rights for local communities over CPRs is resulting in degradation and over-exploitation of resources making rural communities vulnerable across India. Climatic variabilities further exacerbate existing socio-ecological imbalances multifold. Within the broader area of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, this paper explores how restoration of CPRs through local environment stewardship initiatives contributes to the resilience of rural livelihoods in the face of climate change. A mixed-methods approach was employed to study this aspect in six villages in two districts in Rajasthan. It was found that secure property rights and collective management of CPRs enhances household resilience and improves ecological health. It concludes that processes supporting local self-governance need to be central to local adaptation to climate change, as they naturally create resilient and sustainable rural livelihoods.

Almost 3 billion people around the globe use traditional three-stone cookstoves and open fires to warm and feed themselves. The World Health Organization estimates annual mortality rates from domestic solid fuel combustion to be around 4 million. One of the most affected countries is India. Quantifying pollutant concentrations from these cookstoves during different phases of operation and understanding the factors influencing their variability may help to identify where improvements should be targeted, enhancing indoor air quality for millions of the world's most vulnerable people. Gas and particulate measurements were collected between June and August, 2012, for 51 households using traditional cookstoves, in the villages of Udaipur district, Rajasthan, India. Mean pollutant concentrations during steady-state mode were 4989 μm(2) cm(-3), 9835 μg m(-3), and 18.5 ppm for lung-deposited surface area, PM2.5, and CO, respectively. Simple and multivariate regression analysis was conducted. Fuel amount, fuel diameter, duration of the cookstove run, roof-type, and the room dimension explained between 7% and 21% of the variability for the pollutant metrics. CO demonstrated weaker correlations with explanatory variables. Some of these variables may be indicative of socio-economic status and could be used as proxies of exposure in lieu of pollutant measurements, hence these variables may help identify which households to prioritize for intervention. Such associations should be further explored.

Clean cooking technologies—ranging from efficient cookstoves to clean fuels—are widely deployed to reduce household air pollution and alleviate adverse health and climate consequences. Although much progress has been made on the technical aspects, sustained and proper use of clean cooking technologies by populations with the most need has been problematic. Only by understanding how clean cooking as an intervention is embedded within complex community processes can we ensure its sustained implementation. Using a community-based system dynamics approach, we engaged two rural communities in co-creating a dynamic model to explain the processes influencing the uptake and transition to sustained use of biogas (an anaerobic methane digester), a clean fuel and cooking technology. The two communities provided contrasting cases: one abandoned biogas while the other continues to use it. We present a system dynamics simulation model, associated analyses, and experiments to understand what factors drive transition and sustained use. A central insight of the model is community processes influencing the capacity to solve technical issues. Model analysis shows that families begin to abandon the technology when it takes longer to solve problems. The momentum in the community then shifts from a determination to address issues with the cooking technology toward caution in further adhering to it. We also conducted experiments using the simulation model to understand the impact of interventions aimed at renewing the use of biogas. A combination of theoretical interventions, including repair of non-functioning biogas units and provision of embedded technical support in communities, resulted in a scenario where the community can continue using the technology even after support is retracted. Our study also demonstrates the utility of a systems approach for engaging local stakeholders in delineating complex community processes to derive significant insights into the dynamic feedback mechanisms involved in the sustained use of biogas by the poor.