The Endogenous Management of Semi-arid Watersheds in Karnataka

In the semi-arid tracts of the Southern Maidan Region of the State of Karnataka in India, where water is the limiting factor of the physical environment, watersheds were endogenously managed by agricultural communities as an integrated structure. Production of agricultural resources was mutually and symbiotically combined with community appropriation of resources both natural and man-made. The balanced and dual use of the watershed space for appropriating water resources and producing biomass was the positive consequence of this endogenous management structure. Today, it is the collapse of such endogenous management structures which largely explains the abject environmental degradation of the semi-arid watersheds in India.