Against the Flow: Unpacking contemporary river and wildlife conservation politics in India

Keywords: river conservation, conservation politics, political ecology, hydrosocial, wet ontologies, animal geographies, more-than-human geographies
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Using key debates at the intersection of political ecology, hydrosocial studies, wet ontologies and more-than-human geographies this research proposes to investigate- 1) How the Indian state frames and addresses river conservation issues, while also attempting to manage the ever-growing pressure on riverine systems and their biodiversity? 2) It also seeks to explore how knowledge generated and utilized for river conservation is legitimized. New challenges for rivers are emerging in India (and globally), such as the creation of inland waterways, river interlinking, infrastructure projects, increased complexities due to climate change, illegal sand mining in river beds, and river-based tourism. As a result, in the face of these challenges, understanding ways of knowing rivers and revealing the hegemonic meanings of rivers is essential. The study seeks to develop an integrated framework to better comprehend the social, ecological, political, and ontological issues raised by river conservation programs and their interconnections. It will also draw on the complex links between the material, conceptual, and emotional dimensions of rivers, with which the political ecology approach does not always interact. The constructivist grounded theory approach would be used to analyze primary and secondary data collected through interviews with individuals from governmental, non-governmental, and private organizations at the forefront of river conservation initiatives in order to answer the questions posed. This will aid the research in unraveling how a river's life is intertwined with humans, non-humans, and a vast sway of memories, leading to the creation of multiple interpretations of a river.