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Collective action in agrobiodiversity management: gendered rules of reputation, trust and reciprocity in Kerala, India

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  • Martina Aruna Padmanabhan

    (Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Rising opportunity costs for continuing to grow and conserve traditional plant varieties has led to an erosion of agrobiodiversity. This study compares two institutions of collective biodiversity management in Kerala, India. The traditional mechanisms of a scheduled tribe, the Kurichyas, are contrasted with the new institution of the People's Biodiversity Register (PBR) under the local form of governance, the panchayat. Collective action is analysed for the core variables of reputation, trust and reciprocity. In the tribal institutions, traditional seed exchange rests on reputation and gender complementarities, which are eroded by a diminishing degree of trust and dissolving property rights for women and weakened by failing norms of reciprocity. The new institution of PBR threatens tribal women's reputations and their knowledge by reducing it to a bureaucratic register, the disembodiment of knowledge into information reduces trust and unpredictable returns diminish reciprocity. A massive public investment in strengthening women's capabilities for a transformation from conservers and users to advocates, managers and decision-makers regarding biodiversity might halt the loss. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Martina Aruna Padmanabhan, 2008. "Collective action in agrobiodiversity management: gendered rules of reputation, trust and reciprocity in Kerala, India," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 83-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:20:y:2008:i:1:p:83-97
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.1429
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Agarwal, Bina, 2000. "Conceptualising Environmental Collective Action: Why Gender Matters," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 24(3), pages 283-310, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kulbhushan Balooni & Vineetha Menon, 2019. "Eroding Community Norms and Tank Irrigation under State Entitlements," Working papers 323, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    2. Fischer, Elisabeth & Qaim, Matin, 2012. "Gender, Agricultural Commercialization, and Collective Action in Kenya," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126659, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. David Martin, 2013. "Gender Concerns When Noah the Economist Ranks Biodiversity Policies," Working Papers 13-02, Davidson College, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2016.
    4. Michaela Schöley & Martina Padmanabhan, 2017. "Formal and informal relations to rice seed systems in Kerala, India: agrobiodiversity as a gendered social-ecological artifact," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 969-982, December.
    5. David Martin, 2014. "An integrated biological and economic individual-based model of tiger protection measures," Working Papers 14-04, Davidson College, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2014.
    6. David W. Martin, 2019. "Gender Concerns When Noah the Economist Ranks Biodiversity Protection Policies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-13, October.

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