Cashing in on Natural Resource Mismanagement: A Study on Depleting Sasthamkotta Fresh Water Lake in Kerala

摘要

There are many international agreements and treaties are exist to manage commons. The Ramsar Convention of 1971 was one among them. Many wetlands across the world have listed as Ramsar site. Ramsar Agreement meant to prevent depletion of the commons and put protective measures. However, this paper explains the depletion and bad protection of one of the wetlands listed in the Ramsar list-Sasthamkottaa Fresh Water Lake in Kerala, India. A part of the Sasthamkottaa Fresh Water Lake and the adjacent Kallada Rives are dried up due to sand mining, however, the local community and state (including local self-government) had not put any effort to prevent the lake from drying up within the jurisdiction. It results a total chaos in governing the wetland. The state government planned many protection measures; however, none of them got implemented. It results a legitimisation of the exploitation which influence the local resource governance