2025 JFIPP Research Fellow - Avantika Singh

Project Summary

As the climate crisis intensifies globally, conventional governance responses characterized by centralized control, technological fixes, and top-down policies have often struggled to deliver sustainable outcomes. The Indo-Pacific region, particularly vulnerable to climate-induced ecological disruptions, urgently requires alternative governance frameworks that are resilient, inclusive, cost-effective, and culturally meaningful. This project comparatively examines community-based ecological governance models rooted in distinct civilizational traditions—oral dharma among the tribal communities of Dang (India), Shinto-inspired Satoyama systems in Japan, and the Tri Hita Karana philosophy underlying Bali’s Subak irrigation system in Indonesia. This study aims to uncover the institutional logics, cosmological foundations, and governance practices that have allowed these traditional commons to endure and adapt under environmental stress. Utilizing a unified comparative methodology—including textual and oral cosmological analysis, semi-structured elite interviews, institutional document examination, and critical policy analysis—the research will not only document how these traditions manage resources but also evaluate their viability as scalable climate adaptation frameworks.

The proposal positions itself strategically within global frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDGs 2, 6, 13, and 15) and international climate policy mechanisms like the Paris Agreement (Article 7, Adaptation and Traditional Knowledge) and the IPCC’s advocacy for integrating local ecological knowledge. Ultimately, the research will distill these comparative insights into a transferable policy model, demonstrating how eco-civilizational commons can serve as viable instruments for addressing climate challenges, offering significant potential to reshape policy approaches to climate governance across the Indo-Pacific and beyond.