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Beyond Local Case Studies in Political Ecology : Spatializing Agricultural Water Infrastructure in Maharashtra Using a Critical, Multimethods, and Multiscalar Approach

EDGES (University of British Columbia); University of British Columbia. Program on Water Governance

Political-ecologists (PE) have powerfully illuminated dynamics responsible for the uneven distribution of resources and risk in society. However, localized PE approaches have been criticized as insufficient for producing careful generalizations needed to affect policymaking. We offer an approach to critically explore factors that shape the distribution of climate adaptation interventions – and their potential equity and sustainability-related implications – across larger, policy-relevant scales. Our methodology uses local fieldwork findings to inform secondary data collection and specify meso-scale regression models, which re-analyze, at larger spatial scales, potentially meaningful relationships between social, economic, and environmental factors and the distribution of adaptation initiatives. An epistemological heuristic is offered to navigate the consistencies and inconsistencies between local qualitative and meso-scale quantitative data to develop a more comprehensive, yet partial, understanding of scaled political-ecological relations. The integrative approach is applied to analyze how socio-spatial and biophysical characteristics affect the distribution of over 16,000 farm ponds across 352 sub-districts in Maharashtra – an emerging adaptation subsidized by the state government to reduce crop risks from precipitation variability. The degree of compatibility between local qualitative and regional-scale quantitative results can support the development of novel research questions and actionable science for policy change.

India

Text

2024-09-06

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89199

Shah, S. H., & Harris, L. M. (2022). Beyond local case studies in political ecology: Spatializing agricultural water infrastructure in Maharashtra using a critical, multimethods,and multiscalar approach. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(4), 988-1007.

Reviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/