Common Grounds in Shared Waters Integrated Design for Negotiating Equitable Development in Gosabara-Mokarsagar

Abstract

Along the west coast of India, in the waters of Gosabara-Mokarsagar, conflicting visions for the landscape mix and muddle. In 2016, Muslim fisherfolk of Gosabara, 100 families, already marginalized by religious, caste, and class distinctions, were banned from fishing, which was their sole traditional livelihood due to environmental protection claims. This led the community to file a petition for mass euthanasia to protest the loss of their rights. Despite their protests, the Government of India announced the Kerly Recharge Reservoir Ecotourism project in 2022 that overlooked their needs, threatened their cultural identity linked to fishing, and exacerbated their traumatic history of displacement that dates back to India and Pakistan’s 1947 partition.

Although many groups’ contested visions map onto the shared waters of Gosabara-Mokarsagar, the fisherfolk are particularly excluded from decision-making processes. Finding a singular common ground among the contesting groups is challenging due to vast differences in power, position, and privilege. This thesis, therefore, aims to ensure equitable representation for all stakeholders, particularly disempowered fisherfolk, by an integrative design approach of forging a network of multiple ‘common grounds.’ The term ‘common grounds’ defines partnerships of two or three stakeholders, instead of all, based on mutual understanding and shared objectives like sustainable livelihoods, economic development, ecotourism, and avian conservation.

First, I established a common ground with a local NGO, Mokarsagar Wetland Conservation Committee, by using photography, videography, and drawings to raise public awareness about this unique landscape. Initially intuitive and later strategic, I represented the lush waters as a shared home for both the fisherfolk and the birds. Second, I present a network of localized design strategies to enable partnerships that position the NGO as a mediator between the government and local communities, especially the fisherfolk, enabling it to foster alternative models of environmental stewardship. Through these partnerships, rooted in figurative ‘common grounds,’ the fisherfolk become primary, active collaborators in development processes. This thesis creates the conditions for a more equitable development model for this landscape by using design to enable grassroots partnerships that integrate communities into ecological conservation and economic growth projects.