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This issue of Natural Resource Perspectives from ODI (Overseas Development Institute) examines the benefits and disadvantages of joint water and forest management in India. Policies promoting the joint management (i.e. between the state and resource users) of resources such as forests or water are currently in vogue in India and elsewhere. Many see advantage in the decentralised administration that these arrangements imply. However, they also imply a redistribution of power and so are profoundly political, and their success, if real, cannot be fully explained in terms of a rent-seeking, all-powerful, bureaucratic state. This paper lays out the more complex politics underpinning joint management, assessing interaction between the political and administrative wings of government and the influence of semi-autonomous actors such as donors, NGOs and academics, and identifies the potential for and route towards more, if gradual, decentralisation in the future. The following policy conclusions are made. Conventional analyses of joint management ar rooted in organisational theory where their apolitical character severely limits their explanatory power. Joint management arrangements fall short of full community involvement, so that in effect the state gives up very little power. However, joint management is here to stay and its varying performance across the country needs to be understood. In practice, the motivation behind the state's acceptance of joint management is often that it helps to avoid a fiscal crisis by passing costs to resource users. Actors other than government have only had limited influence. In the long run, NGOs and academics will do well to pressurise the political arm of the state, which needs to be convinced of the electoral gains from decentralisation.

This book aims to provide a source of information on the key issues and constraints and capacity building necessary to implement participatory approaches in China today. It provides case studies from Chinese academics and practitioners in forestry, natural resource management, rural development, irrigation and poverty alleviation. It primarily aims to be about strengthening local government as a key player in the development of participatory initiatives.

This brief note summarises the author's experience of using PRA and RAAKs (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) as a research method in exploring water users' perspective on performance indicators of an irrigation system. The result of a participatory study conducted by IIMI-Pakistan are discussed. The study outlines the performance indicators developed by water users and local responses to compensate for poor water performance. The potential of using PRA in large-scale irrigation systems are assessed and the need to recognise the relevance of incorporating various participatory research methodologies.