Public participates when officials are accountable

NEW DELHI: For years we have been hearing the term: citizens’ participation in green matters. As we stand here in 2018, what does this even mean?

Why would anyone participate in any kind of activity if there’s no knowing what the officials will later do about it?

But we can change that, starting with wetlands, ponds and water bodies. Increasingly, these are being encroached upon and used as trash dumps. We all know that these must be conserved to ensure flood prevention, groundwater recharge and carbon sinking.

What if water bodies and wetlands were identified by everyday people, their uses enumerated, and the mapped water bodies monitored by local villagers? Not the panchayat members — who might have a vested interest— but those who live the closest? And what if the villagers who preserved all of their water bodies were rewarded?

To hold officials accountable, we would need a district level official responsible for this, by name, submitting reports every year-to the panchayats, the state government and available online, so that we can constantly monitor their action.

We can no longer expect any kind of genuine public participation if we don’t act on their observations and ideas. We will lose our greatest green army, and our natural assets. We have to re-imagine how people can be part of conservation in a mutually useful way.