Blueprint

Goa’s water systems are critically interconnected and interrelated with the well-being of the Western Ghats and Goa, as they interconnect the rivers, 'khazan' lands with their bordering mangroves and Ramsar sites, as well as the multifarious water bodies, lakes, tanks, wells, springs and waterfalls. Khazan lands are reclaimed land recovered from marshes, with bunds preventing the ingress of tidal waters. Khazan lands are a 'living technology' unique to Goa and are considered tide-influenced water bodies as they are protected from the tides by smart use of the network of dykes 'bunds' and sluice gates. The khazan lands are based on a traditional agro-aqua integrated system practised by local communities for equitable sharing of resources between farmers and fisher people and have multiple uses that can either be used for growing paddy, cultivating freshwater fish or farming saltwater fish and prawns^4,5,6 . Similarly, the lands are also used as salt pans. Along with their indispensability towards an enriched biota and ecology, these water systems give rise to independent and diverse socially meaningful rites, rituals and cultural practices, folklore, origin myths and song and poetry⁷.

Goa has more than 300 ancient water tanks⁸ built during the rule of the Kadamba dynasty and over 100 medicinal springs, in addition to numerous sweet water wells and canals in various states of use and decay. These natural and sulphur-hot water springs are produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater. These mineral-laden local springs are said to have amazing therapeutic and healing qualities which cure skin diseases and other ailments. The 12 talukas of Goa have numerous natural lakes and water bodies, with six of these lakes in Goa now declared as wetlands. The step-wells in Goa date to the fifth century and the advent of Buddhist monks arriving in Goa. These are located at temples, mosques, community spaces and now private homes. Almost all villages within their jurisdiction have a community well 'baori' or 'tolem', tanks or ponds within its boundaries with interconnecting canals that lead to the fields, lakes and springs.

Goa possesses a coastline of 105 kilometres, dotted with numerous villages and coastal and fishing communities, Olive Ridley turtle nesting sites and tourist resorts and beaches. In the recent past, cyclonic storms and rising sea levels, in addition to sand mining, have eroded close to 20 per cent of the pristine beaches of Goa. The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), reports that about 26.8 km of Goa's shoreline has suffered from river and coastal erosion⁹.Modern infrastructure projects, large-scale tourist attractions and their ensuing pollution, in conjunction with big trawlers and the fish-canning industry, are jeopardising the livelihoods of local and traditional fisherfolk as well as the availability of sufficient seasonal catch (of fish). Oil spills and resultant tar-ball pollution have had an impact on the degradation of the marine coastal system. This along with the over-exploitation by the fishing industry catering to the tourism and food processing industry, has led to the scarcity of seasonal and traditional catches at the neighbourhood markets by the local fishermen^10,11,12.

Goa Water Stories engages and intersects with the resident local and indigenous communities living in Goa, its Western Ghats, villages and the coast through collaborations. Geographically, the repositories of oral traditions and community knowledge have always been the ‘elders’ of the community. This knowledge aggregated through lived experience is codified and passed through the generations via numerous rites of passage, modes of communication, rituals and folklore. It is these ethno-technologies (intangible cultural heritage – community processes, ways of doing, narratives, rituals and practices, etc.) that have been key in the preservation of ecologies, facilitating and allowing these communities to inhabit sustainably within their environments. Furthermore, these learnings are associated with the on-hand, geo spatiality of the present material and resources, as well as embedded in genetics to the flora and fauna of their daily livelihood engagements and sustenance. These practices have immense relevance today, in a conversation and discourse within climate change, water conservation, environment studies and regeneration, as well as validation (towards a community and society at large) as alternative models of development. The richness and vibrancy of Goa Water Stories draw on this intimate relationship of knowledge sharing within local communities.

Towards constructing the projects and stories that become Goa Water Stories, we worked through the community to integrate elements of indigeneity, ecological sustainability and technology by enabling modes of play and incorporating principles of inclusivity and non-canonical and non-hierarchical systems of knowledge. This constructs a discourse that fosters a unique imagination and a collaborative process of dissemination, empowering it to shape discussions, actions and aspirations, related to society, cultures and environments. It is through this sparking of the imagination we may define, construct and realise the knowledge, skills and creativity necessary for producing and creating alternative ecological futures. This is storytelling as a complete knowledge system: knowing the world as it was, understanding the world as it is and imagining the world as it might be – resilience. At Goa Water Stories, our requisite commitment and responsibilities are to include and amplify diverse voices centred around water and ecology, from the margins, underrepresented and historically excluded from that mainstream, outside the normative 'status quo'. This is to facilitate engagement, advocacy and actively work towards bringing about positive transformations in society through interactions, platforms and spaces. 
This is storytelling as a complete knowledge system: knowing the world as it was, understanding the world as it is and imagining the world as it might be – resilience.

Through this process of play and exploration, these series of designed interactive interventions allow the participants to create small tangible outcomes, both as individuals and as a collaborative whole. Through focused sessions, the workshops and site visits engage the participants towards connecting, engaging and networking with each other and the environs. As the participants come from diverse skill sets, geographies and knowledge schemas, through their sharing we facilitate a 'contactivity' and connective intelligence towards activity-based clustering and team building and working groups among the participants.

Through ethnographic and anthropological tools, we take a 'holistic' approach to the study of water, ecology and climate change that allows us to understand individual events or relationships within a wider context of class, kinship or caste distinctions, extended families, the wider economy and government policies. Sensory anthropology emerges as a way in which one can better represent, and possibly better remain aware of, the ‘being-ness’ and the materiality of the world we reside within. By adding multisensorial vividness and richness, this augments an innovative facilitation approach that stimulates creativity and accelerates decision-making processes and the development of ideas.  Structured proceedings and visual techniques help participants to communicate and rationalise these ideas, thereby stimulating reflection and creativity on common development strategies or on the formulation of specific solutions in the form of their project, functional to the local context from which they emerge.
Through this process of play and exploration, these series of designed interactive interventions allow the participants to create small tangible outcomes, both as individuals and as a collaborative whole. Through focused sessions, the workshops and site visits engage the participants towards connecting, engaging and networking with each other and the environs.

The imagination is a powerful mechanism through which we can transform our collective future using speculation and propositions. Through this sparking the imagination, we define, construct and realise the knowledge, skills and creativity necessary for producing and creating alternative ecological futures. Art and technology (téchne) play an essential role in the creation of other possible worlds. All imaginaries or speculations about futures are precisely imaginary and speculative and contain pieces of fantasy to make them coherent and to make them work⁴⁴. Imaginative storytelling is essential to our functioning as individuals, communities and societies, and this survives, embracing new technologies to evolve new ways of telling each other our stories. In an environmental risk context, stories and storytelling have already proved crucial in forming opinions and preferences around adaptation (Fløttum & Gjerstad 2017) as stories evolve in response to the circumstances because that is what it is designed to do. A critical aspect of storytelling for resilience is its use as a tool in ‘futuring’, a technique for imagining desired futures⁴⁵. To construct, reflect and envision alternative future worlds through representation has socio-ecological and cultural implications. This narrative of societal, cultural and technological development of our futures through ‘Goa Water Stories’ is expressed through the community by agents of change. The requisite commitment and responsibilities are to include and amplify diverse voices centred around water and ecology, from the margins, underrepresented and historically excluded from that mainstream, outside the normative 'status quo'. This is to facilitate engagement and advocacy and actively work towards bringing about positive transformations in society through interactions, platforms and spaces. Thereby we enable alternative narratives and perspectives to emerge and be heard, other stories to tell about culture, technology, and things to come (Alondra Nelson, Future Texts, 2002). This engagement draws on the ethno-technologies, knowledge systems, values, and wisdom, rooted in the cultural heritage, customs and practices that are geospatial (Esteva, 2015). Consequently, the opportunities through these extended spaces in Goa, we create and foster creativity, innovation and imaginative thinking. This process of collaboration is dynamic, based on the principles of ecological sustainability and environmental impact on geographies and livelihoods with the shared learnings accessible across platforms, domains and ecosystems. The audacity of hope, the bold declaration to believe and the clarity of vision for a better life and world are the seeds of personal growth, revolutionised societies and life-changing technologies. Desire, hope, and imagination are the cornerstones of social change towards the re-envisioning of the past and speculation about the future.