Pollution crisis: co-operating for survival in Tamil Nadu

Several hundred tanneries failed to treat their effluents in 1995 and were ordered by the Supreme Court of India to shut down. Their survival at stake, local tanneries joined forces to find a collective solution in the form of centralised treatment plants. International research, co-ordinated by the UK Institute for Development Studies, shows that inter-firm co-operation, backed by community ties and shared local identities ensured the clusters were able to surmount the crisis. Could this experience of co- operation form the basis for further joint action to help increase economic efficiency and tackle new challenges?

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Pollution crisis: co-operating for survival in Tamil Nadu