Reprinted with permission from Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local Level Perspectives, edited by Peter D. Little and Michael M. Horowitz, Boulder, CO, Westview Press, 1986. The paper analyzes changes in local resource management strategies and the environmental impact of centralized irrigation management in the Indus Basin since the mid-19th century. These changes are viewed primarily as responses to increasing interventions of the state, and the co-opting through centralization of what had been local functions by higher level bodies. This in turn has led to an inability to respond to local level problems before they reach crisis proportions. To interpret the trends and identify key problems and issues, the paper draws upon a systems theory model of the evolution of the state that was originally developed by scholars interested in the demise of Mesopotamian civilization. The analysis provides the basis for a short critique of present development programs and for identifying several key research questions.