Sustaining Coupled Irrigation Infrastructures: Multiple Instruments for Multiple Dilemmas

Vallury, Sechindra; Abbott, Joshua K.; Shin, Hoon C.; Anderies, John M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106793

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Simply put, context matters: the effect of DPs on outcomes is mediated by contextual variables. Our results strongly support the argument that DPs can create sufficient opportunities for robust cooperation (Ostrom 1990, McGinnis andOstrom 2014), facilitate emergence of adaptive governance (Dietz et al 2003), and reinforce the importance of group size and resource area in managing irrigation systems (Ostrom et al 1994, Vallury et al 2020.…”

Section: Robustness Of All-dps-presence To Contextual Changes: C4 and C6supporting

confidence: 83%

“…To do this, we conduct a comparative analysis of 50 shared irrigation systems in South India. In these systems, shared surface reservoirs contribute to smoothing the availability of water in the face of environmental uncertainty (Mosse 2006, Vallury et al 2020. The reliance of agricultural productivity on shared infrastructure requires a sufficient level of collective action for both infrastructure maintenance and water allocation under environmental variability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing the institutional foundations of adaptive water governance in South India

Vallury¹,

Shin²,

Janssen³

et al. 2022

E&S

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Institutional structures can fundamentally shape opportunities for adaptive governance of water resources at multiple ecological and societal scales. The properties of adaptive governance have been widely examined in the literature. However, there has been limited focus on how institutions can promote or hinder the emergence of adaptive governance. Elinor Ostrom's institutional theory stresses the importance of formal and informal norms and rules in effective governance of natural resources. Specifically, Ostrom's "design principles" (DPs) are considered important because they increase the capacity for adaptive decision making and facilitate the emergence of self-organization at smaller scales. Self-organizing agents can frequently modify rules-in-use, procedures, and technical methods to tackle changing ecological conditions and address significant management issues left by more traditional governments. In this study, we examine institutional arrangements for successful water governance by analyzing (1) the co-occurrence of DPs in irrigation systems, and (2) the combination(s) of DPs leading to social and ecological success. We collaborated with a local non-profit organization to review institutional records and conduct interviews in 50 irrigation communities in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in South India. Using qualitative comparative analysis, we found that the effectiveness of design principles is contingent on biophysical properties, such as the size of the watershed being governed, and attributes of the community, such as population size. We also discuss the methodological and data-related challenges involved in collecting primary data for conducting a context-specific institutional analysis. Our study offers a much-needed example of empirical research that investigates the role of operational level rules in adaptive water governance.

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Section: Robustness Of All-dps-presence To Contextual Changes: C4 and C6supporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the institutional foundations of adaptive water governance in South India

Vallury¹,

Shin²,

Janssen³

et al. 2022

E&S

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social-ecological systems are dynamic systems that change continuously in response to environmental and socio-economic stressors (Scheffer et al 2009). Feedbacks between the social and ecological systems determine the effectiveness of adaptation strategies Brock 2008, Schlüter et al 2014) and consequently the ability of these systems to cope with internal demands and external stressors (Vallury et al 2020). Environmental processes, such as climate change, occur at multiple scales and feedbacks have been observed across multiple levels of decision-making (Berkes 2007, Adger et al 2009.…”

Section: (Mis-)measuring Adaptive Capacity Beyond the Householdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research

Vallury

Smith

Chaffin

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The concept of adaptive capacity has received significant attention within social-ecological and environmental change research. Within both the resilience and vulnerability literatures specifically, adaptive capacity has emerged as a fundamental concept for assessing the ability of social-ecological systems to adapt to environmental change. Although methods and indicators used to evaluate adaptive capacity are broad, the focus of existing scholarship has predominately been at the individual- and household- levels. However, the capacities necessary for humans to adapt to global environmental change are often a function of individual and societal characteristics, as well as cumulative and emergent capacities across communities and jurisdictions. In this paper, we apply a systematic literature review and co-citation analysis to investigate empirical research on adaptive capacity that focus on societal levels beyond the household. Our review demonstrates that assessments of adaptive capacity at higher societal levels are increasing in frequency, yet vary widely in approach, framing, and results; analyses focus on adaptive capacity at many different levels (e.g., community, municipality, global region), geographic locations, and cover multiple types of disturbances and their impacts across sectors. We also found that there are considerable challenges with regard to the `fit' between data collected and analytical methods used in adequately capturing the cross-scale and cross-level determinants of adaptive capacity. Current approaches to assessing adaptive capacity at societal levels beyond the household tend to simply aggregate individual- or household-level data, which we argue oversimplifies and ignores the inherent interactions within and across societal levels of decision-making that shape the capacity of humans to adapt to environmental change across multiple scales. In order for future adaptive capacity research to be more practice-oriented and effectively guide policy, there is a need to develop indicators and assessments that are matched with the levels of potential policy applications.

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Understanding the effects of institutional diversity on irrigation systems dynamics

Shin

Vallury

Abbott

et al. 2022

Ecological Economics

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Sustaining Coupled Irrigation Infrastructures: Multiple Instruments for Multiple Dilemmas

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Assessing the institutional foundations of adaptive water governance in South India

Assessing the institutional foundations of adaptive water governance in South India

Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research

Understanding the effects of institutional diversity on irrigation systems dynamics

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