The Functional Role of Balinese Water Temples: A Response to Critics

Lansing, J. Stephen; Vet, Therese A. de

doi:10.1007/s10745-012-9469-4

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The model also suggests an explanation for the widespread occurrence of fragile kilometers-long irrigation systems linking multiple subaks in the mountains of Bali. If management by the subaks were purely local, leaving downstream subaks at the mercy of their upstream neighbors, these irrigation works would be pointless, and the total area of terraced fields on the island could never have reached its historic extent (14).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although this higherlevel coordination between subaks is not explicitly included in the model, the decision-making process is the same: a trial-and-error adaptation to reduce pest and water stress. These meetings take place in regional water temples and make use of a sophisticated permutational calendar to plan and implement staggered irrigation schedules (14,16). These cultural innovations undoubtedly facilitate adaptation to changing pest-water dynamics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adaptive self-organization of Bali’s ancient rice terraces

Lansing

Thurner

Chung

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Spatial patterning often occurs in ecosystems as a result of a selforganizing process caused by feedback between organisms and the physical environment. Here, we show that the spatial patterns observable in centuries-old Balinese rice terraces are also created by feedback between farmers' decisions and the ecology of the paddies, which triggers a transition from local to globalscale control of water shortages and rice pests. We propose an evolutionary game, based on local farmers' decisions that predicts specific power laws in spatial patterning that are also seen in a multispectral image analysis of Balinese rice terraces. The model shows how feedbacks between human decisions and ecosystem processes can evolve toward an optimal state in which total harvests are maximized and the system approaches Pareto optimality. It helps explain how multiscale cooperation from the community to the watershed scale could persist for centuries, and why the disruption of this self-organizing system by the Green Revolution caused chaos in irrigation and devastating losses from pests. The model shows that adaptation in a coupled human-natural system can trigger self-organized criticality (SOC). In previous exogenously driven SOC models, adaptation plays no role, and no optimization occurs. In contrast, adaptive SOC is a self-organizing process where local adaptations drive the system toward local and global optima.self-organization | criticality | irrigation | evolutionary games | Pareto optimality T he geometric precision of Balinese rice terraces has inspired generations of postcard photographers. Viewed from above, a changing mosaic of colors appears: green when the rice is young, yellow as it nears harvest, silver when the paddies are flooded, and brown when they are drained. These colors are not uniform across the island, because Bali is an equatorial island with only two seasons, wet and dry. Consequently, farmers can plant their crops at any time, although they avoid harvesting in the rainy season. The colored patches that make up the mosaics are visible in Google Earth. Like many natural phenomena, patches show a characteristic power-law distribution of sizes. However, in this case, the patches are created by the farmer's decisions about when to synchronize irrigation schedules with their neighbors: Each patch displays the outcome of these choices. Adjacent patches tend to be correlated. This correlation weakens with distance, a relationship that also follows a specific power law (Fig. 1). To discover why harvests approach a maximum when both the size distribution of patches and the corresponding correlation functions fit power-law distributions, we need a model that relates the decisions of the farmers to the consequences for irrigation flows and rice growth.In Bali, water is regarded as a public good, the gift of the Goddess of the Lakes. Rice is grown in paddy fields fed by irrigation systems dependent on rainfall. Rainfall varies by season and, in combination with groundwater inflow, determines river flow. By virtue of...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive self-organization of Bali’s ancient rice terraces

Lansing

Thurner

Chung

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

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“…[12]. (2) The Functional Role of Balinese Water Temples: A Response to Critics [13]. (3) Cross culture Learning: Utilizing subak as a Model of Ecopedagogy [14].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Local genus has strategic roles in forming national character, that is character of Indonesian personality which is appropriate with values of Pancasila and norms of UUD 1945, diversity with the principle of Bhineka Tunggal Ika, and the commitment towards NKRI [13]. Therefore, local wisdom has significance and relevance of character building.…”

Section: Character Values In Local Wisdom Of Subakmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Wisdom Of Subak As A Model Of Character Building For Social Studies Learning In Schools

Sriartha¹,

Jampel²,

Wayan³

et al. 2017

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovative Research Across Disciplines (ICIRAD 2017)

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Abstract-This study aimed to trace back any character values contained in local wisdom of the Balinese traditional irrigation system called Subak and to construct it as a model of character building for social studies learning in schools. To obtain the objective, this study made use a meta-analysis approach. The primary sources of data were all research findings which have been published in either relevant national or international journals along recent seven years (2011-2017). The data and findings of the study were analyzed and formulated by using a descriptive-interpretative technique. The finding of the study was 17 character values in local wisdom of Subak which was related to the national character formation. The notion of Subak based character building in social studies learning was applied into a model of indoor-outdoor study. The notion needs testing to measure the effectivity of its implementation and its constraints through further researches.

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“…As the area converted to paddy, cultivation increased, irrigation infrastructure expanded, and farmers faced the ecological constraints of water stress and growing pest populations (Lansing and de Vet 2012; Schoenfedler 2001). In the very early stages of Balinese agriculture, the dominant level of behavioral selection would likely have been the individual.…”

Section: The Emergence Of Synchronized Cropping Subaks and Associatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-examining balinese subaks through the lens of cultural multilevel selection

2017

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Overcoming environmental challenges requires understanding when and why individuals adopt cooperative behaviors, how individual behaviors and interactions among resource users change over time, and how group structure and group dynamics impact behaviors, institutions, and resource conditions. Cultural multilevel selection (CMLS) is a theoretical framework derived from theories of cultural evolution and cultural group selection that emphasizes pressures affecting different levels of social organization as well as conflicts among these levels. As such, CMLS can be useful for understanding many environmental challenges. With this paper, we use evidence from the literature and hypothetical scenarios to show how the framework can be used to understand the emergence and persistence of sustainable social–ecological systems. We apply the framework to the Balinese system of rice production and focus on two important cultural traits (synchronized cropping and the institutions and rituals associated with water management). We use data from the literature that discusses bottom-up (self-organized, complex adaptive system) and top-down explanations for the system and discuss how (1) the emergence of group structure, (2) group-level variation in cropping strategies, institutions, and rituals, and (3) variation in overall yields as a result of different strategies and institutions, could have allowed for the spread of group-beneficial traits and the increasing complexity of the system. We also outline cultural transmission mechanisms that can explain the spread of group-beneficial traits in Bali and describe the kinds of data that would be required to validate the framework in forward-looking studies.

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The Functional Role of Balinese Water Temples: A Response to Critics

Cited by 26 publications

References 22 publications

Adaptive self-organization of Bali’s ancient rice terraces

Adaptive self-organization of Bali’s ancient rice terraces

Local Wisdom Of Subak As A Model Of Character Building For Social Studies Learning In Schools

Re-examining balinese subaks through the lens of cultural multilevel selection

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