Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

Title
Type

Quintana Roo-Scalefish, Eastern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Case
The Quintana Roo fishery is located on the Eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The nearly 900 km of coastline includes all of Mexico's Caribbean shore. The boundary of the Quintana Roo fisheries is defined institutionally by the Mexican government. The resource harvested is scalefish. Unlike the other resource users harvesting from this fishery, scalefish harvesters are not organized by a co-op or firm. This case was part of the original CPR database developed in the 1980s by...
09 Aug 2016

Water user association of the Fuente Palmera, Córdoba, Spain

Case
The Fuente y Palmera Irrigation association involves 5 municipalities (Fuente Palmera, Hornachuelos, Écija, Posadas, y Guadalcázar) in the Guadalquivir Basin, in Spain.The resource unit is surface water (mainly from Guadalquivir River). It encompasses a geographical area of 5,259 ha of irrigated land, divided in 79 groups of users. The case study spans from 1985 to 1997.The original case study authors focused on monitoring and institutional performance.  The case study has subsequently...
09 Aug 2016

Gambhira cooperative farming society, India

Case
This case was part of a study to determine whether the institutional design principles of Ostrom where, in fact, related to "governance success" by Cox et al.  In that analysis, this case was classified as a success.  
09 Aug 2016

The Innovation Commons: The Nanotechnology Innovation Network, Phoenix, AZ

Case
 The nanotechnology innovation network of Metropolitan Phoenix ranks among the top thirty across US cities focused on nanotechnology development. The present case examines the structure of the innovation network, consisting of approximately 400 diverse organizations, between 2011 and 2012. The commons dilemma revolves around managing future risks and benefits from nanotechnology development; the resource is a heterogenous mix of natural and human-made infrastructures.
09 Aug 2016

Quintana Roo lobster fishery, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Case
The Quintana Roo lobster fisheries are located on the eastern (Caribbean) side of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and stretch along the nearly 900 km of coastline from the border with Belize in the south to the Gulf of Mexico in the north. The original case study divides the fishery into three regions: north, central and south and is based on fieldwork conducted from mid-1978 to mid-1980.  It catalogues an action situation involving approx. 643 cooperative fishermen; lobster is the stationary...
09 Aug 2016

Ascension Bay Lobster Fishery

Case
Ascension Bay is located in Quintana Roo State, Mexico. The resource appropriated from the Ascension Bay Lobster Fishery is lobster. In this case, the fisheries are organized by co-ops or firms. Institutional arrangements are such that members of the Ascension Bay Lobster Fishery co-op can trade or sell lobster territories since members own the territories that they fish from. This case was part of the original CPR database developed in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui Yan Tang at...
09 Aug 2016

Farquhar Beach, Clarendon, Jamaica

Case
Farquhar beach is located in Clarendon, Jamaica. The resource appropriated from Farquhar Beach is demersal fish. Fishers use the “first in time, first in right” strategy for determining who has access to choice fishing spots within the grounds. All land and the beach area where fishing takes place is owned by a single owner and fishermen pay a fee for using the beach. The single landowner determines access to the resource by deciding who can live and fish at Farquhar Beach. This case was part...
09 Aug 2016

Port Phillip Bay Scallop Fishery

Case
Port Phillip Bay is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia.The resource appropriated from Port Phillip Bay are scallops. In this case study, the authors describe the scallop fishery and the evolution of its management system after stocks declined. Over time rules such as licenses, individual quotas, and closed seasons have been introduced to manage the resource. This case was part of the original CPR database developed in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui Yan Tang at Indiana...
09 Aug 2016

Lakes Entrance Scallop Fishery

Case
The Lakes Entrance scallop fishery is located in Bass Strait outside the city of Lakes Entrance in eastern Victoria, Australia and as far south as Tasmania in depths of 10-30 fathoms . The original case, which was published in 1982, catalogs the management of both Lakes Entrance and nearby Port Phillip Bay fisheries following a decline in scallop stocks in the early 1970s. The shared resources relevant to the commons dilemma faced by the community include scallop stocks and their productivity (...
09 Aug 2016

Petty Harbour Cod Fishery

Case
Petty Harbor is located in a town on the eastern shore of the Avalon Peninsula. The resource appropriated from Petty Harbour Cod Fishery is cod. The author examines the perception of the marine environment by fishers. He compared the fishers of Petty Harbour who remain close to shore and use traps and hand lines with fishers from St. Johns who travel further offshore and use long lines. He found that in general fishers have a selective perception of their environment and primarily focus on...
09 Aug 2016

Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Case
This case was originally researched and compiled for the SES Library by Matt Cohen in 2013 for the Arizona State University course SOS 591: Applied Robustness Analysis in Social Ecological Systems.The resource appropriated is the city's municipal budget.  Local laws enable a participatory process in which citizens influence budget allocations through collaborative deliberation.  Citizens holding neighborhood-scale interests deliberate on allocations of the city-wide budget, a finite...
09 Aug 2016

The urban heat commons: vegetation cooling services in Metropolitan Phoenix

Case
The case of urban vegetation cooling service at Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, USA is an addition to the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. This case was created in 2013 by Yujia Zhang at Arizona State University. Metropolitan Phoenix is one of the fastest growing regions in the southwest U.S. In contrast to its rapid urban expansion, this area possesses inadequate natural resources and faces unique challenges of sustainable development. The commons dilemma in this case is to...
09 Aug 2016

Irrigation water management in the Chancay-Lambayeque Basin, Peru

Case
The resource appropriated from the Chancay-Lambayeque Basin is water for irrigation. There are two groups of farmers. One groups is located upstream the main canal of the system, and the second groups downstream. Upstream users are freeriding from the canal: They do not pay for the infrastructure maintenance, and at the same time they appropriate water without any formal regulation. Downstream farmers are members of an irrigation association and follow their rules. The national water law...
09 Aug 2016

Munglori "Turf" (forest territory) Management, India

Case
Munglori is a village in Uttaranchal, India. The resource appropriated from Munglori Turf Management is fodder. There is a system of informal, locally recognized rules which are respected in and across villages and through which the local oak forests are managed. These rules supersede national laws and result in a reasonable level of forest management. Both institutional and geographical factors affect the boundary of the resource. From the standpoint of social-ecological systems analysis...
09 Aug 2016

Parwara Van Panchayat Forest

Case
Parwara is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India and forests comprise broad-leaved species such as oak. Resources appropriated from the Parwara forests are timber, grass, and leaves. The authors Vishwa Ballabh and Katar Singh, first visited Parwara in 1988 to evaluate the factors that enabled collective action by the panchayat. Based on the initial assessment from a Social-Ecological Sytems (SES) perspective in 1988, the Panchayat was considered successful in managing...
09 Aug 2016