Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

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Type

Zanjera Danum indigenous irrigation system, Dingras municipality, Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Case
Zanjera Danum is an indigineous irrigation system located in the extreme eastern portion of the coastal lowlands in the municipality of Dingras, Ilocos Norte in the Philippines. The resource appropriated is water for irrigation of approximately 1500 ha of rice paddy in the wet season. The irrigation system contains a network of laterals and ditches which deliver water from a main canal. The system is also divided into 32 subunits called "sitios" with each one having its own leaders. Above the...
09 Aug 2016

Yuracare forest community, Department of Cochabamba, northern Bolivia

Case
The Yuracare forest community is located in the department of Cochabamba, in northern Bolivia.  It encompasses a geographical area of 250,000 ha in the Rio Charape watershed. The case study spans from early 1990s to 1997, and catalogues an action situation involving 400 families, which are dependent on the forest for fuelwood, fodder, timber, water, and game species, among others.  Timber and a variety of forest products are the main stationary resource units.This case illustrates how...
09 Aug 2016

Yanesha Forest Cooperative, Palcazú valley, central Peru

Case
The Yanesha forest community is located in the Palcazú valley of central Peru. The case study involves a snapshot in time during which the Yanesha Forestry Cooperative (COFYAL) operated in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Timber and a variety of forest products are the main stationary resource units.In this case, the forest resources were being extracted for the generation of profits from commercial activities to be distributed to the community members and are not for subsistence activities....
09 Aug 2016

World-Earth System Governance

Case
This case is a focal point for 'gobal' models - i.e. modes with no particular spatial resolution.  There are many of these - any economic growth model with some sort of ecological constraint.
13 Jan 2023

Whaling Practices among the Makah Indians, Neah Bay, Washington State, USA

Case
The case examines the whaling practices of the Makah Indians of Washington State. After practicing whaling for thousands of years, the Makah were forced to stop due to commercial whaling during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the 1990s, the Makah began efforts to begin whaling again due to increased whale populations. Since their only successful whale hunt in 1999, the Makah have faced continual litigation from animal rights activists.
09 Aug 2016

Watershed management, Thung Kao Hang, Lamphun province, northern Thailand (IV)

Case
This paper examines four case studies of community-based watershed management with emphasis on their operational decision-making arrangements. Even though legally the watersheds are state property, 73% of the villagers consider them communal property. All the case studies established community-based regimes as a result of a declining resource abundance, but differ in their operational rules, administration, effectiveness, and satisfaction among stakeholders. A village located in one of the...
09 Aug 2016

Watershed management, Silalaeng, Nan province, northern Thailand (I)

Case
This paper examines four case studies of community-based watershed management with emphasis on their operational decision-making arrangements. Even though legally the watersheds are state property, 73% of the villagers consider them communal property. All the watersheds established community-based regimes as a result of a declining resource abundance, but differ in their operational rules, administration, effectiveness, and satisfaction among stakeholders. A village ...
09 Aug 2016

Watershed management, Ban Pae, Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand (II)

Case
This paper examines four case studies of community-based watershed management with emphasis on their operational decision-making arrangements. Even though legally the watersheds are state property, 73% of the villagers consider them community property. All the watersheds established community-based regimes as a result of a declining resource abundance, but differ in their operational rules, administration, effectiveness, and satisfaction among stakeholders. A village located in one of the...
09 Aug 2016

Watershed management, Ban Luang, Nan province, northern Thailand (III)

Case
This paper examines four case studies of community-based watershed management with emphasis on their operational decision-making arrangements. Even though legally the watersheds are state property, 73% of the villagers consider them communal property. All the watersheds established community-based regimes as a result of a declining resource abundance, but differ in their operational rules, administration, effectiveness, and satisfaction among stakeholders. A village located in...
09 Aug 2016

Water users association, Nishikanbara land improvement area, Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Case
The Nishikanbara Land Improvement area is located nearly in the middle of the coastal region of Niigata Prefecture. It is an elliptic zone, 15 km from east to west, and 35 km from south to north. The Nishikanbara LID, which was established by combining five existing water users associations in 1951, is one of Japan's largest water users associations. The LID covers five villages, five towns, and two cities. At present (1999), its total farming land area is 19,103 ha and the association members...
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

Water Scarcity, Flooding, and Public Infrastructure in Mexico City

Case
Mexico City, a megalopolis of 22 million, is located at the center of the Basin of Mexico. For over 600 years, catastrophic flooding and access to potable water have challenged the city’s residents, motivating extensive investments in hard infrastructure to supply the city with fresh water, or to protect the city from periodic flooding. The case study catalogues an action situation involving residents and their local, city, state, and federal governments that formally and informally govern land...
09 Aug 2016

Water Equity and Tourism: A Case of Nainital District, Uttarakhand

Case
The current case is based on findings specific to ten villages in two blocks, Ramgarh and Dhari located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India. This study is based on fieldwork that was carried over the course of a few years since 2014; originally with the intent to ascertain the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of mountain farmers. It was found that urbanization and the increase in tourism infrastructure in the district over the past decade has resulted in a conflict over...
03 Dec 2018

Wannian River Restoration, Taiwan

Case
Wannian River Restoration case is part of the comparative urban river restoration analysis developed between 2019 to 2020 by Herlin Chien at United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability in Japan. The common pool resource system is the Wannian River (5.5 km) located in a medium sized city of Pingtung with 200,000 inhabitants. This case is most known as one of the best practices of urban river restoration program in Taiwan, undertaking several major river form,...
21 Jul 2020

Village S irrigation system, Qiyi Irrigation District, Zhuolu county, Hebei province, China

Case
Village S irrigation system is located in the Qiyi Irrigation District, Zhuolu county, Hebei province, China. Its water supply is from Sanggan river delivered by local water agency through the main canals. This village committee managed system is a failure case, although this system exists more than 40 years. Its water fees collection rate keeps on only 40% and more than 50% delivered water is wasted due to the poor infrastructure. The main reason for its inefficiency management is because the...
09 Aug 2016