Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

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Type

Shellfish, Wadden Sea, The Netherlands

Case
The Wadden Sea is a network of tidal channels, sandbars, mudflats, salt marshes and dune islands covering approximately 9000 km2 located at the northwest corner of the Netherlands along the North Sea and extending east along the coast of Germany and then north to Esbjerg in Denmark. The Wadden Sea is considered Europe’s largest wetland ecosystem and is also one of the largest in the world, providing high biomass production and habitat for birds, sea mammals, fish species and shellfish. The...
09 Aug 2016

Silag-Butir Irrigation System, Barrios Pacang, Silag, Butir, and Cabaruan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines

Case
In the case of the Silag-Butir Irrigation System, ricefields are located in the adjoining Barrios of Silag, Butir, Pacang and Cabaruan (between 1.5 km and 4 km off Santa Maria municipality) in the Ilocos Sur Province in the Philippines. The resource appropriated is water for irrigation. The system serves an area of 115 hectares cultivated by 201-500 total appropriator teams  during wet season and 38 hectares during dry season. At the beginning of the period, there was a moderate shortage...
09 Aug 2016

Silean Banua irrigation system, Lintong ni Huta, Balige subdistrict, Indonesia

Case
Silean Banua Irrigation system is located in Lintong ni Huta, The subdistrict of Balige in Indonesia.The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation The original case was reported in 1979 and catalogues an action situation involving 38 members. The author uses this case to challenge Bennett's (1976) proposition that traditional societies lack the capacity for cooperation, social mobilization, financing, and engineering expertise to construct large irrigation...
09 Aug 2016

Siran Ko Kulo (a), Thamalangtar Dhap Village Panchayat, Sindhupalchok District, Nepal

Case
This case is part of the original Nepal Irrigation Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database developed in the 1980's by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University. In addition, this case is also part of a longitudinal study that has repeatedly investigated 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Indrawati River Basin that participated in an innovative intervention designed to improve irrigation performance not only by improving physical...
09 Aug 2016

Siran Ko Kulo (c), Baguwa, Sikharpur Village Panchayat, Sindhupalchok District, Nepal

Case
This case is part of the original Nepal Irrigation Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database developed in the 1980's by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University. In addition, this case is also part of a longitudinal study that has repeatedly investigated 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Indrawati River Basin that participated in an innovative intervention designed to improve irrigation performance not only by improving physical...
09 Aug 2016

Soti Bagar Ko Kulo, Thamalangtar Dhap Village Panchayat, Sindhupalchok District, Nepal

Case
This case is part of the original Nepal Irrigation Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database developed in the 1980's by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University. In addition, this case is also part of a longitudinal study that has repeatedly investigated 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Indrawati River Basin that participated in an innovative intervention designed to improve irrigation performance not only by improving physical...
09 Aug 2016

Spread of ideas based on epidemiological models

Case
The population dynamics underlying the diffusion of ideas hold many qualitative similarities to those involved in thespread of infections. In spite of much suggestive evidence this analogy is hardly ever quantified in useful ways. Thestandard benefit of modeling epidemics is the ability to estimate quantitatively population average parameters, such asinterpersonal contact rates, incubation times, duration of infectious periods, etc. In most cases such quantities generalizenaturally to the...
07 Oct 2016

Stakenet Fishery Association at Negombo Lagoon, Sri Lanka

Case
Negombo Lagoon (3,164 ha) is located on Sri Lanka's west coast -- about 30 km north of the capital Colombo. This study discusses a community-initiated common property regime in the Negombo lagoon suffering from the problem of open access. The analysis focuses on the Stake-Net Fishery Association (SNFA) in the channels of the Negombo lagoon. The SNFA is an example of a long-standing collective arrangement for successfully limiting open access. The determinants of the success of the SNFA are...
09 Aug 2016

Subedar Ko Kulo, Dhap Village, Thamalangtar Dhap Village Panchayat, Sinhupalchok District, Nepal

Case
This case is part of the original Nepal Irrigation Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database developed in the 1980's by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University. In addition, this case is also part of a longitudinal study that has repeatedly investigated 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Indrawati River Basin that participated in an innovative intervention designed to improve irrigation performance not only by improving physical...
09 Aug 2016

Subtle global bifurcation with dramatic ecological consequences in a simple population model

Case
Numerous situations exist in which a consumer uses two different kinds of resources, one fixed, the other renewable, e.g., nesting resources and food resources. With an elementary modification of the basic Lotka–Volterra consumer resource equations, we investigate the population dynamics of a consumer dependent on two resources, one fixed, the other renewable. Emerging from this structure is a situation of alternative attractors that remain qualitatively robust over a significant range of...
09 Aug 2016

Synthetic Biology: The Registry of Standard Biological Parts

Case
The Registry of Standard Biological Parts is maintained by the International Genetic Engineering Machine (iGEM) Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Registry contains genetic information in the form of synthetically created deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences, protein, promoters, and other parts with various biological functions. The shared resources relevant to the commons dilemma faced by the community include the parts in the registry and their accessibility (common-pool). The...
09 Aug 2016

System representation template

Case
The system representation template was created to provide the key verbs analysts should utilize when describing the strategic interactions between the elements in the robustness framework (RS, RU, PIP, PI). Verbs followed by (?) are suggested additions to the verb list.
09 Aug 2016

T Water User Association self-governance, Fujian province, southern China

Case
T water user association, also a farmer organization at village level, is located in Fujian province. It has been operating effectively since its creation in 2001 so this is a successful case of self-management. The main reasons are attributed to 3 aspects: the village’s own water resource of reservoir and river, the inter-nested structure of association, village committee and clan, and the low cost punishment environment of village norms. These promote the farmers to self organize and craft...
09 Aug 2016

Takkapala communal irrigation system, Malino village, south Sulawesi, Indonesia

Case
The Takkapala communal irrigation system was studied in the Malino village in Indonesia. The resource harvested is water for irrigation. Although an extensive description of the institutions in the Takkapala Communal System was not presented in this case study on irrigation, the authors did highlight the impact of national subsidies on the rehabilitation of two small-scale river-diversion irrigation systems in Indonesia. Subsidies were substantial inducements to the mobilization of local...
09 Aug 2016

Tallo Chapleti Kulo, Sikharpur Village Panchayat, Sindhupalchok District, Nepal

Case
This case is part of the original Nepal Irrigation Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database developed in the 1980's by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University. In addition, this case is also part of a longitudinal study that has repeatedly investigated 19 farmer-managed irrigation systems (FMIS) in the Indrawati River Basin that participated in an innovative intervention designed to improve irrigation performance not only by improving physical...
09 Aug 2016