Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

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Type

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Semi-urban sokshing, Bhutan (II)

Case
Following the introduction of the Forest Act of 1969 and the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of 1995, the forests of Bhutan are owned and managed by the state, and are legally classified as "Government Reserve Forest". One of two major forest-related indigenous land-use strategies is sokshing [registered  leat letter forests] that is defined as "a part of the Government Reserve Forest registered in the name of an individual and matained aside for collection for leaf litters required for...
09 Aug 2016

Sananeri Tank irrigation system, India

Case
The resource appropriated from Sananeri Tank is water for irrigation. The resource discussed in this study includes a tank and the channels that divert water to the field. The author shows that nonformal local cultivators associations make an important contribution to the overall performance of the irrigation system, even where government agencies are formally responsible for irrigation. Such organizations mobilize local resources in various tasks, including inspection and repair of physical...
09 Aug 2016

San Pedro Fishery, Belize

Case
     San Pedro, Belize is an island village of approximately 1,200 residents in 1979. Located off the coast of Belize in a strategic place on Ambergris Cay it is close to abundant local fishing and has easy access to nearby commercial markets (Belize city, Corozal, and Chetumal). The fishing cooperative, Caribena Cooperative Limited, was San Pedro’s official fishing organization handling capture, processing and sale of the village’s primary resource: marine produce consisting of...
09 Aug 2016

San Martin Ocotlán community forest management, Oaxaca, Mexico

Case
The San Martin Ocotlán forest community encompasses a total of six settlements located in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, of which San Martin Ocotlán is the largest.  The community has de jure rights to 13,000 ha of common property pine and oak forests.  The case study involves a time period from approximately 1958 to the mid to late 1990s and catalogues an action situation involving approximately 3,300 residents organized in circa 600 households, who supplement their subsistence maize farming...
09 Aug 2016