Case Studies of Social-Ecological Systems

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Type

Na Pae and Muang Mai Irrigation Systems, Ban Pae Luang, Thailand

Case
The Na Pae Irrigation System is located in the village of Ban Pae Luang, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.  The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation diverted through canals from Mae Pae River. The original case was reported in 1983 and catalogues an action situation involving 80 members. At the beginning of the period discussed by the authors, there was a balanced supply of biological and physical resources withdrawn compared to the number of units available...
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

Mount Desert Island Lobster Fishery

Case
The lobster grounds of Mount Desert Island are located within Hancock County, Maine, some 250 miles northeast of Boston and 150 miles southwest of the U.S. - Canada border. The original case spans from 1969 to1974 and catalogues an action situation involving approximately 75 lobster fishermen; lobster is the stationary resource unit.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR coding conducted in the 1980s by Edella Schlager and Shui...
09 Aug 2016

Messolonghi-Etolico Lagoon Fishery

Case
The Messolonghi-Etolico lagoon is in the northern part of Patraikos Gulf, on the west coast of central Greece. The original case, which was published in 1984, catalogues an action situation with approximately 200 independent fishermen and 170 fishermen in 11 co-ops. The resource units are mullets, sea-bream, eel, and sea-bass. The co-ops feel the independents are free-riders on co-op efforts to trap fish; independents resent the co-ops' privileges, power, and subterfuges to restrict membership...
09 Aug 2016

Mauraro irrigation system, Mauraro barrio, Albay province, Philippines

Case
Mauraro Irrigation system is located in Albay in Philippines. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation distributed through a canal. The original case was reported in 1980 and catalogues an action situation involving 26 farmers. In the Mauraro Irrigation System, nobody in particular is responsible for the allocation and distribution of water. The cleaning and repair of the system's structures are the responsibility of each and every farmer. But the farmer...
09 Aug 2016

Matsigenka agriculture, Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Case
Arable land among the Matsigenka is a public good (Ostrom 2005: 24). At base the Matsigenka do not have institutions that regulate who can access arable land. Anyone who has been incorporated into a community has the right to access arable land. The only requirement before opening up a new field is that people must state their intent. This practice decreases the probability of clearing a plot of land that someone else was planning to clear. In short, use of arable land does not affect the...
09 Aug 2016

Mathematical Models in Social Ecological Systems

Case
This case is an umbrella to capture a range of models of ecological, social, social-ecological, and other natural systems (e.g. climate).  In addition, there are several models whose main purpose is to demonstrate model visualization features related to a number of famous mathematical models including the Lorenz Model, the discrete logistic, and predator prey models. The Lorenz Model, probably the most famous of all simple models, is the first ever model of a chaotic dynamical system....
09 Aug 2016

Maritime Extractive Reserve (MER) and Traditional Beach Seining in Arraial do Cabo, Brazil

Case
The Arraial do Cabo Marine Extractive Reserve (MER) and fishing community is located on a cape that extends approximately 40 km into the ocean about 164 km east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The MER encompasses a total marine area of approximately 57 ha which is utilized by seiners/fishermen from four different beaches.  The case study involves a time period which predates the 1960s and ends approximately in the early 2000s and draws on informal and semi-structured interviews with...
09 Aug 2016

Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of California, Sonora, Mexico

Case
Marine protected areas remain as one of the most popular tools for the conservation and management of natural resources in marine ecosystems. However, mere establishment of MPAs without the proper design, management, or enforcement tools may give a false sense of security that such MPAs will be enough to sustain marine resources. The Gulf of California (GOC), in Mexico, has received a great deal of attention over the past 20 years as a region where conservation and resource management efforts...
09 Aug 2016

Majha Ko Kulo (d), 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

Majha Ko Kulo (b), 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

Magar Kulo, Bhote Namlang 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

Lurin Sayoc Irrigation, Quinua District, Peru

Case
Lurin Sayoc is one of the two barrios of Quinua district of Ayacucho Province in the Peruvian highlands. The resource appropriated related to the social dilemma is water for irrigation distributed through a canal, diverted by stream. The original case was reported in 1976 and 1977 and catalogues an action situation involving 5,348 people. The author reported many fights around water use.This case study is part of the original Common-Pool Resource (CPR) database. A summary of the original CPR...
09 Aug 2016

Love River Restoration, Taiwan

Case
Love River Restoration case is part of the comparative urban river 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 Love River (12 km) located in a metropolitan city of Kaohsiung with 2.7 million inhabitants. This case is identified by the Executive Yuan - central government in Taiwan as one of eleven rivers with more than 50% of mediumly polluted section in...
21 Jul 2020

Lothar farmer-managed irrigation system, Chitwan district, Nepal

Case
Lothar is a farmer-managed irrigation system in the Chitwan district, about 30 kilometres east of the city of Bharatpur in Nepal. The resource unit is water for irrigation. The system comprises of a main canal, an approach canal, six branch canals, and field channels. Individual farmers are responsible for maintaining field channels and tertiary canals. During the time of the original case, which spans from 1985 to 1986, there was no history of conflicts in the irrigation system. This case...
09 Aug 2016