Obara pond irrigation system, Niiike Buraku, Okayama Prefecture, Honshu Island, Japan

Resource System
Watershed and associated topography
Resource Units
Freshwater

The resource appropriated from Obara Pond is water for irrigation, and the case takes place in the settlement of Niiike Buraku on the coastal plain of Okayama Prefecture in the Honshu island of Japan. This irrigation system is comprised of a pond a little more than two acres in area, as well as the ditches that lead water to 10 acres of farmland. At the beginning of the period, there was an apparently balanced supply of biological and physical resources withdrawn compared to the number of units available. The Obara Pond is a small-scale water resource. According to the study, it was managed quite well by the users with the presence of a larger collective organization, the oaza.

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 Yan Tang at Indiana University may be found under the CPR tab in the Institutional Analysis section below.