- Resource System
- Watershed and associated topography
- Resource Units
- Freshwater
The Pumpa Irrigation System draws water from the Pumpa river to serve approximately 120 households. It is a "north-south" system and is in an area with relatively steep terrain. This case was analyzed using a stylized dynamic model to assess its capacity to cope with new challenges from global change. The model suggested that the adaptive water allocation rules used by the community (sequential, 12 and 24 hour rotations) could significanty enhance the robustness of the system to increased water scarcity and shocks to infrastructure.
General SES typology classification:
- Biophysical structure helps solve the the problem of monitoring rule conformance
- The soical dilemma is mainly one of coordiantion of labor in space and time rather than of cooperation
- The system structure is weighted toward 1, 4, 5, and 6 (these links are strong) and links 2 and 3 are weaker. This may result in a situaion in which the formal role of public infrastructure provider is not well developed in general, nor is the formal, general process of public infrastructure provision. This may limit the capacity of the community to solve more abstract collecitve action problems - i.e. conflict resolution, distribution of monetary resources, etc.
SES typology summary for the Pumpa System
Resource System
Water and soil for rice paddy. The challenge is getting water to rice paddies during the transplantation phase when water is scarce.
Resource Users
120 households who farm a total of 70 hectares.
In terms of a general typology: The system is small, and the community must work closely to coordinate their actions for the system to function. Thus the biophysical context has a strong impact on social organization.
Public Infrastructure Providers
The resource users themselves provide public infrastructure. The community maintains the canals, repairs headgate washouts and coordinates water use.
In terms of a general typology: the main challenge is one of coordination rather than cooperation.
Public Infrastructure
Canals, headgate infrastructure, adaptive rules for water allocation and labor mobilization to repair and maintain canals.
In terms of a general typology: soft infrastructure mainly focuses on coordination. Biophysical structure helps operationalize rules - i.e. the need for formal governance is minimal.
Relationship 1
The main relationship between users and the resource involves preparing the fields (soil) and getting water to fields at the right time.
Relationship 2
The resource users and public infrastructure providers are the same people. Since the public infrastructure providers have a stake in the system, they have incentives to provide infrastructure effectively.
In terms of a general typology: need for formal positions of public infrastructure provider and due process for governance are reduced by the biophysical structure of the system.
Relationship 3
The relationship between the public infrastructure providers and public infrastructure is strongly mediated by relationship 6. Thus the relationship between the formal ROLE of public infrastructure provider and actual provision of public infrastructure may be weak.
Relationship 4
Because of the steep terrain, the irrigation infrastructure is tightly integrated with the with soil and water resources.
In terms of a general typology: The interdependencies between the resource and the public infrastructure contribute significantly to provisioning - i.e. provisioning emerges endogenously from system dynamics.
Relationship 5
The public infrastructure fundamentally affects how resource users interact with water and soil. The hard infrastructure makes water available, soft infrastructure dictates when and how much is available to each farmer.
Relationship 6
Because of the steep terrain, the irrigation system itself is compact and the farmers operate
in close proximity. Thus, when they operationalize the water distribution rules, farmers can (an must) observe the actions of one another, solving the second order collective action problem of monitoring.
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Resource System)
Reduced flow in the Pumpa, late arrival of monsoons.
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Public Infrastructure)
High water flow in mid monsoon season, headgate washouts.
Exogenous Drivers 8 (Resource Users)
Labor opportunities outside the irrigation system.
Exogenous Drivers 8 (Public Infrastructure Providers)
Interventions from the next organizational level.
Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Resource Users)
(none specified)Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Public Infrastructure Providers)
(none specified). 2010. Robustness, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity in small-scale social- ecological systems: The Pumpa Irrigation System in Nepal. Ecology and Society. 15(2):39-70.