- Resource System
- Watershed and associated topography
- Resource Units
- Freshwater for irrigation
The Huaynacotas community is located in the province of La Union, Department of Arequipa, in the southern highlands of Peru. The associated canal network spans elevations from 3,100 to 4,100 meters and encompasses a geographical area of 410 ha that consists of crops that are irrigated intensively (maize and other staples) and those that are rain-fed (potatoes and tubers). The case study involves a three and a half year snapshot in time before 2001and catalogues an action situation involving extreme water scarcity and a highly fragmented landholding pattern (minifundia) in which most community members own multiple plots of land making them subject to head- and tail-ender dilemmas. The article does not specify the number of community members and/or households that are dependent on the irrigation system to maintain their crops. Water is the main stationary resource unit.
The original case study authors focused on social organization and institutional performance. The case study has subsequently been used in comparative analyses regarding Ostrom's Design Principles (see bibliography).
. 2001. Successfully Governing the Commons: Principles of Social Organization in an Andean Irrigation System. Human Ecology. 29(1):1-25.
. 2010. A Review of Design Principles for Community-based Natural Resource Management. Ecology and Society. 15(4):38.
. 2016. Explaining success and failure in the commons: the configural nature of Ostrom’s institutional design principles. International Journal of the Commons. 10(2):417–439.