Polycentricity in the water-energy nexus : a comparison of polycentric governance traits and implications for adaptive capacity of water user associations in Spain

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552This paper assesses the merits of polycentricity by looking at the water-energy nexus in the Spanish irrigation sector. In the last few decades, the Spanish electricity and water governance systems have transitioned from relatively monocentric, top-down arrangements to arrangements that exhibit traits of polycentricity. This paper characterizes both governance systems against a series of polycentricity traits and provision and production activities. It then assesses the merits of the systems against the capacity of water user associations (WUAs) to adapt to water and electricity supply dynamics. The study relies on quantitative and archival data collected from a set of 38 irrigation systems located in north-east Spain as well as secondary data from the broader water, energy and irrigation sectors. As illustrated in the analysis, WUAs can play a key role in integrating the management of water and electricity. They do so locally, via a diversity of institutional and operational adaptations. This role, however, requires sufficient levels of autonomy, clear rules that shape the interactions between WUAs and other water and electricity actors, and a relatively competitive environment

Justification and Scope of the Book

Academic schools are important institutions for consolidating and disseminating ideas. They can be defined as diffused communities held together by a collectively constructed body of knowledge, a shared worldview and a network of social relations. Identifying and delimiting academic schools might be a hard endeavor, since they are embedded in a fluid "state of spirit," which is context- and time-specific, and not always easy to systematize and communicate. However, we still think that the notion (or metaphor) of "school" still makes sense to characterize the bonding elements that hold together and give coherence to the diverse ideas, debates and approaches represented in this book

Assessing action situation networks : a configurational perspective on water and energy governance in irrigation systems

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552The action situation is a core component of actor-centered institutional analysis of natural resource governance. Institutional analysis frameworks have been extended to observe multiple situations structured into networks. If further operationalized, this extension can improve policy diagnosis of human-environmental interactions. This paper proposes two complementary ways to move in that direction. First, we propose the use of qualitative configurational analysis and game theory to study the interactions between situations and assess the contribution of each to a desired outcome. Second, we draw on centrality measures to assess the benefits and risks of implementing policies that aim to change the equilibria in action situations. Both analytical strategies are applied to two cases involving irrigation and energy governance. In the Spanish case, centrality of the water allocation situation justifies a configuration of drought measures that also tackle cooperation in monitoring and infrastructure maintenance. In the Indian case, groundwater governance and adequate infrastructure capacity provision are necessary preconditions to enable coordinated technology adoption, which facilitates incentives for regulated irrigation. In both the cases, some action situations' positive outcomes are necessary in every configuration to guarantee optimal equilibria in the network. In the context of energy-fed irrigation systems, the proposed analytical strategies permit integrating interactions between water use, energy use and food production decisions in policy diagnoses. The analysis can be extended to identify archetypes, network closure, as well as structural and functional connectivity of networks in social-ecological systems

Disturbance features, coordination and cooperation : an institutional economics analysis of adaptations in the Spanish irrigation sector

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552This paper explores associations between disturbances and cooperative responses in a selection of irrigation associations from Spain. Transaction costs and collective action theories are used to characterize disturbances and responses. Disturbances are characterized by looking at the uncertainty they generate, their frequency, the distance of the transacting partners they affect, and their impact on asset-specific transactions. Responses are assessed based on the collective action tasks they involve and classified into coordination and cooperation responses. A qualitative comparative analysis confirms two pathways that are sufficient for the emergence of cooperation responses. The first path is congruent with transaction costs theory, and points to disturbances that are frequent and asset specific; the second path supports relational theory, and points to disturbances that emerge progressively from within the system. Other patterns include the tendency of irrigation associations to delegate to external entities when disturbances are external and occur frequently; and the adaptation of existing institutions when the disturbances are internal and progressive

The Barcelona School of Ecological Economics and Political Ecology : Building Bridges Between Moving Shores

This chapter aims to give an overarching vision of the plural epistemological basis of the Barcelona school of ecological economics and political ecology, as well as to provide examples of the cross-fertilization between disciplines, methods and approaches that we think constitute one of the main contributions of the School. The chapter identifies the main bonding elements of the scholars that belong to the School, briefly explains the diverse core concepts and methods on which the School relies, and elaborates on how the interaction between them have resulted in an original and relevant research program during the past 30 years

Institutional analysis in climate change adaptation research : A systematic literature review

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Appropriate institutions are essential for climate change adaptation. Yet diverse approaches to institutional analysis are available, encompassing different ontological and epistemological assumptions, and thus yielding insights on very different aspects of institutions in adaptation. Therefore, efforts to expand knowledge in this domain can be usefully informed by an assessment of approaches to institutional analysis in the adaptation literature, which is to date lacking. We address this gap by conducting a systematic review of the adaptation literature addressing institutions. Our review characterises approaches to institutional analysis by identifying methodological choices and the philosophy of science underpinning them. We then analyze the distribution of approaches to institutional analysis across different adaptation situations, contextualizing our results within methodological debates in adaptation research regarding the appropriateness of positivist, interpretative, or post-normal approaches. We find that institutional analysis of adaptation is now engaging with 'how' and 'why' questions, beyond descriptive questions that characterise the adaptation 'barriers' literature, that diverse philosophies of science drive methodological choice, and that post-normal approaches, e.g. co-design approaches, hardly address institutions. We conclude that support for interpretative approaches, and for institutional analysis in post-normal approaches is needed. The latter is important for adaptation planning processes in developing countries under the UNFCCC

Analyzing group communication dynamics and content in a common-pool resource experiment

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MWe study costly communication in a common-pool resource (CPR) experiment as a proxy for two different forms of participatory processes: as a public good and as a club good. A public communication meeting, representing centralized participatory processes, occurs when all group members' monetary contributions reach a specified threshold. Club communication meetings, representing networked participatory processes, follow only among those members of the group who pay a communication fee. We test whether the way costly communication is provided affects the willingness of participants to contribute to communication, as well as the dynamics of such payments, and the content of communication. This is done by analyzing contributions to communication and communication content of 100 real-life resource users participating in a lab-in-field experiment. We find that contributions towards communication are higher when communication is public, and that club communication features more frequent but less inclusive communication meetings. Also, communication content is more oriented towards addressing the collective action problem associated with the management of the resource when communication groups are attended by all participants. The identified differences between the two ways to provide for communication can inform policies and the design of participatory processes in natural resource governance

Bringing polycentric systems into focus for environmental governance

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Introduction to the special issue on Polycentricity in Enioronmental Policy and Governanc

Understanding the black box of communication in a common-pool resource field experiment

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552It is well proven that communication enhances cooperation in public goods and common-pool resource experiments. It is less well understood why and how communication affects cooperative behavior and whether that impact is mediated by the sharing of a common context and the individuals' every day experiences. This paper aims to close this gap by means of a systematic content analysis of communication transcripts from field experiments. The paper analyzes communication statements shared by participants in a series of common-pool resource experiments conducted in rural Colombia. We first classified each statement under two categories: topic and function. Then, we tested hypotheses about the impact of those statements on cooperation depending on (1) their reference to the "field context" and other topic categories; and (2) the "informational", "disapproval", or "group solidarity" function of the statements. According to our results, statements that contain references to the context affect cooperation depending on the function of those statements. When the statements fulfill an information role, the effect is negative, but when statements have the function of enhancing group solidarity, the effect is positive. The statements that have the strongest positive impact on cooperation are those fulfilling a disapproval function, particularly when the topic of the messages are the payoffs obtained by the group

The influence of community-based resource management institutions on adaptation capacity : a large-n study of farmer responses to climate and global market disturbances

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552An underlying understanding among adaptation and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) scholars is the existence of important feedbacks between local resource management institutions and individual adaptive capacity. The relationship between CBNRM and individual adaptive capacity is of global concern given the ubiquity of CBNRM worldwide, the patent impacts of global changes at local levels, and the recent calls for the integration of climate and rural development policies. So far, however, there have not been formal, large-n studies of that relationship. This study aims to fill that gap by testing whether the performance of community-based water management institutions and communal land regimes have an impact on the effectiveness of farmers' adaptation responses to climatic and global market disturbances. For this purpose, the study relies on a unique dataset of individual and collective features obtained from water user associations (WUAs) and ejidos in Mexico. According to the regression results, well-functioning community-based water management institutions have a positive and significant impact on individual farmers' self-reported response effectiveness. The impact of communal land property is also significant but negative. These effects, which hold only in the context of climate disturbances but not market disturbances, can be explained by looking at the support given by the associations to farmers, and issues of communal land marginalization, respectively. Policies that strengthen the autonomy and capacity for cooperation of WUAs and ameliorate structural deficits in communal land regimes shall not only guarantee a long-advocated path for rural development but also help farmers deal with some of the climatic uncertainties that increasingly threaten agriculture