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Experimental Exploration of Institutional Transition Options for Sustainable Management of Common Watershed Infrastructure in India

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10215/
 
Title Experimental Exploration of Institutional Transition Options for Sustainable Management of Common Watershed Infrastructure in India
 
Creator Falk, T
Shalander, K
Srigiri, S
 
Subject Watershed management
Water Resources
Indian Agriculture
 
Description In the context of India, water is historically stored on the surface in small reservoirs
which also recharge shallow groundwater aquifers. There is a strong evidence that such
structures have the potential to achieve a wide range of societal goals. Nevertheless, despite
its obvious potentials, many communities fail to manage structures sustainably. In the
context of watershed projects the water infrastructure works well as long as there is external
facilitation but cooperation in maintenance often breaks down as soon as projects come to
an end.This experimental study helps to better understand cooperation patterns in Rajasthan
communities using and managing small village reservoirs. In addition, this study is intended
to create awareness amongst farmers for the cooperation challenge and encourage
discussions related to it. Experimental approaches have the potential to facilitate dialogue,
shared learning, collective decision making, and strengthening the adaptive management
capacity of local communities. We played framed public good experiments with 300 community
leaders and other local stakeholders. We introduced communication and social information
in terms of revealing the players’ decisions. The discussion was a critical element of our
game as it allowed the players to start negotiations and propose rules. We further introduced
institutional mechanisms as additional treatments. Our results suggest that participants were
able to generate solutions that are substantially better than the predictions of standard
economic theory even under private decision making without communication. Introducing information
and revealing the individual behaviour increases investments significantly. Players who agree to
rules but also those who propose a punishment invest higher amounts. Introducing the opportunity
to sanction fellow players also increased investments even though those who were punished reduced their
contributions. The discussions showed that the players connected the game to their real life experiences.
They highlighted challenges but gave also examples where cooperation in the community is working well.
The game sessions were a revelation for the community that led to a learning process.
 
Date 2017-09
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10215/1/Experimental%20Exploration%20of%20Institutional.pdf
Falk, T and Shalander, K and Srigiri, S (2017) Experimental Exploration of Institutional Transition Options for Sustainable Management of Common Watershed Infrastructure in India. In: Tropentag 2017 - Future Agriculture: Social-ecological transitions and bio-cultural shifts', September 20-22, 2017, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.