Advertisement
Experimental games to support water management transformations
Upcoming SlideShare
Commoning Water: Co-creating Knowledge and Institutions for Conjunctive Use o...Commoning Water: Co-creating Knowledge and Institutions for Conjunctive Use o...
Loading in ... 3
1 of 1
Advertisement

More Related Content

Slideshows for you(20)

Similar to Experimental games to support water management transformations(20)

Advertisement

More from ICRISAT(20)

Recently uploaded(20)

Advertisement

Experimental games to support water management transformations

  1. About ICRISAT: www.icrisat.org ICRISAT’s scientific information: http://EXPLOREit.icrisat.org Mar 2019 Experimental games to support water management transformations Introduction Over centuries, water storage in India has been in small reservoirs which also recharge groundwater aquifers. These structures have the potential to achieve a wide range of societal goals. Nevertheless, many communities fail to manage them sustainably. One reason is that the reservoirs are Common Pool Resources where there are incentives to freeride on the maintenance investments of others. Community-based water management schemes are developed in response to these challenges. Often, the water infrastructure works well as long as there is external facilitation but the maintenance breaks down as soon as projects come to an end. Project objectives Based on these observations, we conducted a study exploring how changes in water management of communities can be triggered. More specifically, we studied the potential of using experimental games for facilitating social learning and innovation. We thereby focused on two water management challenges commonly faced by water managers in the study area: 1) the maintenance of minor water harvesting infrastructure, and 2) the allocation of water among farmers. T Falk1 , L Bartels2 , I Agrawal3 , S Kumar1 , S Limberger4 , and V Duche1 Beneficiaries & location The approach was tested in 60 communities in Madhya Pradesh in India. The target group was farmers who live close to a water harvesting structure, as they are expected to receive the greatest benefits from it. A total of 840 farmers participated in the workshops. Methods The game tool is based on a common pool resource game with sequential access framed according to the water management challenge observed in the study area. The framing was developed in close collaboration with the NGO partner Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The detailed game design can be found at https://gamesforsustainability.org/2017/12/21/game-managing-stop-dams- practitioners/ Results The results of the games show that farmers act less selfishly than theory predicts. Nevertheless, even in the presence of transparent decisions and repeated possibilities to discuss, groups managed to produce enough water for everyone to grow crops only in approximately 50% of the rounds played. Players actively discussed the game dynamics. They negotiated, agreed on rules and discussed the consequences of non-compliance with group decisions. The discussion revealed that groups have instruments to incentivize cooperation. Interestingly, the ultimate sanction is typically not a fine or exclusion from benefits but staying away from social events. We observed that different communities have different perceptions regarding what can efficiently encourage cooperation. Some groups argued that persuasion is sufficient and any threats of sanctions might even have negative effects. Other groups believed that charging defaulters a fee is appropriate. Water and water infrastructure governance are more likely to be effective if community-specific rules find space. The main objective of designing and playing this game was to develop the capacity of the players to negotiate and formulate water management rules. The feedback and content of the discussions showed us that our approach is indeed a suitable tool to reach these objectives. Players commonly expressed that the game experience made them aware of multiple cooperation challenges in the community. They discussed plans to take the related issues to the next gram panchayat meetings. Partners & roles This study is a direct contribution to the GIZ-implemented project on Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security in India (ProSoil) and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets. It was implemented in close collaboration with NGO partner FES. 1 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, India 2 University of Marburg, Germany 3 Foundation of Ecological Security 4 University of Giessen, Germany * Corresponding author email: T.Falk@cgiar.org Water management is key to sustainability. Learning the rules of negotiation through games.
Advertisement