CGIAR Systemwide Program on
Collective Action and Property Rights
Watersheds represent a complex of resources with multiple uses and users. There is growing attention to watershed management by government agencies, NGOs, and research organizations. Although the spatial scale and time frame of watershed management means that both collective action and property rights are very relevant, attention to institutional issues is not always included.
The CAPRi Technical Workshop on Watershed Management Institutions was hosted by CIAT in Managua. The main objective of workshop was to foster more productive research on the institutions that affect watershed management. Twenty researchers from CGIAR centers and other institutions attended the workshop.
As a "technical workshop," the purpose of the forum was to explore tools and methodologies that can contribute to more effective research. Specifically, this workshop brought together biophysical and social scientists to jointly assess approaches that are derived from different disciplines in order to advance a more holistic appreciation of watershed issues.
CAPRi published Working Paper 8 summarizing the workshop. Papers that served as background for the workshop presentations and an additional case study on this theme have been published as CAPRi working papers:
Nancy Johnson, Helle Munk Ravnborg, Olaf Westermann, and Kirsten Probst.
User Participation in Watershed Management and Research. CAPRi Working Paper 19. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2001.
Tushaar Shah and K. V. Raju.
Rethinking Rehabilitation: Socio-ecology of Tanks and Water Harvesting in Rajasthan, North-west India. CAPRi Working Paper 18. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2001.
John Kerr and Kimberly Chung. Evaluating Watershed Management Projects. CAPRi Working Paper 17. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2001.
Brent M. Swallow, Dennis P. Garrity, and Meine van Noordwijk. The Effects of Scales, Flows and Filters on Property Rights and Collective Action in Watershed Management. CAPRi Working Paper 16. Washington DC: IFPRI. 2001.
Revised versions of the above papers were published together with other interesting paper on watershed management in the journal Water Policy (Volume 3, Issue 6) in April 2002.