Journal
ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
Volume 99, Issue -, Pages 10-20Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.12.007
Keywords
Field experiments; Power asymmetries; Water management; China
Funding
- Sustainable Water and Agricultural Land Use in the Guanting Watershed under Limited Water Availability
- German Ministry of Education and Research
- Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology
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In our field experiment carried out with stakeholders from the Chinese Haihe River Basin, a group of five players located along an irrigation channel first decide on the amount they would invest in a public fund for channel maintenance. In the next step, they choose the amount of water to withdraw from the channel to irrigate their plots of land. We compare the effects of different rules of water distribution and communication on three types of group participants: farmers, water administrators and students. The power asymmetry in the location along the irrigation channel was the most important factor affecting players' investment and water harvest decisions. The introduction of rules of water distribution only weakly altered the effect of power asymmetry but communication and the ability to modify the rules did reduce the effects. This result was strongest among the students and administrators and weakest among the farmers. In addition, farmers tended to break the rules more frequently and withdraw more water than agreed upon. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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