Barria, Pilar

Water governance at the basin scale requires collaboration between a diversity of actors with very different interests. To address this challenge, water basin committees and similar groups have been promoted as the institutional arrangement to facilitate finding common ground and better governance. However, not all territories may be prepared for such an endeavor, especially if there is no previous history of collaboration, or the adequate institutional mechanisms in place. In Chile, despite the private and productively based water governance system, water basin committees have been promoted by an interministerial group for social ecological transition. Although these have not been implemented yet, learning from similar water group experiences is important to identify challenges that may require policy change. This study presents an evaluation of 7 water users’ organizations in Chile using a Context-Mechanism-Outcome approach (Carr Kelman et al., 2023). The 7 cases identified represent different geographical, historical and management capacities. The analysis shows contexts and mechanisms that may have influenced different collective action in each case. Preliminary analysis uncovers the importance of distinguishing nuances in variables that may intuitively be assessed as similar as they may plan in different ways depending on the context (e.g. users rights established by law). Understanding the mechanisms that may affect water management where water users’ organizations exist, can help preparing for territories where there is no history of collaboration.

References
Carr Kelman, C., Brady, U., Raschke, B. A. & Schoon, M. L., 2023. A Systematic Review of Key Factors of Effective Collaborative Governance of Social-Ecological Systems In: Society and Natural Resources. 36, 11, p. 1452-1470 19