Water Governance in Mediterranean Farming Systems through the Social-Ecological Systems Framework—An Empirical Case in Southern Portugal

Taiana Homobono, Maria Helena Guimarães, Catarina Esgalhado and Lívia Madureira
Additional contact information
Taiana Homobono: MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de Évora, Polo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
Maria Helena Guimarães: MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de Évora, Polo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
Catarina Esgalhado: MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de Évora, Polo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
Lívia Madureira: Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies (CETRAD), Universidade Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5000-554 Vila Real, Portugal

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: Water governance is a major challenge in the Mediterranean context. Any action to drive water governance towards sustainability needs to be grounded in a holistic understanding of such challenges. Therefore, a first step towards the improvement of water governance is a grounded understanding of what is at stake, who are the actors involved, and how they interact. To achieve this level of understanding, we propose the use of the social–ecological Systems (SES) framework. This framework was developed to grasp the complexity of issues related to the sustainable use of public goods such as water. This study looks at water governance in the farming sector of three municipalities in the Alentejo and Algarve, in the south of Portugal. Data were collected using a literature review and 22 semi-structured interviews with territorial actors (i.e., public administration, non-governmental associations, private sector, decision-makers, and farmers). By using the SES framework, we provide an integrated characterization of water governance in the case study and identify the implicated factors. Between these factors, and focusing on the overlap between literature and actors’ perspectives, are (1) the lack of integrated and supported strategies for development, and (2) lack of communication between the actors that need to congregate efforts towards sustainable use of water resources. The study found few examples of collective efforts and long-lasting networks of collaboration, especially between science and practice. We conclude by arguing that place-based tailored policies are needed. Such policies should promote communication and collective actions between researchers, local organizations, public administration, and farmers.

Keywords: SES framework; water governance; farming systems; Mediterranean; local dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/2/178/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/2/178/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:2:p:178-:d:731357

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().