The Role of River Vigilance Committees to Address New Socio-Climatic Conditions in Chile: Insights from Ostrom’s Design Principles for Common-Pool Resource Institutions

Natalia Julio (), Amaya Álvez, Rodrigo Castillo, Kimberly Iglesias, Diego Rivera, Fernando Ochoa and Ricardo Figueroa
Additional contact information
Natalia Julio: Departamento de Sistemas Acuáticos, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales y Centro EULA, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4070386, Chile
Amaya Álvez: Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y la Minería (CRHIAM), Concepción 4070411, Chile
Rodrigo Castillo: Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y la Minería (CRHIAM), Concepción 4070411, Chile
Kimberly Iglesias: Independent Researcher, Arcangel 1218, Santiago 8900000, Chile
Diego Rivera: Centro de Recursos Hídricos para la Agricultura y la Minería (CRHIAM), Concepción 4070411, Chile
Fernando Ochoa: Faculty of Geography, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Ricardo Figueroa: Departamento de Sistemas Acuáticos, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales y Centro EULA, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4070386, Chile

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Chile is currently facing a mega-drought, which is expected to lead to a significant increase in the water stress level. Social conflicts related to water use are linked to the effects of climate change and a governance system marked by the privatization of the natural resources of public interest. This study aims to analyze whether the current Chilean water governance scheme can adapt to the effects of climate change through a critical observation of the role of the River Vigilance Committees (RVCs; private user organizations exercising the public function of water management), from the perspective of Ostrom’s design principles for long-enduring Common-pool Resource (CPR) institutions. We analyze legal approaches, management mechanisms, and decision-making processes under the socio-climatic conditions that the country is currently facing. The results indicate that, with a few exceptions, the Chilean governance system does not allow RVCs to effectively incorporate the design principles—and, therefore, to achieve adaptation—due to dispersed functions, the exclusion of water users, and a lack of planning at different levels. We propose that water governance should consider the creation of River Basin Boards with broader planning powers, as well as the incorporation of different relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: adaptive governance; climate change; Elinor Ostrom; river vigilance committees; water governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1027/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1027/ (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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1027-:d:1326386

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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