Marta Rica,Elena López-Gunn,Manuel Ramón Llamas Madurga, Water Observatory/Complutense University of Madrid, Geodynamics, marta.rica85@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Different groundwater user groups have emerged both in the field of public and private law, besides individual initiatives, represented through different levels and types of organization. In this paper we analyze the institutional diversity with regards to the influence on these different organisational forms and how this diversity impacts (or not) on resource management by zooming in into each type of organization, the motivation by users to join and participate and impact collective action has on groundwater use and its dependent ecosystems. The study uses a Social Ecological Systems framework to study three groundwater basins in the SE of Spain, in order to compare and evaluate collective action initiatives. The study shows that there are differences in the nature and interests of user organizations, their effectiveness in managing groundwater and the success of different initiatives by users to maintain the resilience of the whole SES. Results show that priority is given to the social subunit which is becoming more resilient with the introduction of alternative sources to the system, it is less clear whether this also applies to the ecological system which by definition means that only one part (the social) of the social ecological system has increased its resilience though the collective action by users.
Keywords: groundwater, resilience, collective management