Common Property Conference

By Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

The recent International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP) Conference, held June 5-8 1996, had a number of papers and panels relating to Participatory Irrigation Management. A panel on "Results of Irrigation Management Transfer: Common Property or Common Association" provided information on the process and progress in PIM in a number of countries: India (by K. V. Raju and Jeff Brewer), Mexico (by Sam Johnson), Turkey (by Mark Svendsen), and Colombia (by Doug Vermillion and Carlos Garces-Restrepo). The Mexican and Turkish cases have been marked by rapid rates of management transfer, while policies and progress in farmer participation have varied considerably between states in India. This panel also highlighted the need to assess performance changes associated with PIM.

Another panel entitled "Towards the Joint Management of Agency and Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems in Nepal" provided a more detailed discussion of experiences in a country with both traditional farmer-managed systems and a policy of turnover for government-managed systems. Papers by Khem Raj Sharma, Ganesh Shivakoti, Ashutosh Shukla, and Ganesh Thapa provided both an overview of policies and the empirical experience in a number of systems. The impact of government intervention in system management on water rights in Nepal was further explored in a paper by Rajendra Pradhan and Ujjwal Pradhan in a panel on "Negotiating Water Rights." The latter panel also had a paper by Nyoman Sutawan on field experiences with forming federations of water users' associations in Bali, Indonesia.

The IASCP forum brings together a worldwide group of researchers, policy-makers, and grassroots practitioners working on natural resource management. The conference included not only a large number of specialists in irrigation management, but also many who work on similar issues in forestry, fisheries, rangeland, and other resources. In view of the similar policies to increase user involvement, and for the state to devolve management responsibility in all these resource sectors, the meeting provided a valuable opportunity to learn from experiences in different sectors and different resources. For example, a panel on "Second Generation Issues: Scaling Up India's Joint Forest Management Program" provided a dialogue between NGOs, government staff, and researchers on the difficulty of expanding participatory resource management beyond pilot projects--a critical issue for PIM, as well. Several of the panels, including the sessions on Negotiating Water Rights, stressed the central role of property rights for local communities, in strengthening community resource management.

(For information on IASCP, contact Charlotte Hess, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, 513 N. Park, Bloomington IN 47408 USA.)