COLLECTIVE GOVERNANCE OF COMMON POOL RESOURCES: The case of the Itanhém river Basin, Bahia / Brazil
Governance of the Commons. Common Pool Resource Theory. Watershed Committee.
A survey is presented here about the Hydrographic Basins Committee of the rivers Peruípe, Itanhém and Jucuruçu (CBHPIJ), located in the extreme south of Bahia-Brazil. The objective is to understand the reasons why, since its implementation in 2012, the referred Committee has not yet managed to evolve towards the objectives to which it was proposed. The methodological focus of the investigation is limited to the forms of environmental management within the water parliament, CBHPIJ, involving its governing body and its relations with users, and the leading actors in the municipal administrations of the main municipalities in its coverage area. Through direct interviews with these actors, we sought to understand the factors and conditions that distance CBHPIJ from the ideal model. The theoretical-methodological strategy has as its main pillar the Theory of Common Resources elaborated by Elinor Ostrom (1990, 2007a, 2009), which culminated in the formulation of eight Design Principles present in all robust and resilient institutions in facing environmental issues. Following these principles as an ideal model, a questionnaire was designed to analyze the institutional development of the socio-ecological system of the Itanhém river basin. This procedure made it possible to compare reality to the ideal type and, thus, to assess how close the Committee was to or away from the ideal governance arrangement. Fourteen management members, ten water users, and 9 actors from the municipal departments and environmental councils of the city halls of the cities involved in the basin were interviewed. The research findings reveal a crisis of trust between users and the State; that the Committee needs to be recognized by the community; that everyone needs to know their biophysical limits and conditions within a clear system of rights and duties; that need to assert the fairness and equity of the rules proposed cooperatively, moving towards respect for the heterogeneity of the community involved according to their different narratives.