Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2008
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Ecology and Society
Volume
13
Issue
2
Publisher
Resilience Alliance
First Page
22
Last Page
22
Abstract
This article examines the implementation of integrated water-management institutions in the Paraíba do Sul River basin in southeast Brazil. It argues that social learning has been critical in facilitating reform implementation so far, and will likely continue to be an important factor for the future sustainability of the new management system. There has been a synergistic relationship between social learning and Brazil’s water-reform hybrid governance institutions, in which social learning facilitated the implementation of the reform’s new institutions, which in turn enabled further learning in the context of the river basin committee’s decision-making process. Through interviews, surveys, and observations, we identified social-learning capacities, including trust, an ability to work together, and the committee’s shared understanding of the institution’s problems, possibilities, and mission. Effective management through social learning was demonstrated by the institution’s adaptive capacity in the face of a severe drought.
Recommended Citation
Kumler, L. M., and M. C. Lemos. 2008. Managing waters of the Paraíba do Sul river basin, Brazil: a case study in institutional change and social learning. Ecology and Society 13(2): 22.
Comments
Originally published by Resilience Alliance. Publisher's PDF and HTML fulltext available through Ecology and Society.