New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ) suggests that externally-encouraged, community-based monitoring can improve the management of shared resources. Researchers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands; and Johns Hopkins University sought to determine if a community-based monitoring approach promoted by an outside organization could help local communities in rural Costa Rica improve water management. Although replications are needed, the results are encouraging -- promising news ahead of World Water Week 2021.
Citizen engagement program
“Community-based monitoring to facilitate water management by local institutions in Costa Rica ” examines a monitoring program aimed to reduce groundwater extraction from aquifers. The program also sought to improve the quality of water accessed by participating Costa Rican communities and their satisfaction with the water supply.
“This study allows us to directly see how community-based monitoring can support more desirable water management outcomes and to analyze the ways to attain those outcomes,” said co-author Maria Bernedo Del Carpio, assistant professor at UMBC. “Monitoring a natural resource or an institution can generate valuable information that will improve governance, but it is necessary to engage decision-makers and the community.”
The process included increased communication about field conditions, additional scrutiny of user and management authority activities, and fostering citizen engagement in water management. Using a specially designed smartphone application and WhatsApp, monitors reported weekly on the conditions of the water system, including service disruptions, water quality, leaks, and source contamination. The app automatically compiled the individual reports into a summary report, which was then made available to the community water management committees and water users.
Improvements in water quality
The program was randomly implemented in 80 of 161 rural Costa Rican communities that expressed an interest in participating. One year after the program started, the team detected that it had modest effects in the predicted directions: less groundwater extracted, better water quality, and more satisfied users. Although the estimated effects are imprecise, the monitoring program appears to be equally or more cost-effective for reducing groundwater extraction in comparison with another program in the same region that encouraged households to adopt water-efficient technologies.
“Understanding how we can make institutions and governance more effective is essential for successfully addressing the most important policy challenges of the 21 st century,” said co-author Paul Ferraro a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. “We believe this study is an exemplar of how such an understanding can be more effectively generated by careful field testing using the very best scientific practices.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
People
Community-based monitoring to facilitate water management by local institutions in Costa Rica
20-Jul-2021