| Water resource management which employs collective decision may be one alternative to ineffective private or state run regimes. This thesis examines three irrigation systems in South-eastern Spain which are thought to employ collective decision making. The goal of the analysis is to learn if and how the irrigation associations of Mula, Murcia and Almoradi adapt to the risks and stresses which are threatening the physical element of their irrigation systems, and; to determine whether the adaptation which is occurring is due to collective decision making by the irrigation association. The major conclusion which emerges from the analysis is that collective decision making is not a significant factor in the inability of the Murcia and Almoradi irrigation systems to adapt to the stresses affecting them; collective decision making is, however, an important factor in Mula's ability to adapt to water scarcity. |
