Water governance and climate action: an experimental approach from the Honduran Dry Corridor

Abstract

Climate variability and limited irrigation affect the livelihoods of rural households in developing countries. Development agencies are, therefore, working on climate adaptation measures such as installing drip irrigation systems in contexts of poverty. These infrastructures require organized farmer groups to manage common resource operation, maintenance, and distribution. In this paper, we analyzed the results of a field experiment to evaluate the institutional performance of irrigation committees and users’ capacity to solve collective action problems in an irrigation dilemma. Our results suggest that the groups’ permanence depends on overcoming structural problems that implementers and beneficiaries have not contemplated. In addition, increasing interaction and communication spaces is an alternative to build social capital and solve the inequity caused by climate uncertainty.