International Research Fellowship Program: Power, Conflict and Collective Decision-Making: Water Resource Management and Watershed Committees in Brazil

Abers, Rebecca N

Investigators

Abstract

0107314 Abers The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will provide twenty-four months of support to Dr. Rebecca N. Abers to work with Dr. Luiz Pedone, at the University of Brasilia in Brazil on collective decision-making regarding water resource management and watershed committees in Brazil. The PI will use case studies and a general examination of water policy reform to explore questions related to institutional change and collective action in studying the role of participatory watershed committees in resolving conflicts over water use in Brazil. The study will examine the evolution of watershed committees in Brazil to date, focusing on some of the more consolidated experiences, in the effort to understand the extent to which this kind of decision-making forum can resolve conflicts related to water use and to develop a methodology for long term analysis. This project is linked to a larger collaborative effort, the "Watermark Project", headed by Dr. Margaret Keck of Johns Hopkins University. The Watermark Project brings together scholars in Brazil, the U.S., and Great Britain in the effort to carry out a comparative analysis of basin-level water management institutions. Dr. Pedone is the chair of the Political Science Department and a founder of the Public Policy Research Center. He has extensive experience studying Brazilian public-policy and institutional change. ***