Re-Staging La Rasgioni: Lessons Learned from Transforming a Traditional Form of Conflict Resolution to Engage Stakeholders in Agricultural Water Governance
by
Maria Laura Ruiu 1,2,*, Sante Maurizi 1,3, Simone Sassu 4, Giovanna Seddaiu 1,5, Olga Zuin 6, Chris Blackmore 7
and Pier Paolo Roggero 1,5
Maria Laura Ruiu 1,2,*, Sante Maurizi 1,3, Simone Sassu 4, Giovanna Seddaiu 1,5, Olga Zuin 6, Chris Blackmore 7 and Pier Paolo Roggero 1,5
1
Nucleo Ricerca Desertificazione, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
2
Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, NE1 8ST Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
3
Cinearena, 07100 Sassari, Italy
4
Honorary Magistrate, Public prosecutor, Prosecutor’s Office of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
5
Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
6
Baltic 2030 Unit, Council of Baltic Sea States Secretariat, 103 11 Stockholm, Sweden
7
Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group, School of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Tim Smith and Arjen Y. Hoekstra
Water 2017, 9(4), 297; https://doi.org/10.3390/w9040297
Received: 20 November 2016 / Revised: 30 March 2017 / Accepted: 17 April 2017 / Published: 22 April 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Governance in Times of Change: Perceptions, Institutions, Praxis and Learning)
This paper presents an informal process inspired by a public practice of conflict mediation used until a few decades ago in Gallura (NE Sardinia, Italy), named La Rasgioni (The Reason). The aim is twofold: (i) to introduce an innovative method that translates the complexity of water-related conflicts into a “dialogical tool”, aimed at enhancing social learning by adopting theatrical techniques; and (ii) to report the outcomes that emerged from the application of this method in Arborea, the main dairy cattle district and the only nitrate-vulnerable zone in Sardinia, to mediate contrasting positions between local entrepreneurs and representatives of the relevant institutions. We discuss our results in the light of four pillars, adopted as research lenses in the International research Project CADWAGO (Climate Change Adaptation and Water Governance), which consider the specific “social–ecological” components of the Arborea system, climate change adaptability in water governance institutions and organizations, systemic governance (relational) practices, and governance learning. The combination of the four CADWAGO pillars and La Rasgioni created an innovative dialogical space that enabled stakeholders and researchers to collectively identify barriers and opportunities for effective governance practices. Potential wider implications and applications of La Rasgioni process are also discussed in the paper.
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Keywords:
co-researching; dairy farming; ecosystem perception; systemic governance; governance learning; irrigation; knowledge co-production; nitrate pollution; social learning; stakeholders; theatre
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Ruiu, M.L.; Maurizi, S.; Sassu, S.; Seddaiu, G.; Zuin, O.; Blackmore, C.; Roggero, P.P. Re-Staging La Rasgioni: Lessons Learned from Transforming a Traditional Form of Conflict Resolution to Engage Stakeholders in Agricultural Water Governance. Water 2017, 9, 297.
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