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Beyond prices: The cultural economy of water in the Cordillera highlands of Northern Luzon, Philippines
Author(s) -
Abansi Corazon L.,
Doble Maria Consuelo C.,
Cariño Jessica K.,
Rola Agnes C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/apv.12126
Subject(s) - embeddedness , livelihood , subsistence agriculture , indigenous , distribution (mathematics) , geography , government (linguistics) , subsistence economy , economy , business , economics , sociology , agriculture , ecology , social science , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , archaeology , biology
This paper analyses how the economic actions of water distribution and exchange are embedded in the culture of indigenous communities in the Cordillera highlands of Northern Luzon, Philippines. Such actions are fundamental to water access and provisioning. Data was derived from a series of focus group discussions conducted with various water users, including households, farmers, enterprises and local government officials, and from upstream, midstream and downstream communities along the Balili River, a critical watershed in the Cordillera highlands. The study area exhibits a mix of livelihood systems and both formal and traditional institutions of decision‐making. Recognising that water is both an economic and social good, this paper draws inspiration from Polanyi's concept of embeddedness. Cases of three communities suggest that water distribution and exchange are embedded in the community's socio‐cultural spaces, but the extent of embeddedness declines as communities transform from subsistence to market‐based economies. Embeddedness also determines value and availability of water. The paper contributes to the discourse on the cultural economy of water and provides direction on new modes of decision‐making on river management that promise more inclusive, equitable and ecologically sustainable outcomes.