Common-pool resource theory suggests that the direct participation of local natural resource users in the management of common-pool resources can lead to effective management regimes. Nevertheless, the drivers of participation in common-pool resource management, including policy decision processes, and the effects of participation on stakeholder attitudes and policy preferences are relatively understudied. Here, we combine the social-ecological system (SES) framework with the political science concept of political efficacy to examine both contextual and personal drivers of farmer participation in California, USA’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), as well as the effect of participation on support for policy mechanisms from the SGMA. We surveyed a total of 553 farmers in three counties across the California Central Valley and Central Coast. Overall, we find that < 50% of the farmers surveyed have participated in any SGMA-related events, with attending a meeting being the most common (45%), and testifying before a board being the least common (6%). Participation in any type of SGMA policy event was associated with multiple characteristics of the groundwater SES context, including the resource system (farm size) and actor attributes (farm bureau membership and receiving information about the policy), that likely combine to indicate a higher level of social, financial, and built capital. Higher participation was also associated with higher internal efficacy ratings, i.e., an individual’s self-assessment of their ability to understand and participate in the political process. Higher levels of internal efficacy were also correlated with support for both incentive- and regulatory-based policy mechanisms, as well as the perception that groundwater impacts are occurring now or soon, and exclusive reliance on groundwater. These results demonstrate that political competence and experience with policy processes and programs are not only associated with participation in current policy issues, which is widely recognized in existing research, but are also associated with policy mechanisms, in particular, with potentially more costly regulatory-based mechanisms.

The post Individual and collective political efficacy predict farmer engagement and support for groundwater policies: implications from the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act first appeared on Ecology & Society.

公共池资源理论认为，当地自然资源使用者直接参与公共池资源的管理可以形成有效的管理制度。然而，参与公共池资源管理的驱动因素，包括政策决策过程，以及参与对利益相关者态度和政策偏好的影响，研究相对较少。在这里，我们将社会生态系统（SES）框架与政治效能的政治科学概念相结合，研究美国加利福尼亚州 2014 年可持续地下水管理法案（SGMA）中农民参与的背景和个人驱动因素，以及农民参与的影响。参与 SGMA 政策机制的支持。我们对加州中央山谷和中央海岸三个县的总共 553 名农民进行了调查。总体而言，我们发现< 50% 的受访农民参加过任何 SGMA 相关活动，其中参加会议是最常见的 (45%)，而在委员会面前作证是最不常见的 (6%)。参与任何类型的 SGMA 政策活动都与地下水 SES 背景的多个特征相关，包括资源系统（农场规模）和参与者属性（农场局成员资格和接收有关政策的信息），这些特征结合起来可能表明更高的水平社会资本、金融资本和建成资本。较高的参与度还与较高的内部效能评级相关，即个人对其理解和参与政治进程的能力的自我评估。较高水平的内部效能还与对基于激励和监管的政策机制的支持，以及对地下水影响正在或很快发生的看法以及对地下水的完全依赖相关。这些结果表明，政策流程和计划的政治能力和经验不仅与参与当前政策问题有关（现有研究已广泛认可这一点），而且还与政策机制有关，特别是与可能成本更高的基于监管的政策机制有关。机制。

文章《个人和集体政治效能预测农民对地下水政策的参与和支持：加州可持续地下水管理法案的影响》首先出现在《生态与社会》上。