Traditional irrigation system, Valais Bisses, water management, resources, bisses, research, qualitative methods, natural resources, ethics, irrigation system
For this project, I chose to focus my work on the ancient water distribution channels within the local Valais vineyards, called "bisses". Indeed, natural resources have become a focal point since increasing concern generated by a widely observed climate crisis, while water governance and its underlying questions, have legitimately gained much attention. As a common pool resource, water is subject to both formal representations in which the conception of a non-excludable public good appears central, but also rivalry forms in its consumption and appropriation. The agricultural field, which has, over decades, based its practices on inherited conceptions appears to be at a crossroad today, to maintain and preserve its long-living role within its ecosystem and our landscapes. However, beyond any technical consideration linked to its progressive scarcity, the question of some deeply related political strategies come into the discussion, the way no other matter does. As a matter of fact, an observable "political-institutional water paradigm" (Allan, 2003) brings the subject into some specific considerations, highlighting altogether the permanent question of power, always central in geographical territories. It is, thus, also about "the ontological assumptions that underpin the dominant forms of water governance". Indeed, its final regulation policy results from strategies, debates and coalitions between individual and organizational actors, coming into different interests concerning the distribution and use of water resources.
[...] - WAGNER JR (2013) The Social Life of Water. New York, NY: Berghahn Books. - YATES, Julian, S and al. (2017). Multiple ontologies of water: Politics, conflict and implications for governance. Environment and Planning Society and Space 2017, Vol. 35(5) 797-815. [...]
[...] Bisses et irrigation en Valais au xve siècle, Lausanne, Cahiers lausannois d'histoire médiévale p. 91. - ROBURN S (2003) Chlorine conflict. Alternatives Journal 29: 26. - Roten-Dumoulin Rose Marie, Savièse, une communauté rurale dans le Valais du xixe siècle. - SEHRING, Jenniver (2009). Path dependencies and institutional bricolage in post-Soviet water governance. Water Alternatives 61-81. - SNEDDON C (2013) Water, governance, and hegeony. In: Harris Goldin Sneddon et al. [...]
[...] Therefore, for this part, I organized with one of the winegrowers to go to his vineyards. The same way, individual interviews have been organized within the respondents within their properties and fields so that they may show me how they work and, also, to be able to connect water realities to these persons' sayings and representations. I have, therefore, built up some semi-structured interview guide to conduct my research frame. Sticking to a prepared frame would enable me to draw some comparisons between the respondents' answers and create some interesting connexions between their ideas, perceptions and representations so as to draw some key lines about local people's perceptions on the bisses' use within the climate challenges ahead. [...]
[...] I put forward the hypothesis that the bisses have, despite their spectacular and long-standing role within the local water governance organization, had to face some recent inclinations and reorganization requests due to prevalent ecological concerns by questioning "How can sustainable water management strategies reduce the impact of climate change on the vineyard in St-Léonard (Valais) This research question may be, then, divided into subquestions to be able to address the main one in more depth: - "What are the prevailing irrigation practices currently employed in Valais vineyards?" - "Are there more efficient and sustainable vineyard irrigation methods that can be implemented in Valais to combat climate change?" METHODOLOGY: Research background: Thanks to its typical microclimate as well as its very sunny slopes, the Valais, located in the Swiss Alps, has forged a great culture of grape and therefore wine production. The cultivation of these lands has been made possible thanks to this ancient irrigation system. In addition to being a trace of history, the bisses are still used in current land irrigation. It is in this context that climate change presents a significant challenge for farmers, as it brings more extreme events which could have a devastating effect on the bisses and vineyards. Consequently, the prospects of the Valais vineyards are at stake. [...]
[...] However, I can't have had the possibility to know about the complete timeline of their agricultural activity within the use of those bisses. It would have been, therefore, particularly interesting to draw some comparison including data and figures between two different time periods defined by a different use of the irrigation system for the same activity on vineyard yields. BIBLIOGRAPHY : - BRYMAN Alan. (2012). Social research methods. Fourth edition. Oxford. - Coriat Benjamin (dir.), Le Retour des communs. La Crise de l'idéologie propriétaire, Paris, Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2015. [...]
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