This paper explores a locally devised system of equitable and sustainable access to scarce water resources in Poulati, an area on the Cycladic island of Sifnos, Greece, drawing on interviews with landowners, notary records and local histories. We showed that the set of rules for rationing water was already present in the early 14th-century, when the island was under Venetian domination. The authors finally traced the resilience of the Poulati system to its close fit with Elinor Ostrom’s ‘design principles of long-surviving, self-organized resource regimes’. The threats to the survival of Poulati, the quintessential fragile territory, although superficially diverse (ranging from unauthorised construction in the area to drilling for water from the same aquifer as the springs), can in fact be traced to the poorly regulated growth of tourism. The authors discuss a possible way forward for Poulati, i.e., to reconcile it with tourism, and in the process redefine tourism itself, making it compatible with respect for natural resources.
This research, drawing on fieldwork conducted in the context of STARTS4Water, a collaborative European project, is part of an innovative effort to give the Poulati system a new lease of life, by mobilising artists, engaging the local community, raising awareness, and exploring alternative development paths that will secure its place in the island’s future.
