Jacinta Palerm is a social anthropologist and Professor of Rural Studies at the Colegio de Postgraduados in Mexico. Her research interests include irrigtion and social organization, and techniques of traditional water management. Her recent publications include “Comparative history of irrigation water management, from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries: Spain, Mexico, Chile, Mendoza (Argentina) and Peru” Water Policy, Available online 24 March 2010; “Governance and management of irrigation systems” Water Policy, 11:3, 2009; J. Palerm, T. Martínez (eds.) 2009 Aventuras con el agua. La administración del agua de riego: historia y teoría, Colegio de Postgraduados, México; T. Martínez Saldaña, J. Palerm, M. Castro, L. Pereira (eds.) 2009 Regadíos ancestrales en Iberoamérica. Técnicas y organización social del pequeño riego, Mundi Prensa, México.