Water community management in the northern face of Sierra Nevada: Collective action and ethnoecological knowledge in the irrigation systems from the Al-andalus period

Since the Middle Ages, on the northern face of Sierra Nevada (Granada) there are irrigation systems that have survived until nowadays thanks to the rational management of meltwater. Irrigators communities are the responsible institutions for the operation and maintenance of these irrigation systems. Their work is based on two main pillars: on the one hand, the community organisation necessary for the exploitation of a limited resource, and, on the other hand, the possession of a particular ethnoecological knowledge key to understand the mountainous environment. Both aspects constitute a rich intangible heritage that must be recognised and protected as the basis of this cultural landscape s conservation.