Linda Estelí Méndez-Barrientos

Biographic Data

ID1572465
NAMELinda Estelí Méndez-Barrientos
GIVEN NAMESLinda Estelí
FAMILY NAMEMéndez-Barrientos
SIGNATUREMÉNDEZ-BARRIENTOS L E
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of California, Davis
ORCID0000-0001-8759-6908
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS5
TOTAL CITATIONS10
AUTHOR COUNT5
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2019
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX1

  • Do governance platforms achieve the aims of the platform sponsor? Principal-agent tension in environmental governance reforms

    Open AccessElise Zufall, Tyler Andrew Scott et al.ARTICLEJournal of Public Administration…2025References: 14

    State and federal governments use governance platforms to achieve central policy goals through distributed action at the local level. For example, California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) mandates local policy actors to work together to create new groundwater management institutions and plans. We argue that governance platforms entail a principal-agent problem where local decisions may deviate from central goals. We apply t…

  • Race, citizenship, and belonging in the pursuit of water and climate justice in California

    Open AccessLinda Estelí Méndez-Barrientos, Amanda L Fencl et al.ARTICLEEnvironment and Planning E Nature…2023References: 63

    Systemic inequalities, which affect how water is distributed and used, underlie water insecurities in higher-income (global North) countries. We explore the interlinkages between municipal decision-making and infrastructure to understand how urban climate justice can be advanced through engaging with state-like forms of governance. Drawing on archival information, spatial analysis, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews in the un…

  • Farmer Participation and Institutional Capture in Common-Pool Resource Governance Reforms. The Case of Groundwater Management in California

    Open AccessLinda Estelí Méndez-Barrientos, Alyssa J DeVincentis et al.ARTICLESociety & Natural Resources2020Cited by: 10References: 21

    Farmers are often critically important to the success of common-pool resource governance reforms. Nevertheless, their participation in these off-farm reform processes has received limited research attention. This paper investigates farmer participation in state-mandated common-pool resource governance. Using groundwater governance in California as a case study, we show that existing social networks, in combination with asymmetries in resource acc…

  • Developing a sustainability science approach for water systems

    Open AccessChrista Brelsford, Marion Dumas et al.ARTICLEConservation Ecology2020

    Brelsford, C., M. Dumas, E. Schlager, B. J. Dermody, M. Aiuvalasit, M. R. Allen-Dumas, J. Beecher, U. Bhatia, P. D'Odorico, M. Garcia, P. Gober, D. Groenfeldt, S. Lansing, K. Madani, L. Méndez-Barrientos, E. Mondino, M. F. Müller, F. C. O'Donnell, P. M. Owuor, J. Rising, M. R. Sanderson, F. A. A. Souza, and S. C. Zipper. 2020. Developing a sustainability science approach for water systems. Ecology and Society 25(2):23. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-…

  • Groundwater Management in California’s Central Valley: A Focus on Disadvantaged Communities

    Clara MacLeod, Linda Estelí Méndez-BarrientosARTICLECase Studies in the Environment2019

    In the state of California, groundwater serves 85% of Californians for at least part of their water. During the last drought (2011–2016), a high proportion of domestic wells went dry, most of which were located in disadvantaged communities (DACs) in the California Central Valley. Prior to 2014, voluntary groundwater management plans (GMPs) existed as one of the main groundwater governance options. However, little is known about the adoption of th…