For the Balinese, the whole of nature is a perpetual resource: through
centuries of carefully directed labor, the engineered landscape of the
island's rice terraces has taken shape. According to Stephen Lansing,
the need for effective cooperation in water management links thousands
of farmers together in hierarchies of productive relationships that span
entire watersheds.
Lansing describes the network of water temples that once managed the
flow of irrigation water in the name of the Goddess of the Crater Lake.
Using the techniques of ecological simulation modeling as well as
cultural and historical analysis, Lansing argues that the symbolic
system of temple rituals is not merely a reflection of utilitarian
constraints but also a basic ingredient in the organization of
production.