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Our interest in trying to find a way to analyze the ecological effects of the traditional management system was stimulated by the crisis in rice production triggered by the advent of the "Green Revolution" in Bali. During the 1950s Indonesia (figure 7.1) was forced to import nearly a million tons of rice each year. The government of Indonesia was thus very receptive to the promise of higher yields from the "Green Revolution" in rice, and in 1967 launched a major program called BIMAS (Bimbingan massal, or "massive guidance") to boost rice production by providing farmers with high-yielding rice seeds and access to fertilizers and pesticides. The new rice varieties grew faster than the native crops, and farmers were encouraged to triple-crop the new rice whenever possible. BIMAS reached pests. in 1971 and by about about 70 percent of the rice terraces in South Bali were planted with Green Revolution rice. At about the same time, the Asian Development Bank began a major irrigation development project in Bali. Rice production increased, but as early as 1974 field-level agricultural officials in Bali were reporting "chaos in water scheduling" and "explosions of rice pests. In 1984 I wrote an unsolicited report to the Asian Development Rank, in which I tried to show how these problems were linked to their disruption of the traditional system of water management.