Learning from the past to build the future governance of groundwater use in agriculture

The use of groundwater is increasing worldwide, particularly in agriculture. This leads to pumping races (from which the poorest farmers are often excluded), environmental disasters and the degradation of groundwater quality. Based on discussions between scientists and operational experts in two wor...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Water international Vol. 46; no. 7-8; pp. 1037 - 1059
Main Authors:	Petit, Olivier, Dumont, Aurélien, Leyronas, Stéphanie, Ballin, Quentin, Bouarfa, Sami, Faysse, Nicolas, Kuper, Marcel, Molle, François, Alcazar, Charlotte, Durand, Emmanuel, Ghoudi, Ridha, Hubert, Aline, Le Visage, Selin, Messaoudi, Imane, Montginoul, Marielle, Ndao, Seyni, Ferroudji, Audrey Richard, Rinaudo, Jean-Daniel, Trottier, Julie, Aubriot, Olivia, Elloumi, Mohamed, Boisson, Marc, Fofack-Garcia, Rhoda, Maurel, Frédéric, Rojat, Dominique, Romagny, Bruno, Salgues, Emmanuelle
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Routledge 17-11-2021 Taylor and Francis
Subjects:	agriculture common patrimony commons governance Groundwater Humanities and Social Sciences irrigation over-exploitation policy instruments agriculture irrigation common patrimony policy instruments overexploitation groundwater commons governance
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The use of groundwater is increasing worldwide, particularly in agriculture. This leads to pumping races (from which the poorest farmers are often excluded), environmental disasters and the degradation of groundwater quality. Based on discussions between scientists and operational experts in two workshops held in 2018 and 2020, this paper, after taking stock of the dynamics and motivations of groundwater use in agriculture, reviews the solutions most commonly proposed, in particular by public authorities, to regulate the access to and use of this resource and to limit its over-exploitation. These (often optimistic) solutions generally combine regulatory or economic instruments, or indirect measures linking water to other issues, and mechanisms based on the participation of all users. However, they rarely question the intensive agricultural systems driving groundwater demand and fail to recognize the multifunctional nature of groundwater. To overcome these hurdles, we draw up possible ways forward for policymakers and resource users to develop negotiated solutions.
ISSN:	0250-8060 1941-1707
DOI:	10.1080/02508060.2021.2006948