Displaying 447 publications
Kramp, J.; Suhardiman, Diana; Keovilignavong, Oulavanh. 2022.
(Un)making the upland: resettlement, rubber and land use planning in Namai village, Laos. Journal of Peasant Studies, 49(1):78-100.
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This paper highlights how farmers in a northern Lao village transformed their customary land rights – in the face of incoherent overlapping state territorialization attempts – into a territorial strategy to secure their land tenure. By planting rubber, some villagers have engaged in a crop boom to lay claim to land which has recently been zoned for upland rice cultivation (and conservation) as part of a state-led land use planning initiative. We show how internal resettlement, ethnic division and the influx of commercial agriculture in the Lao uplands intersect in a novel land use planning process and predetermine the plan’s actual significance.
Households / Cash crops / Strategies / Farmers / Social structure / Villages / Ethnic groups / Communities / Institutions / State intervention / Land governance / Concession (land) / Customary land rights / Highlands / Resettlement / Rubber industry / Land use planning
Record No:H049808
Bernhofen, M. V.; Cooper, S.; Trigg, M.; Mdee, A.; Carr, A.; Bhave, A.; Solano-Correa, Y. T.; Pencue-Fierro, E. L.; Teferi, E.; Haile, Alemseged Tamiru; Yusop, Z.; Alias, N. E.; Saapos;adi, Z.; Ramzan, M. A. B.; Dhanya, C. T.; Shukla, P. 2022.
The role of global data sets for riverine flood risk management at national scales. Water Resources Research, 58(4):e2021WR031555.
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Over the last two decades, several data sets have been developed to assess flood risk at the global scale. In recent years, some of these data sets have become detailed enough to be informative at national scales. The use of these data sets nationally could have enormous benefits in areas lacking existing flood risk information and allow better flood management decisions and disaster response. In this study, we evaluate the usefulness of global data for assessing flood risk in five countries: Colombia, England, Ethiopia, India, and Malaysia. National flood risk assessments are carried out for each of the five countries using six data sets of global flood hazard, seven data sets of global population, and three different methods for calculating vulnerability. We also conduct interviews with key water experts in each country to explore what capacity there is to use these global data sets nationally. We find that the data sets differ substantially at the national level, and this is reflected in the national flood risk estimates. While some global data sets could be of significant value for national flood risk management, others are either not detailed enough, or too outdated to be relevant at this scale. For the relevant global data sets to be used most effectively for national flood risk management, a country needs a functioning, institutional framework with capability to support their use and implementation.
Governance / Vulnerability / Rivers / Datasets / Disaster risk management / Flooding
Record No:H051573
Suhardiman, Diana; Geheb, K. 2022.
Participation and politics in transboundary hydropower development: the case of the Pak Beng Dam in Laos. Environmental Policy and Governance, 32(4):320-330. (Special Issue: Transboundary Environmental Governance: Emerging themes and lessons from Southeast Asia)
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Hydropower development in the lower Mekong Basin is being rapidly developed. Taking the Pak Beng hydropower project in Laos as a case study, this paper looks at participation and politics in transboundary hydropower development, how the latter is revealed by multiple, parallel institutional architectures in hydropower decision-making across scales, and its implications for transboundary environmental governance. We look at the institutional disjuncture in hydropower decision-making, how it is (re)produced by powerful, albeit conflicting narratives at respectively national and transboundary levels, power relations shaping these narratives, and how these translate into local communityapos;s limited ability to convey their voices and represent their development needs. Conceptually, the paper sheds light on the underlying politics in transboundary environmental governance by bringing to light the structural factors that prevent participation, including how these factors are justified, sustained and to a certain extent reproduced as an integral part of legal, policy, and institutional landscapes that govern hydropower decision-making across scales (e.g., local to transboundary).
Governance / Participation / International waters / Hydropower
Record No:H050849
Urfels, A.; Khadka, Manohara; Shrestha, Nirman; Pavelic, Paul; Risal, A.; Uprety, Labisha; Shrestha, Gitta; Dile, Y.; McDonald, A. J.; Pandey, V. P.; Srinivasan, R.; Krupnik, T. J. 2022.
A framework for sustainable and inclusive irrigation development in western Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) 78p.
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Case studies / Modelling / Capacity development / Governance / Policies / Resilience / Food security / Climate change / Technology / Socioeconomic environment / Gender equality / Multi-stakeholder processes / Investment / Crop yield / Agricultural value chains / Farmer-led irrigation / Irrigation water / Surface water / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater management / Watersheds / Water resources / Frameworks / Social inclusion / Sustainability / Irrigation management
Record No:H051550
Bellwood-Howard, I.; Thompson, J.; Shamsudduha, M.; Taylor, R. G.; Mosha, D. B.; Gebrezgi, Gebrehaweria; Tarimo, A. K. P. R.; Kashaigili, J. J.; Nazoumou, Y.; Tiekoura, O. 2022.
A multicriteria analysis of groundwater development pathways in three river basins in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental Science and Policy, 138:26-43.
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Reliance on groundwater in Sub-Saharan Africa is growing and expected to rise as surface water resource variability increases under climate change. Major questions remain about how groundwater will be used, and who informs these decisions. We represent different visions of groundwater use by ‘pathways’: politically and environmentally embedded socio-technological regimes for governing and managing groundwater systems. We presented policy actors (9 sets), development and research stakeholders (4 sets), and water users (6 sets) in three river basins in Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania with information on the social and environmental impacts of six ‘Groundwater Development Pathways’, before gathering their opinions on each, through Multicriteria Mapping (MCM). Participants preferred pathways of low-intensity use, incorporating multiple agricultural, pastoral and domestic purposes, to high-intensity single-use pathways. Water availability and environmental sustainability, including water quality, were central concerns. Participants recognised that all groundwater uses potentially impinge upon one another affecting both the quantity and quality of abstracted water. Across participant groups there was ambiguity about what the most important water use was; each expressed demands for more detailed, certain modelling data. Water users preferred community or municipal-scale management regimes, perceiving that water quality was more likely to be safeguarded by institutions at these levels, whereas policy and development actors preferred individual-scale management, viewed as more efficient in terms of operation and maintenance. We conclude that MCM, combined with more detailed modelling, can provide an effective framework for policy actors to understand other stakeholders’ perspectives on groundwater development futures, enabling equitable, inclusive decision-making and governance.
Uncertainty / Modelling / Communities / Stakeholders / Groundwater extraction / Environmental sustainability / Water quality / Multiple use / Water users / Water use / Small-scale farming / Large-scale farming / Water availability / Water governance / Water policies / River basins / Groundwater management
Record No:H051559
Prain, G.; Simon, D.; Halliday, J.; Drechsel, Pay. 2022.
Investment priorities for research and innovation in urban agri-food systems: toward more resilient cities in the Global South. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6:965011.
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Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) is widely distributed throughout the Global South. Despite urban population growth and diversifying food habits, UPA delivers an important part of urban food supply, as well as other types of services to cities, such as employment and waste reuse. Nevertheless, the extent and importance of UPA varies between different urban areas, while challenges like limited recognition, land conversion, and water pollution and competition threaten the potential of UPA to contribute to urban resilience. Key investment priorities for research and innovation for overcoming current challenges include incentivized peri-urban zoning, urban allocation of productive lands, and increasing capacities for controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Innovative repositioning of food marketing can help to strengthen supply of healthy food from UPA production, increase decent employment, and turn food markets into nutrition hubs. Priority innovations for contributing to the circular bioeconomy of cities include scaling the safe use of wastewater for irrigation through investments in the adoption of multiple risk-barrier approaches and scaling UPA-based ecosystem services for valorising solid waste and environmental management. Innovations in urban governance are required to support these processes by bringing food systems into urban planning through food mapping and the multisectoral platforms for dialogue and policy formulation across city regions and with vertical levels of government.
Policies / Planning / Governance / Food production / Waste management / Resource recovery / Bioeconomy / Circular economy / Informal sector / Markets / Cities / Resilience / Innovation / Research / Investment / Peri-urban agriculture / Urban agriculture / Agrifood systems
Record No:H051503
Mateo-Sagasta, Javier; Al-Hamdi, M.; AbuZeid, K. 2022.
Water reuse in the Middle East and North Africa: a sourcebook. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 292p.
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Case studies / Health / Migration / Urbanization / Population growth / Business models / Funding / Multi-stakeholder processes / Governmental organizations / Institutional development / Women / Gender equality / Gender mainstreaming / Farmers / Wadi / Aquifers / Groundwater / Irrigation water / Water supply / Water governance / Water policies / Risk management / Planning / Guidelines / Regulations / Water quality standards / Municipal wastewater / Cost recovery / Resource recovery / Wastewater treatment plants / Wastewater management / Water scarcity / Water availability / Water resources / Water reuse
Record No:H051502
Sida, Y. G.; Simane, B.; Assefa, E.; Haileslassie, Amare. 2022.
Polycentric irrigation water governance: irrigation water users associations service delivery in Ketar Subbasin, Ethiopia. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 18(10):783-791.
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Polycentric irrigation water governance allows community institutions to deliver better irrigation services. This study examined the Irrigation Water User Associations (IWUAs) service delivery performance in the Ketar subbasin, Ethiopia, focusing on four irrigation schemes. The irrigation water user associations in the subbasin were measured on their legal registration and financial status, while the four schemes were examined on their bylaw implementation, decision transparency, water allocation, and infrastructure management. Three hundred eleven (311) randomly selected irrigators were surveyed. The study showed that 73 and 21% of the modern and traditional IWUAs in the subbasin are legally registered and collect an average ETB 1200/year/ha which is insignificant for Oamp;M. The four schemesapos; water distribution disparity ranges from 3.5 to 8.4 L/s at farmersapos; plots. 47 and 62% of the respondents depicted their dissatisfaction with the water allocation and satisfaction with IWUAsapos; decision-making transparency, respectively. The study also revealed that the IWUAs are compounded with weak infrastructure management that resulted in substantial water loss ranging from 12 to 49%. Besides, 70% of respondents witnessed a lack of gender-based irrigation incentives for female irrigators. Improving these services makes the polycentric irrigation water governance play an exponential beneficial role in alleviating the consequence of unregulated water use.
Decision making / Water allocation / Water user associations / Irrigation water / Water governance
Record No:H051495
Matthews, N.; Dalton, J.; Matthews, J.; Barclay, H.; Barron, J.; Garrick, D.; Gordon, L.; Huq, S.; Isman, T.; McCornick, P.; Meghji, A.; Mirumachi, N.; Moosa, S.; Mulligan, M.; Noble, A.; Petryniak, O.; Pittock, J.; Queiroz, C.; Ringler, C.; Smith, Mark; Turner, C.; Vora, S.; Whiting, L. 2022.
Elevating the role of water resilience in food system dialogues. Water Security, 17:100126.
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Ensuring resilient food systems and sustainable healthy diets for all requires much higher water use, however, water resources are finite, geographically dispersed, volatile under climate change, and required for other vital functions including ecosystems and the services they provide. Good governance for resilient water resources is a necessary precursor to deciding on solutions, sourcing finance, and delivering infrastructure. Six attributes that together provide a foundation for good governance to reduce future water risks to food systems are proposed. These attributes dovetail in their dual focus on incorporating adaptive learning and new knowledge, and adopting the types of governance systems required for water resilient food systems. The attributes are also founded in the need to greater recognise the role natural, healthy ecosystems play in food systems. The attributes are listed below and are grounded in scientific evidence and the diverse collective experience and expertise of stakeholders working across the science-policy interface: Adopting interconnected systems thinking that embraces the complexity of how we produce, distribute, and add value to food including harnessing the experience and expertise of stakeholders s; adopting multi-level inclusive governance and supporting inclusive participation; enabling continual innovation, new knowledge and learning, and information dissemination; incorporating diversity and redundancy for resilience to shocks; ensuring system preparedness to shocks; and planning for the long term. This will require food and water systems to pro-actively work together toward a socially and environmentally just space that considers the water and food needs of people, the ecosystems that underpin our food systems, and broader energy and equity concerns.
Information dissemination / Learning / Ecosystems / Climate change / Water resources / Policies / Participation / Decision making / Innovation / Water systems / Water governance / Resilience / Water management / Food systems
Record No:H051489
Orr, A.; Ahmad, B.; Alam, U.; Appadurai, A. N.; Bharucha, Z. P.; Biemans, H.; Bolch, T.; Chaulagain, N. P.; Dhaubanjar, S.; Dimri, A. P.; Dixon, H.; Fowler, H. J.; Gioli, G.; Halvorson, S. J.; Hussain, A.; Jeelani, G.; Kamal, S.; Khalid, I. S.; Liu, S.; Lutz, A.; Mehra, M. K.; Miles, E.; Momblanch, A.; Muccione, V.; Mukherji, Aditi; Mustafa, D.; Najmuddin, O.; Nasimi, M. N.; Nusser, M.; Pandey, V. P.; Parveen, S.; Pellicciotti, F.; Pollino, C.; Potter, E.; Qazizada, M. R.; Ray, S.; Romshoo, S.; Sarkar, S. K.; Sawas, A.; Sen, S.; Shah, A.; Ali Shah, M. Azeem; Shea, J. M.; Sheikh, A. T.; Shrestha, A. B.; Tayal, S.; Tigala, S.; Virk, Z. T.; Wester, P.; Wescoat, J. L. Jr. 2022.
Knowledge priorities on climate change and water in the Upper Indus Basin: a horizon scanning exercise to identify the top 100 research questions in social and natural sciences. Earthapos;s Future, 10(4):e2021EF002619.
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River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.
Mountains / Glaciers / Ecosystems / Hydroclimatology / Natural disasters / Agriculture / Gender / Socioeconomic aspects / Poverty / Vulnerability / Livelihoods / Sustainability / Policies / Governance / River basins / Water availability / Water management / Water resources / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H051443
Arulingam, Indika; Brady, G.; Chaya, M.; Conti, M.; Kgomotso, P. K.; Korzenszky, A.; Njie, D.; Schroth, G.; Suhardiman, Diana. 2022.
Small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems transformation. Rome, Italy: FAO 34p.
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Food security / Sustainable livelihoods / Information exchange / Governance / Participation / Smallholders / Agricultural production
Record No:H051435
Hellin, J.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Challinor, A.; Fisher, E.; Girvetz, E.; Guo, Z.; Hodur, J.; Loboguerrero, A. M.; Pacillo, G.; Rose, S.; Schutz, T.; Valencia, L.; You, L. 2022.
Transformative adaptation and implications for transdisciplinary climate change research. Environmental Research: Climate, 1(2):023001.
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The severity of the climate challenge requires a change in the climate response, from an incremental to a more far-reaching and radical transformative one. There is also a need to avoid maladaptation whereby responses to climate risk inadvertently reinforce vulnerability, exposure and risk for some sections of society. Innovative technological interventions are critical but enabling social, institutional and governance factors are the actual drivers of the transformative process. Bringing about this transformation requires inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, and the embracing of social equity. In this Perspective, we unpack what this means for agricultural research and, based on our collective experience, we map out a research agenda that weaves different research components into a holistic and transformative one. We do not offer best practice, but rather reflections on how agricultural research can more readily contribute to transformative adaptation, along with the personal and practical challenges of designing and implementing such an agenda.
Finance / Policies / Collaboration / Governance / Institutions / Innovation / Technology / Vulnerability / Food systems / Equity / Social aspects / Risk reduction / Climate resilience / Agricultural research / Transdisciplinary research / Transformation / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H051430
Eid-Sabbagh, K.; Roukoz, S.; Nassif, Marie-Helene; Velpuri, Naga; Mateo-Sagasta, Javier. 2022.
Analysis of water reuse potential for irrigation in Lebanon. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 145p.
(IWMI Research Report 181) [DOI] More... |
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Water scarcity and pollution are major threats for human development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and Lebanon is no exception. Wastewater treatment and reuse in agriculture can contribute to addressing the increasing water crisis in the MENA region. However, what is the actual potential of water reuse as a solution for agriculture in Lebanon? This report addresses this question and provides the most comprehensive assessment of water reuse potential up to now. Using geographic information system (GIS) modelling and the best and most recent data available in the country, the report develops a detailed technical assessment of the quantities of treated water available for safe reuse in irrigation, and identifies the wastewater treatment plants that have the highest potential for that purpose.
The report also examines the governance barriers that need to be overcome for the water reuse potential to materialize in practice. These barriers include structural shortcomings in the wastewater sector combined with challenges of governance and the lack of a regulatory framework for reuse management. Once the current economic, financial and political crisis in Lebanon eases, addressing these barriers will be key to achieving more and safer water reuse in the country.
Case studies / Financial situation / Economic crises / Non-governmental organizations / Stakeholders / Water authorities / Irrigation systems / Agricultural land / Domestic water / Parameters / Regulations / Water quality / Wells / Water supply / Groundwater / Infrastructure / Irrigation requirements / Water shortage / Water use / Water availability / Water rights / Water governance / Water demand / Supply and demand / Water balance / Water budget / Water management / Water resources / Geographical information systems / Modelling / Databases / Municipal wastewater / Wastewater treatment plants / Analysis / Irrigation water / Water potential / Water reuse
Record No:H051388
Troell, J.; Keene, S. 2022.
Legal recognition of customary water tenure in Sub-Saharan Africa: unpacking the land-water nexus. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 33p.
(IWMI Research Report 182) [DOI] More... |
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Despite the progress made in conceptualizing and advocating for secure community-based land and forest tenure rights, there is a critical lacuna in advocacy and policymaking processes pertaining to community-based freshwater tenure rights. Moreover, water tenure as a concept has only recently gained significant traction in global policy circles. This report analyzes national and international legal pathways for recognizing customary forms of community-based freshwater tenure rights held by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) in sub-Saharan Africa. It employs a methodological framework and builds on an analysis of community-based water tenure systems that was developed and applied by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) in the publication Whose Water? A Comparative Analysis of National Laws and Regulations Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’, Afro-Descendants’, and Local Communities’ Water Tenure. Based on the key findings of this analysis, in particular the frequent dependence of IPLCs’ legally recognized customary water tenure rights on their legally recognized land and/or forest rights, this report further analyzes national constitutions, national legislation governing water, land, forests, environmental protection and other related matters, international and national case law, and international and regional human rights laws, to explore how legal frameworks are recognizing and protecting customary water tenure rights across sub-Saharan Africa. The findings and recommendations provide a basis for analyzing the comparative effectiveness and potential drawbacks of these legal pathways for the recognition and protection of customary water tenure and ultimately for future work refining and improving legislation and assessing progress in its implementation and enforcement.
International law / Transboundary waters / Participation / Water user associations / Policies / Constitution / Regional organizations / Government / Sustainable development / Food security / Livelihoods / Women / Gender / Human rights / Water governance / Legal frameworks / Forests / Land rights / Water rights / Rural areas / Local communities / tenure rights / Indigenous peoplesapos / Freshwater / Nexus approaches / Water resources / Land tenure / Customary law / Water law / Legislation / Customary tenure / Water tenure
Record No:H051374
van Koppen, Barbara. 2022.
Living customary water tenure in rights-based water management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 41p.
(IWMI Research Report 183) [DOI] More... |
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Living customary water tenure is the most accepted socio-legal system among the large majority of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on literature, this report seeks to develop a grounded understanding of the ways in which rural people meet their domestic and productive water needs on homesteads, distant fields or other sites of use, largely outside the ambits of the state. Taking the rural farming or pastoralist community as the unit of analysis, three components are distinguished. The first component deals with the fundamental perceptions of the links between humankind and naturally available water resources as a commons to be shared by all, partially linked to communities’ collective land rights. The second component deals with the sharing of these finite and contested naturally available water resources, especially during dry seasons and droughts. Customary arrangements shape both the ‘sharing in’ of water resources within communities and the ‘sharing out’ with other customary communities or powerful third parties. Since colonial times, communities have been vulnerable to those third parties grabbing water resources and overriding customary uses and governance. The third component deals with infrastructure to store and convey water resources. Since time immemorial, communities have invested in infrastructure for self supply, ranging from micro-scale soil moisture retention techniques to large-scale collective deep wells. As increasingly recognized in both the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and irrigation sectors, this component of self supply is rapidly expanding. In all three components, local diversity is high, with gender, class and other social hierarchies intertwining with social safety nets, neighborliness and moral economies.
The study derives two sets of implications for state and non-state policies, laws and interventions. First, state legislation about the sharing of water resources should recognize and protect living customary water tenure, especially through due process in ‘sharing out’ water with powerful third parties. Remarkably, water law, which is dominated by permit systems in sub-Saharan Africa, lags behind other legislation in recognizing customary water tenure (see IWMI Research Report 182). Second, by taking communities’ self supply for multiple uses as a starting point for further water infrastructure development, the WASH, irrigation and other sectors can follow the priorities of communities, including the most vulnerable; identify cost-effective multi-purpose infrastructure; develop local skills; and, hence, contribute more sustainably to achieving more United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 13. Further historical and interdisciplinary research to achieve these benefits is recommended.
Nexus approaches / Water security / Land / Livestock / Pastoralists / Farmer-led irrigation / Domestic water / Drinking water / Living standards / Households / Right to food / Right to water / Women / Gender / Costs / Conflicts / Water permits / Water distribution / Water quality / Water governance / Legislation / Policies / Norms / water, sanitation and hygiene / Sustainable Development Goals / Water allocation / Rural communities / Multiple use water services / Water supply / Infrastructure / Water sharing / Water resources / Customary law / Water law / Water management / Water rights / Customary tenure / Water tenure
Record No:H051372
Suhardiman, Diana; Manorom, K.; Rigg, J. 2022.
Institutional bricolage (re)shaping the different manifestations of state-citizens relations in Mekong hydropower planning. Geoforum, 134:118-130.
[DOI] More... Concerns over hydropower development in the Mekong River Basin and elsewhere include not only the overall impacts of dams on basin ecology and economy but also more site-specific impacts on affected communities. While hydropower development is impacting the livelihoods of local communities living along the river, the latter’s views and concerns are often sidelined by top-down hydropower planning. Nonetheless, local communities create and shape their political spaces of engagements in relation to hydropower decision making across scales, albeit through various means and with different results. Taking the planned Pak Beng hydropower dam as a case study and building on the concept of institutional bricolage, we look at: 1) local communities’ responses in Thailand and Laos, including how these are influenced by social movements; 2) how these responses are translated into collective action (or the lack thereof), including in relation to local communities’ (in)ability to negotiate better compensation for their to be impacted livelihoods; and 3) how local communities strategies are embedded in the wider political context and different manifestations of state-citizens relations. We argue that while affected farm households can pursue their interests to secure proper compensation through individual means, this leads to sub-optimal outcomes for affected communities collectively.
Case studies / Dams / Development projects / Social aspects / Negotiation / Compensation / Livelihoods / Households / Villages / Political power / Water governance / Transboundary waters / Strategies / Collective action / Civil society organizations / Local communities / Institutional development / Decision making / Planning / Hydropower
Record No:H051301
Ratner, B. D.; Larson, A. M.; Barletti, J. P. S.; ElDidi, H.; Catacutan, D.; Flintan, F.; Suhardiman, Diana; Falk, T.; Meinzen-Dick, R. 2022.
Multistakeholder platforms for natural resource governance: lessons from eight landscape-level cases. Ecology and Society, 27(2):2.
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Multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) are the subject of increasing attention and investment in the domain of collaborative natural resource governance, yet evidence-based guidance is slim on policy and investment priorities to leverage the MSP approach. We provide a comparative analysis of eight landscape-level MSPs spanning seven countries (Peru, Brazil, India, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and a cross-border case from Kenya and Somalia), representing a diversity of resource systems covering forests, rangelands, and multiuse agricultural landscapes. Applying an adapted social-ecological systems framework, our synthesis identifies the influence of these MSPs on patterns of stakeholder interaction and draws implications for the design and organization of MSPs that are both appropriate and effective. From the cases, we distill lessons addressing: (1) how to design an MSP in relation to the governance context, including the fit between institutional and ecological dimensions of the system and with attention to cross-scale linkages; (2) how to implement inclusive processes that address power inequities, including through capacity building and procedural rules; and (3) how to support adaptive learning to expand the MSP’s influence over time, including monitoring outcomes, adapting the scope of stakeholder engagement, and investing in MSP durability.
Conflicts / Resilience / Landscape approaches / Inclusion / Collaboration / Multi-stakeholder processes / Natural resources management
Record No:H051241
van Paassen, A.; Osei-Amponsah, Charity; Klerkx, L.; van Mierlo, B.; Essegbey, G. O. 2022.
Partnerships blending institutional logics for inclusive global and regional food value chains in Ghana; with what smallholder effect? European Journal of Development Research, 34(5):2179-2203. (Special issue: Policies for Inclusive Development in Sub-Saharan Africa)
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We witness a promotion of hybrid partnerships, where actors with different competences and resources collaborate for smallholder inclusive value chain development. To better understand the functioning of these partnerships, we used institutional theory and studied the context of a global and emerging regional food value chains in Ghana, the blending of logics by key actors in Innovation Platforms and Public Private Partnerships, and their effect on value chain relations of smallholder farmers. In the global value chain of cocoa, partnerships adhered to ‘green revolution’ and ‘free-market’ logics, and provided all farmers material support. In the more informally organised regional food sector, local executing partners selectively coupled their logics with those of poor smallholders, who rely on low-input agriculture and solidarity logics to make ends meet. This improved the position and transaction costs of smallholders to participate in the value chain. Hence, it is more likely for partnerships to create smallholder inclusive governance in informally organised regional food value chains, than highly structured global value chains controlled by international buyers. To gain insight in the variety of political effects this triggers in different social–historical shaped farmer communities, households and actors, we recommend complementary local research from a critical institutional perspective.
Cocoa / Governance / Public-private partnerships / Innovation platforms / Partnerships / Smallholders / Value chains
Record No:H051239
Chitakira, M.; Nhamo, L.; Torquebiau, E.; Magidi, J.; Ferguson, W.; Mpandeli, S.; Mearns, K.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe. 2022.
Opportunities to improve eco-agriculture through transboundary governance in transfrontier conservation areas. Diversity, 14(6):461. (Special issue: The Human Dimension of Biodiversity Protection)
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Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) are critical biodiversity areas for the conservation and sustainable use of biological and cultural resources while promoting regional peace, cooperation, and socio-economic development. Sustainable management of TFCAs is dependent on the availability of an eco-agriculture framework that promotes integrated management of conservation mosaics in terms of food production, environmental protection or the conservation of natural resources, and improved human livelihoods. As a developmental framework, eco-agriculture is significantly influenced by existing legal and governance structures at all levels; this study assessed the impact of existing legal and governance frameworks on eco-agriculture implementation in the Lubombo TFCA that cuts across the borders between Mozambique, Eswatini, and South Africa. The assessment used a mixed research method, including a document review, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Although the three countries have no eco-agriculture policies, biodiversity practices are directly or indirectly affected by some policies related to environmental protection, agriculture improvement, and rural development. The assessment found that South Africa has the most comprehensive policies related to eco-agriculture; Mozambican policies mainly focus on equity and involvement of disadvantaged social groups, while Eswatini is conspicuous for explicitly making it the responsibility of each citizen to protect and safeguard the environment. The protection of conservation areas is critical to preserving natural habitats and ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services. The lack of transboundary governance structures results in the Lubombo TFCA existing as a treaty on paper, as there are no clear processes for transboundary cooperation and collaboration.
Local communities / Landscape approaches / Legislation / Policies / Sustainable livelihoods / Poverty alleviation / Resource conservation / Sustainable Development Goals / Ecosystems / Biodiversity conservation / Governance / Conservation areas / Eco-agriculture
Record No:H051227
Re, V.; Manzione, R. L.; Abiye, T. A.; Mukherji, Aditi; MacDonald, A. 2022.
Groundwater for sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press - Balkema 367p.
(IAH - International Contributions to Hydrogeology 30) [DOI] More... Groundwater for Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Growth explores how groundwater, often invisibly, improves peoples’ lives and livelihoods. This unique collection of 19 studies captures experiences of groundwater making a difference in 16 countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Such studies are rarely documented and this book provides a rich new collection of interdisciplinary analysis. The book is published in colour and includes many original diagrams and photographs.
Spring water, wells or boreholes have provided safe drinking water and reliable water for irrigation or industry for millennia. However, the hidden nature of groundwater often means that it’s important role both historically and in the present is overlooked. This collection helps fill this knowledge gap, providing a diverse set of new studies encompassing different perspectives and geographies. Different interdisciplinary methodologies are described that can help understand linkages between groundwater, livelihoods and growth, and how these links can be threatened by over-use, contamination, and ignorance.
Written for a worldwide audience of practitioners, academics and students with backgrounds in geology, engineering or environmental sciences; Groundwater for Sustainable Livelihoods and Equitable Growth is essential reading for those involved in groundwater and international development.
Case studies / Socioeconomic development / Households / Farmers / Smallholders / Rice / Stubble burning / Coastal areas / Villages / Rural areas / Periurban areas / Landscape conservation / Urban development / Strategies / Adaptation / Resilience / Climate change / Hydrogeology / Alluvial aquifers / Wells / Water springs / Watersheds / River basins / Water harvesting / Water supply / Legal frameworks / Water policies / Water governance / Water scarcity / Surface water / Conjunctive use / Water use / Small scale systems / Groundwater irrigation / Groundwater extraction / Groundwater recharge / Water security / Water resources / Equity / Sustainable livelihoods / Groundwater management
Record No:H051156
Yami, M.; Mekuria, Wolde. 2022.
Challenges in the governance of community-managed forests in Ethiopia: review. Sustainability, 14(3):1478.
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A large proportion of the rural population in Ethiopia depends on community-managed forests for food security and livelihoods. However, the government and development partners have paid little attention to the governance challenges which limit the contributions of community-managed forests to food security and livelihoods. Also lacking is a synthesis of evidence relating to the requirements for improved governance to support the efforts of decision makers and practitioners. This paper attempts to review and synthesize the available evidence with the aim of identifying the requirements to achieve improved governance in community-managed forests. The results revealed that failure to devise benefit-sharing mechanisms which consider the heterogeneity of rural communities was prevalent. Interference of local authorities and elite capture in decision-making processes of forest and landscape restoration also compromised the willingness of rural communities to engage in collective action. Requirements such as the identification of the needs of specific categories of communities and enabling of the negotiation of diverse interests in the design and implementation of interventions could improve the governance of community-managed forests. Developing management plans and business model scenarios which balance the ecological and socio-economic goals at a local level in collaboration with rural communities is important to improve the governance of community-managed forests. There is also a need to revisit the practice of evaluating the performance of community-managed forests almost exclusively based on the goals of climate change adaptation and mitigation and biodiversity conservation.
Rural communities / Equity / Accountability / Participation / Decision making / Community forestry / Sustainability / Forest landscape restoration / Livelihoods / Incentives / Deforestation / Governance / Community management / Forest management
Record No:H050966
Martin, M. A.; Boakye, E. A.; Boyd, E.; Broadgate, W.; Bustamante, M.; Canadell, J. G.; Carr, E. R.; Chu, E. K.; Cleugh, H.; Csevar, S.; Daoudy, M.; de Bremond, A.; Dhimal, M.; Ebi, K. L.; Edwards, C.; Fuss, S.; Girardin, M. P.; Glavovic, B.; Hebden, S.; Hirota, M.; Hsu, H.-H.; Huq, S.; Ingold, K.; Johannessen, O. M.; Kameyama, Y.; Kumarasinghe, N.; Langendijk, G. S.; Lissner, T.; Lwasa, S.; Machalaba, C.; Maltais, A.; Mathai, M. V.; Mbow, C.; McNamara, K. E.; Mukherji, Aditi; Murray, V.; Mysiak, J.; Okereke, C.; Ospina, D.; Otto, F.; Prakash, A.; Pulhin, J. M.; Raju, E.; Redman, A.; Rigaud, K. K.; Rockstrom, J.; Roy, J.; Schipper, E. L. F.; Schlosser, P.; Schulz, K. A.; Schumacher, K.; Schwarz, L.; Scown, M.; Sedova, B.; Siddiqui, T. A.; Singh, C.; Sioen, G. B.; Stammer, D.; Steinert, N. J.; Suk, S.; Sutton, R.; Thalheimer, L.; van Aalst, M.; van der Geest, K.; Zhao, Z. J. 2022.
Ten new insights in climate science 2022. Global Sustainability, 5(e20):1-20.
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Non-technical summary:
We summarize what we assess as the past yearapos;s most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate–health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate decisions and ways to overcome structural barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2C.
Technical summary:
We synthesize 10 topics within climate research where there have been significant advances or emerging scientific consensus since January 2021. The selection of these insights was based on input from an international open call with broad disciplinary scope. Findings concern: (1) new aspects of soft and hard limits to adaptation; (2) the emergence of regional vulnerability hotspots from climate impacts and human vulnerability; (3) new threats on the climate–health horizon – some involving plants and animals; (4) climate (im)mobility and the need for anticipatory action; (5) security and climate; (6) sustainable land management as a prerequisite to land-based solutions; (7) sustainable finance practices in the private sector and the need for political guidance; (8) the urgent planetary imperative for addressing losses and damages; (9) inclusive societal choices for climate-resilient development and (10) how to overcome barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2C.
Social media summary:
Science has evidence on barriers to mitigation and how to overcome them to avoid limits to adaptation across multiple fields.
Political aspects / Social aspects / Inclusion / Gender / Finance / Health / Governance / Policies / Economics / Biodiversity / Ecology / Foods / Energy / Water / Private sector / Sustainable land use / Emission / Global warming / Climate resilience / Vulnerability / Climate change mitigation / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H051580
Shrestha, Shisher; Uprety, Labisha. 2021.
Solar irrigation in Nepal: a situation analysis report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 43p.
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Inclusion / Women / Gender / Farmers / Sustainability / Governance / Subsidies / Business models / Policies / Electricity / Renewable energy / Pumps / Groundwater irrigation / Solar energy
Record No:H050620
Nicol, Alan; Debevec, Liza; Okene, S. 2021.
Chasing the water: the political economy of water management and catchment development in the Karamoja-Turkana Complex (KTC), Uganda. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
(IWMI Working Paper 198) [DOI] More... |
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The history of Karamoja, a subregion in the far northeast of Uganda, is complex and scarred by conflict. For centuries, this subregion has been a remote area of agropastoralism situated on the sociological and ecological border between the Nile and Turkana basins. At the far eastern tip of the Nile Basin, a sweeping escarpment from Karamoja runs down into the Lake Turkana Basin with major temperature and rainfall gradients that result in significant patterns of transhumance, as the Turkana people to the east seek access to the more plentiful water and grazing resources in Karamoja to the west. In this paper, we call this complex of relations and resources the ‘Karamoja-Turkana Complex’ (KTC) and examine the political-economy relationships therein.
We look at policy on water resources management and development, including choices made on siting and developing water sources, the kinds of narratives employed by the government, and the underlying tensions and conflicts between major social groups sharing these scarce resources. We base our analysis of the situation on a wider assessment of the water management challenges combined with a detailed examination of two large dams – Arachek and Longoromit – recently constructed in the Karamoja subregion.
Findings from the study highlighted that (i) interlinked systems within the KTC can generate new disputes and pressures on resources; (ii) water management within Karamoja and Turkana requires a broader view that extends beyond the watershed, because competition for water is part of the wider context of KTC; and (iii) power structures and processes associated with the development of water structures are important but poorly understood despite continued resource allocation.
The paper makes four recommendations: (i) catchment management institutions need to take ownership of new developments; (ii) a checklist is provided to achieve more effective outcomes from the siting and design of surface water storage structures; (iii) improve management oversight after completion of projects; and (iv) undertake water-pasture management consultations across the KTC.
Case studies / Sustainable Development Goals / Women / Gender / Communities / Water user associations / Water institutions / Water authorities / Water governance / Policies / Resilience / Rain / Climate change / Water scarcity / Dams / Water availability / Resource allocation / Livelihoods / Agropastoral systems / State intervention / Social aspects / Conflicts / Planning / Water resources development / Integrated management / Catchment areas / Political ecology / Water management
Record No:H050663
Reardon-Smith, K.; McCartney, Matthew; Rebelo, Lisa-Maria. 2021.
Are water markets a viable proposition in the Lower Mekong Basin? In Wheeler, S. A. (Ed.). Water markets: a global assessment. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. pp.91-111.
[DOI] More... Water markets are a potential approach for reallocating and improving the efficiency of water use in river basins in which water resources are under stress as a consequence of demographic and economic pressures. However, establishing water markets is not easy and to be successful a wide range of context specific criteria, relating to the legal and institutional framework as well as political and economic conditions, must be met. We applied the Water Market Readiness Assessment framework proposed by Wheeler et al. (2017) to investigate whether adequate policy and governance arrangements were in place to enable water markets to effectively operate in the countries of the Lower Mekong River Basin. We identify a number of key gaps and conclude that more conventional regulatory approaches, along with integrated basin planning and management, will likely better serve the communities and environments of the region.
Case studies / Socioeconomic aspects / Infrastructure / Agricultural development / Water quality / Water policies / Water governance / International waters / Water access / Water use efficiency / Water allocation / Frameworks / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources development / River basins / Water market
Record No:H050669
Bogardi, J. J.; Bharati, Luna; Foster, S.; Dhaubanjar, S. 2021.
Water and its management: dependence, linkages and challenges. In Bogardi, J. J.; Gupta, J.; Nandalal, K. D. W.; Salame, L.; van Nooijen, R. R. P.; Kumar, N.; Tingsanchali, T.; Bhaduri, A.; Kolechkina, A. G. (Eds.). Handbook of water resources management: discourses, concepts and examples. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp.41-85.
[DOI] More... This chapter highlights the key dependences, linkages and challenges of water resources management. (Many of these issues discussed are revisited and illustrated in the following chapters.) The first part introduces surface and groundwater management in the terrestrial part of the water cycle. Comprehensive presentations of key hydrological phenomena and processes, monitoring, assessment and control are followed by overviews of dependences, linkages and challenges. The manifold facets of intensive human/resource interaction and inherent threats to the resources base are exposed. Both sections present examples illustrating differing contexts and options for solution. The second part summarizes the main drivers and challenges of contemporary water resources management and governance. It provides a critical overview of different water discourses in recent decades. The role of benchmark and recurring water events, their declarations and intergovernmental resolutions are analyzed, and the key concepts and methods of implementation are discussed.
Modelling / Climate change / Water use / Water governance / Water quality / Aquifers / Water demand / Water availability / Water balance / Hydrological cycle / Groundwater / Surface water / Water resource management
Record No:H050612
Tutundjian, S.; Clarke, M.; Egal, F.; Dixson-Decleve, S.; Candotti, S. W.; Schmitter, Petra; Lovins, L. H. 2021.
Future food systems: challenges and consequences of the current food system. In Brears, R. C. (Ed.). The Palgrave handbook of climate resilient societies. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. 29p. (Online first)
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Humanity is in a planetary emergency. Agriculture and food systems are contributing to an interconnected global environmental crisis, with increasing risks, social instability, and conflict. This chapter examines the challenges, drivers, and consequences of unsustainable agriculture and food systems, recognizing these are diverse and multi-scale. It presents a vision for sustainable, nutritious, and equitable food systems. Currently, food systems are a significant driver of climate change, nature loss, and pollution, as well as poor health and poverty, with inequitable access to resources and benefits from food systems. Fundamentally, the systems change needed is to transform terrestrial and aquatic food systems so that they become part of the solution for sustainability, not part of the problem. A safe future for humanity requires radical transformations ranging from agricultural production systems through dietary patterns and waste disposal. The focus is on the broad categories of innovation and sustainable technologies considered to have critical potential in pathways that enable transition to a more resilient and equitable system. Governance is a key enabling condition and needs to be based on food as a human right, not simply as a commodity. Multilevel governance underpins the development and implementation of territorial food systems strategies, which can provide effective integration of multiple solutions. Humanity is at an existential turning point and has a narrow window to act now to reduce risk and avoid catastrophe. The rules governing our food systems are human made – and it is within the gift of humanity to change them.
Technology / Transformation / Environmental impact / Risk / Innovation / Sustainability / Governance / Agriculture / Food systems
Record No:H050610
Suhardiman, Diana; Scurrah, N.; Ayemyaing, N. 2021.
Scalar politics, power struggles and institutional emergence in Daw Lar Lake, Myanmar. Journal of Rural Studies, 87:32-44.
[DOI] More... This paper looks at scalar politics, power struggles, and institutional emergence in Daw Lar Lake in Karen state, Myanmar. It brings to light tensions between centralized and decentralized approaches in the country’s natural resource governance, and how these are manifested in the current legal stalemate with regard to the formal management status of the lake. Building on earlier research on legal pluralism and critical institutionalism, we look at: 1) how the current legal stalemate with regard to the formal management status of the lake is rooted in ongoing bureaucratic struggles between different government agencies; 2) local communities’ strategies to develop and implement their own vision of lake governance through the formation of the Daw Lar Lake Interim Committee; and 3) the extent to which the Interim Committee is able to mediate diverse and often competing local uses and claims to natural resources at (inter) village level, which are based on a mix of customary and ‘official’ legal entitlements and normative orderings. From a policy perspective, we highlight the need to identify pathways for collective action among and across different groups of resource users, as the latter will be crucial in addressing ongoing resource competition, managing cross-sectoral livelihood impacts and ensuring sustainable lake management.
Social aspects / Strategies / Households / Farmers / Livelihoods / Villages / Local communities / Land use / Water scarcity / Fisheries law / Community involvement / Government agencies / Bureaucracy / Legal pluralism / Institutions / Politics / Governance / Natural resources management / Lakes / Water management
Record No:H050609
Dhungana, H.; Clement, F.; Otto, B.; Das, B. 2021.
Examining social accountability tools in the water sector: a case study from Nepal. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 29p.
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Enhancing accountability has become an important objective of the governance reforms over the past two decades. Yet, only a few studies have explored the use of social accountability tools in the water sector in particular. This report aims to fill this gap, based on a case study of a donor-funded water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program in Nepal. We document and analyze the effects of two types of social accountability tools implemented by the program: public hearings and social audits. We examined how these tools have contributed to increased transparency, participation, voice and accountability, and in turn discuss their potential to reduce corruption. We relied on qualitative methods to collect data in two case study water supply schemes in two districts of Nepal. The study found that the social accountability tools provided a platform for water users to participate and deliberate on issues related to the execution of WASH schemes. However, the scope of accountability narrowly focused on the integrity of the water user committees but did not provide the political resources and means for communities to hold funding and implementing agencies accountable. Furthermore, attention to budget management has not provided space to address environmental and social justice issues related to payment of wages, access to water and decision-making processes in the design of the water scheme and water allocation. Findings from the study also indicate that the concept of deliberation and downward accountability, as envisioned in international development discourses, does not necessarily match with local power relationships and local cultural norms.
Case studies / Rural communities / Awareness / Households / Inclusion / Women / Legislation / Public services / Institutional reform / Political institutions / Water user associations / Nongovernmental organizations / Stakeholders / Development aid / Water, sanitation and hygiene / Water allocation / Drinking water / Water resources / Citizen participation / Participatory approaches / Governance / Transparency / Corruption / Auditing / Budgeting / Water supply / Accountability / Social participation
Record No:H050606
Suhardiman, Diana; Karki, Emma; Bastakoti, Ram C. 2021.
Putting power and politics central in Nepal’s water governance. Development Policy Review, 39(4):569-587.
[DOI] More... Motivation: Power relations, and the politics shaping and reshaping them, are key to determining influence and outcomes in water governance. But current discourse on water governance tends to present decision-making as neutral and technical unaffected by political influences.
Purpose: Taking Nepal as a case, this article examines the close interlinkages between bureaucratic and political competition that indirectly influence decisions and outcomes on water governance, while placing this within the context of state transformation.
Approach and Methods: An in-depth case study examines the interactions of politicians and bureaucrats shaping decisions on water governance. It draws on semi-structured interviews and power-mapping to reveal insights from key stakeholders with decision-making power in national management of water resources.
Findings: Political competition drives the country’s development agenda and planning, resulting in fragmented development planning. It works in tandem with the prevailing bureaucratic competition in water resources management. It highlights the need to link the discourse and analysis water governance with processes of state transformation. The current fragmented development planning processes could serve as entry points for civil society groups and the wider society to convey their voice and exert their influence.
Policy implications: Following federalism, the political transfer of power and decision-making, to achieve political representation and social justice, rests with locally elected governing bodies. This coincides with the government’s push to manage water resources through river basin planning. There is a need for greater participation from the local governing bodies and understanding of politics and power shape water governance.
Development projects / Hydropower / River basins / Civil society organizations / Government agencies / Stakeholders / Central government / Decision making / Political parties / Federalism / Bureaucracy / Development planning / Water management / Water resources / Political systems / Water governance
Record No:H049871
Suhardiman, Diana; Scurrah, N. 2021.
Institutional bricolage and the (re)shaping of communal land tenure arrangements: two contrasting cases in upland and lowland northeastern Laos. World Development, 147:105630.
[DOI] More... This article examines the factors shaping communal land tenure and livelihood practices in two villages in Houaphan province, Northeastern Laos. It employs the concept of institutional bricolage to show how local actors combine communal tenure, state intervention, donor programs and local power relations to (re)shape formal rules and day-to-day land tenure and livelihood practices. In particular, it highlights how state territorial strategies in lowland and upland rural spaces have differently shaped state interventions in communal land use and access, producing hybrid forms of communal land management rules and practices. The two cases highlight different processes by which communal tenure is eroded or adapted in the process of state incorporation, raising questions about competing authorities over land and the interests and objectives of different actors in land administration. The village cases illustrate how local communities’ (in)ability to shape, adapt, and reproduce institutional rules and arrangements pertaining to access and use of communal land is closely interlinked with: 1) how farm households perceive communal land tenure in relation to their livelihood options and farming strategies; 2) how power relations among local communities and between local communities and state actors shape decision-making processes and distributional outcomes; and 3) the role of the state in sustaining and advancing its control over land and how this changes over time.
Case studies / Local communities / Villages / Rural areas / Strategies / Livelihoods / Households / Farmers / Political aspects / State intervention / Collective action / Land governance / Land access / Land use planning / Lowland / Highlands / Institutional development / Customary tenure / Land tenure systems / Common lands
Record No:H050547
Joshi, Deepa; Gallant, Bryce; Hakhu, Arunima; de Silva, Sanjiv; McDougall, C.; Dubois, M.; Arulingam, Indika. 2021.
Ramsar Convention and the wise use of wetlands: rethinking inclusion. Ecological Restoration, 39(1-2):36-44. (Special issue: Restoration for Whom, by Whom?)
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The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands emphasizes the “wise use” of wetlands by conserving the ecological character of wetlands while managing the socio-economic value these landscapes hold for different stakeholders. Reviewing the Convention obligations, resolutions, and guidelines through a feminist political ecology lens, we find them to be overtly simplistic and technocratic. A deliberately generic framing of socio-ecological interrelations and of economic trade-offs between wetland uses and users obscures broader political and social contexts which shape complex nature-society interrelations in the use, management, and governance of wetlands. Poverty, the cultural significance of wetlands—particularly for indigenous communities—and gender equality have only recently been considered in wetlands management and governance guidelines and interventions. These recent additions provide little insight on the power imbalances which shape plural values, meanings, experiences, and voices in wetlands use and governance, especially for the most marginalized of wetlands users. We welcome the call for a “reformulation” of a socio-ecological approach to managing and governing wetlands, but caution that unless wetlands governance structures and processes are re-politicized, changes in policies and approaches will likely remain rhetorical.
Local communities / Guidelines / Governance / Ecological factors / Social aspects / Policies / Inclusion / Political ecology / Women / Gender / Conventions / Wetlands
Record No:H050500
Minh, Thai Thi; Osei-Amponsah, Charity. 2021.
Towards poor-centred value chain for sustainable development: a conceptual framework. Sustainable Development, 29(6):1223-1236.
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Value chain for development (VCD) has increasingly been promoted for poverty reduction; yet, there is inadequate evidence on its effectiveness. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this article offers reasons why evidence on VCD impacts on poverty reduction is uncertain. It also suggests a conceptual framework for the poor-centred value chain for sustainable development to guide a better analysis of VCD participation and poverty impacts. The framework is particularly useful for researchers involved in research for development related projects in the VCD space. As it provides an analytical lens to understand the broader contextual situation of the poor, co-design solutions with multi-stakeholders and implement appropriate “fit-toneeds” strategies that ensure the poor benefits from their VCD participation. The article contributes to the existing VCD discourse by reflecting on the multidimensional nature and dynamism of poverty reduction, the poorapos;s heterogeneity and their value chain readiness and VCD impacts on poverty.
Markets / Participation / Governance / Social aspects / Assets / Households / Communities / Strategies / Frameworks / Multi-stakeholder processes / Livelihood diversification / Poverty / Sustainable development / Value chain analysis
Record No:H050494
Hofstetter, Moritz; van Koppen, Barbara; Bolding, A. 2021.
The emergence of collectively owned self-supply water supply systems in rural South Africa – what can we learn from the Tshakhuma case in Limpopo? Water SA, 47(2):253-263.
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Despite the rapid extension of public service delivery since the end of Apartheid, many rural citizens in South Africa still rely on their own initiatives and infrastructure to access water. They construct, improve, operate and maintain infrastructure of different complexities, from individual wells to complex collectively owned water schemes. While most of these schemes operate without legal recognition, they provide essential services to many households. In this article we will first provide an overview of the growing international body of literature describing self-supply as an alternative pathway for public service delivery. We then take a historical perspective on the role of communities and self-supply in South Africa and describe the emergence of six collectively owned, gravity-fed, piped schemes in Tshakhuma, Limpopo Province. We describe and compare these systems using key characteristics like resource access, investment, construction, operation, maintenance and institutional governance. We further assess their performance with regard to coverage, service level, reliability, governance structure, accountability and water quality. We do so because we are convinced that lessons learned from studying such schemes as locally adapted prototypes have the potential to improve public approaches to service delivery. The described cases show the willingness of community members to engage with service delivery and their ability to provide services in cases where the state has failed. The assessment also highlights problematic aspects of self-supply related to a lack of accountability, technical expertise and the exclusion of disadvantaged community members. By describing and assessing the performance of rural self-supply schemes, we aim to recognize, study and learn from such schemes. We consequently do not conclude this article by providing answers, but by raising some pertinent, policy-relevant questions.
Case studies / Households / Water quality / Water users / Infrastructure / Accountability / Investment / Governance / Institutions / Rural areas / Community involvement / Collective ownership / Water supply
Record No:H050441
Chandrasekara, S. S. K.; Chandrasekara, S. K.; Gamini, P. H. S.; Obeysekera, J.; Manthrithilake, Herath; Kwon, H.-H.; Vithanage, M. 2021.
A review on water governance in Sri Lanka: the lessons learnt for future water policy formulation. Water Policy, 23(2):255-273.
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Sri Lanka has no water scarcity within the country, and per capita, water availability is adequate to cater for the country’s estimated peak population. Nevertheless, the frequent variability of spatial and temporal water availability and extreme events have built up a water scarcity in Sri Lanka, which has been observed during the last two to three decades. Therefore, effective and efficient water governance is most important in today’s context, and regular review and amendment of policies, laws, and regulations are crucial to mitigate water scarcity. Although a few attempts were initiated, none of them succeeded. In this study, historical and present water governance mechanisms, including coordinating mechanisms and implementing water management agencies in Sri Lanka, were comprehensively reviewed. Further, the previously proposed water policies, their status and reasons for the failures of policies were discussed. Finally, the formulation of a novel institutional arrangement or altering the existing institutional arrangement with shared data and allocating non-shared responsibilities to each institution is suggested for better water governance in Sri Lanka.
Political aspects / Participatory approaches / Decision making / Donors / Committees / Government agencies / Water institutions / Water scarcity / Irrigation water / Irrigation management / Regulations / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / History / Administrative structures / Coordination / Institutional development / Water policies / Water governance
Record No:H050376
Welling, R.; Filz, P.; Dalton, J.; Smith, Douglas Mark; de Silva, J.; Manyara, P. 2021.
Governing resilient landscapes across the source-to-sea continuum. Water International, 46(2):264-282. (Special issue: Source-to-Sea Management)
[DOI] More... The source-to-sea continuum links the interconnected ecosystems of the water cycle with the associated socioeconomic processes, demands and pressures. Maximizing benefits and protecting existing resources through integrated water management and governance at scale capitalizes on existing institutional and governmental asymmetries by developing an outcome-driven management that builds on existing local, national and transboundary legal frameworks to enhance connectivity. This paper presents how to action this through focusing on three areas of governance: benefit-sharing dialogues for shared visioning; a multi-stakeholder platform to increase coordination in decision-making both up- and downstream; and improved agency coordination between basins and coasts.
Sustainable Development Goals / Ecosystem services / International waters / Coastal areas / River basins / Coordination / Benefits / Cooperation / Agencies / Institutions / Learning / Decision making / Multi-stakeholder processes / Resilience / Marine environment / Freshwater / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Water governance
Record No:H050310
Harris, G. D.; Barron, J.; Uhlenbrook, Stefan; Hussein, H.; Choi, G. 2021.
Special issue on selected papers from 2019 World Water Week. Water, (Special issue with contributions by IWMI authors)
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Financing / Enterprises / Water user associations / Refugees / Displacement / Political aspects / Conflicts / Water rights / Water law / International law / Agricultural insurance / Vulnerability / Drought / Flooding / Disaster risk reduction / Climate change / Water scarcity / Wastewater treatment / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Rural areas / Water supply / s empowerment / Womenapos / Gender / Hygiene / Goal 6 Clean water and sanitation / Sustainable Development Goals / Water governance / Water policy
Record No:H050271
Shah, T.; Rajan, Abhishek; Rai, Gyan P. 2021.
Balancing livelihoods and environment: political economy of groundwater irrigation in India. In Mukherjee, A.; Scanlon, B. R.; Aureli, A.; Langan, Simon; Guo, H.; McKenzie, A. A. (Eds.). Global groundwater: source, scarcity, sustainability, security, and solutions. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. pp.487-499.
[DOI] More... India’s agricultural economy has undergone profound transformation in the past 50 years with the rapid spread of groundwater irrigation. The tube well revolution has democratized irrigation, made famines history, helped alleviate agrarian poverty and made India food secure. However, the spread of private tube wells has cannibalized canals and tanks. The large-scale withdrawal of groundwater has caused acute groundwater stress in several parts of the country, leading to adverse environmental and sustainability challenges. Unlike the United States, Australia, and Spain, where tube wells are instruments of wealth creation in industrial agriculture, in India groundwater governance pits livelihoods of the poor against environmental protection. This study explores this unique challenge. It discusses several efforts undertaken to effectively manage groundwater such as direct regulation, indirect levers like energy pricing and rationing, and community-based groundwater governance. It emphasizes on the arrival of solar irrigation and its potential to reform the perverse energy-groundwater nexus. The paper stresses on the need to move away from resource development to resource management mode to solve the groundwater challenge.
Regulations / Resource management / Sustainability / Community management / Pricing / Water governance / Nexus / Groundwater management / Solar energy / Socioeconomic aspects / Political aspects / Environmental factors / Livelihoods / Groundwater irrigation
Record No:H050270
Mukherjee, A.; Scanlon, B. R.; Aureli, A.; Langan, Simon; Guo, H.; McKenzie, A. A. 2021.
Global groundwater: source, scarcity, sustainability, security, and solutions. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier 676p.
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Modelling / Machine learning / Technology / River basins / Deltas / Hydrogeology / Cold zones / Arid zones / Urbanization / Sustainable Development Goals / Livelihoods / Drought / Climate change / Monitoring / Environmental control / Desalination / Freshwater / Brackish water / Surface water / Domestic water / Water use efficiency / International waters / Water storage / Agricultural production / Aquifers / Groundwater recharge / Arsenic / Pollutants / Chemical substances / Contamination / Water quality / Groundwater pollution / Groundwater irrigation / Water governance / Water supply / Water availability / Water security / Sustainability / Water scarcity / Water resources / Groundwater management
Record No:H050267
Jacobs-Mata, Inga; Mukuyu, Patience; Dini, J. 2021.
A review of trends in scientific coverage of water governance in South Africa and what this means for agenda-setting of public investment in water governance Ramp;D. Water SA, 47(1):10-23.
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A review of global trends in water governance reveals a paradigm dominated by political and institutional change which becomes increasingly aligned with global shifts towards sustainability and also a rapid decline in the hydraulic mission. Closely aligned to these trends, but distinct in its own trajectory, South Africa’s water governance dynamics have evolved through a period of considerable socio-political change marked by inequitable resource allocation and water scarcity. This paper presents the results of a review of water governance research and development (Ramp;D) trends in South Africa, aimed at informing the national funding agency – the Water Research Commission (WRC) – in its agenda-setting process for future water governance research. Through a bibliometric analysis, a data-mining exercise, and stakeholder consultations, this paper distils four key areas of focus for the future of water governance research in South Africa: (i) that future water governance research needs to be more needs-based, solution-oriented and embedded within real-life contexts; (ii) the need for a paradigm shift in water governance research to a constructive, adaptive and rapid response research agenda in an environment of increasing change and uncertainty; (iii) the need for the enabling environment to be strengthened, including acknowledgement of the role of individuals as agents of change, and the role of WRC in establishing a community of practice for water governance experts that can respond to issues with agility; and (iv) a consolidation of fragmented project-based knowledge to a programmatic approach that builds the pipeline of expertise in the water governance Ramp;D domain.
Data mining / Institutions / Political aspects / Government / Trends / Funding / Research projects / Stakeholders / Water policy / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Bibliometric analysis / Research and development / Public investment / Water governance
Record No:H050260
Aheeyar, Mohamed; Jayathilake, Nilanthi; Bucatariu, C.; Reitemeier, M.; Bandara, A.; Thiel, Felix; Drechsel, Pay. 2021.
Governance analysis for urban-wholesale-to-household’s food waste prevention and reduction in Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 42p.
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Institutions / Climate change / Nutrition / Food safety / Policies / Legislation / Guidelines / Waste management / Wholesale markets / Household wastes / Urban areas / Frameworks / Governance / Waste reduction / Food wastes
Record No:H050834
Joshi, Deepa; Monterroso, I.; Gallant, B.; Perera, Kokila; Peveri, V. 2021.
A gender–natural resources tango: water, land, and forest research. In Pyburn, R.; van Eerdewijk, A. (Eds.). Advancing gender equality through agricultural and environmental research: past, present, and future. Washington, DC, USA: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). pp.221-258.
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Land rights / Legal pluralism / Water governance / Water management / Forest governance / s empowerment / Womenapos / Natural resources management / Gender equality
Record No:H050805
Coulon, Cecile A.; Pavelic, Paul; Christen, E. 2021.
Drivers for progress in groundwater management in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In Mukherjee, A.; Scanlon, B.; Aureli, A.; Langan, Simon; Guo, H.; McKenzie, A. (Eds.). Global groundwater: source, scarcity, sustainability, security, and solutions. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. pp.451-468.
[DOI] More... Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a poorly developed, surface water-rich country that has traditionally given limited priority to its groundwater resources, which has resulted in a situation of inadequate scientific knowledge, technical capacity, and policies within the sector. This is slowly changing as the role of groundwater in socioeconomic development is better recognized. This chapter presents an overview of the country’s groundwater resources. It examines the state of knowledge, challenges, gaps, and barriers for effective groundwater resource development. It also reviews the scope and degree of success of recent efforts to enhance groundwater governance. Finally, it presents a concise outlook for groundwater governance, including policy, capacity development, and research perspectives.
Planning / Nongovernmental organizations / State intervention / Institutions / Knowledge and information systems / Awareness raising / Training / Capacity building / Human resources / Stakeholders / Sustainability / Aquifers / Water supply / Water quality / Water use / Legislation / Water policy / Water governance / Water resources / Integrated management / Groundwater management
Record No:H050120
Suhardiman, Diana; Bright, J.; Palmano, C. 2021.
The politics of legal pluralism in the shaping of spatial power in Myanmar’s land governance. Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(2):411-435.
[DOI] More... Following the National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the 2015 national election, Myanmar embarked on a series of legal and political transitions. This paper highlights parallel processes alongside such transitions. Linking land governance with the ongoing peace processes, and taking Karen state as a case study, it brings to light how both processes are in fact closely interlinked. Building on legal pluralism research, we argue that in the context of ethnic states, farmers’ strategies to strengthen their land rights resemble the very notion of state transformation.
Case studies / Local communities / Villages / Strategies / Land titling / Customary tenure / Land tenure / Farmers / Legal frameworks / Political institutions / Central government / Land policies / Land rights / Land use / Political power / Legal pluralism / Land governance
Record No:H049411
Modak, S.; Ghosh, Surajit. 2021.
Floods as agents of vitality: reaffirming human-nature synergies. Neuotting, Germany: Water Science Policy (WSP) 7p.
(Water Science Policy Brief) [DOI] More... |
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Monsoons / Nutrients / Wetlands / Ecosystems / International waters / Water resources / Risk reduction / Communities / Riparian zones / Hydrological factors / River basins / Regulations / Zoning / Policies / Governance / Flood control / Floodplains / Flooding
Record No:H050792
Murzakulova, A.; Dessalegn, Mengistu; Phalkey, N. 2021.
Examining migration governance: evidence of rising insecurities due to COVID-19 in China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand. Comparative Migration Studies, 9:44.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the context of global migration. From a migration perspective, the pandemic is a source of insecurities that challenge migrants, their livelihoods and migration governance. Meanwhile, curtailment in movement has led to economic decline affecting labour markets. For migrant origin and hosting countries, this poses multidimensional development challenges. Analysis from March to August 2020 of China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand highlights the varying ways in which they are all severely affected by the disruptions in migration, suggesting a potentially emerging complex situation in migration patterns and pathways. The disruptions in migration and remittances have had a profound impact on migrants and migrant-sending households. The uncertainty of migration returning to pre-pandemic levels and the potential of lasting consequences on migrants and migration patterns and pathways, suggests a future of greater risk and exploitation, and a wider gap between formal and informal migration. This paper calls for greater mobility cooperation between countries and suggests strengthening mobility migration frameworks and policies for safer migration and for the rights of migrants.
Pandemics / COVID-19 / Migrants / Policies / Livelihoods / Governance / Migration
Record No:H050732
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2021.
Transformation of water systems for climate change adaptation and resilience. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p.
(IWMI Water Issue Brief 18) [DOI] More... |
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Diversity / Vulnerability / Communities / Infrastructure / Irrigation / Uncertainty / Financing / Information systems / Technology / Policies / Participation / Water governance / Water security / Decision making / Risk / Rain / Drought / Flooding / Extreme weather events / Hydrological cycle / Frameworks / Water management / Global warming / Anthropogenic climate change / Resilience / Climate change adaptation / Water systems
Record No:H050721
Jedd, T.; Fragaszy, S. R.; Knutson, C.; Hayes, M. J.; Fraj, M. B.; Wall, N.; Svoboda, M.; McDonnell, Rachael. 2021.
Drought management norms: is the Middle East and North Africa Region managing risks or crises? Journal of Environment and Development, 30(1):3-40.
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The Middle East and North Africa region experiences severe socioeconomic and political impacts during droughts and faces increasing drought risk in future climate projections. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s Sendai Framework and the International Drought Management Programme provide a global standard (a norm) to manage droughts through natural hazard risk reduction approaches. We use participatory engagement to evaluate whether norm diffusion has taken place in four countries. Data were collected in interviews, focus groups, workshops, and policy documents. Analysis reveals incomplete norm diffusion; stakeholders subscribe to relevant values, but national policies and implementation do not fully reflect the norm. Process tracing reveals that the availability of drought early warning data is a key barrier to risk reduction. Further more, a drought early warning system would not be feasible or sufficient unless paired with policy measures and financial mechanisms to reduce the political and economic costs of a drought declaration.
Political aspects / Insurance / Financial situation / Governance / Stakeholders / Civil societies / Government agencies / Decision making / Participatory approaches / Climate change / Groundwater / Vulnerability / Early warning systems / Declarations / Policies / Monitoring / Frameworks / Disaster risk reduction / Disaster risk management / Drought
Record No:H050017
Nepal, S.; Neupane, N.; Belbase, D.; Pandey, Vishnu Prasad; Mukherji, Aditi. 2021.
Achieving water security in Nepal through unravelling the water-energy-agriculture nexus. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 37(1):67-93.
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This article investigates water security in Nepal from the perspective of the water-energy-agriculture (food) nexus, focusing on pathways to water security that originate in actions and policies related to other sectors. It identifies promoting development of Nepal’s hydropower potential to provide energy for pumping as way to improve water security in agriculture. Renewable groundwater reserves of 1.4 billion cubic meters (BCM), from an estimated available balance of 6.9 BCM, could be pumped to irrigate 613,000 ha of rainfed agricultural land in the Terai plains, with a potential direct economic gain of USD 1.1 billion annually and associated benefits including promotion of energy-based industry, food security and local employment. Governance also plays an important role in addressing water security. We conclude that a nexus-based approach is required for effective water management and governance.
Population growth / Rural areas / Urban areas / Irrigated land / Environmental sustainability / Climate change / Irrigation systems / Water supply / Hydropower / Domestic water / Industrial uses / Agricultural water use / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Groundwater / Surface water / Water availability / Nexus / Food security / Energy sources / Water security
Record No:H049496
Fabricius, C.; Novellie, P.; Ringler, C.; Uhlenbrook, Stefan; Wright, D. 2021.
Resilience in agro-ecological landscapes: process principles and outcome indicators. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 36p.
(WLE Legacy Series 4) [DOI] More... |
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This paper explores outcome indicators and process principles to evaluate landscape resilience in agro-ecosystems, drawing on outcome indicator case studies of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). Four questions are addressed: (1) which outcome indicators and process principles feature most prominently in the seminal literature on resilient agro-ecological landscapes? (2) to what extent are these principles represented in CGIAR Outcome Impact Case Reports (OICRs) and selected peer-reviewed studies? (3) how does the use of process principles in the case studies compare to their occurrence in the theoretical literature? and (4) which process principles co-occur with related outcome indicators in the OICRs? The findings enable researchers and practitioners to be more specific about the outcomes and processes that drive resilience in agro-ecosystems, thereby informing adaptive program management. Seven novel research themes are proposed.
Stakeholders / Institutions / Governance / Livelihoods / Social inclusion / Gender equity / Farm income / Land rights / Land access / Biodiversity / Ecosystem services / Agroecosystems / Soil management / Agrifood systems / Production systems / Sustainability / Meta-analysis / Case studies / Monitoring / Impact assessment / Research programmes / CGIAR / Indicators / Ecosystem resilience / Agricultural landscape / Agroecology
Record No:H050974
Schreiner, B.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2020.
Hybrid water rights systems for pro-poor water governance in Africa. Water, 12(1):155. (Special issue: Selected Papers from 2019 World Water Week)
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Water-permit systems are widely used across Africa as a blanket requirement for small and micro irrigation enterprises, as well as large enterprises. The present study aimed to, first, further understand the implications of permit systems for both the most vulnerable and the state, and, second, based on the findings, identify options for pro-poor water legislation that also meet the water governance requirements of the state. The growing recognition of the importance of farmer-led irrigation development for food security across the continent underlines the importance of these questions. Focusing on Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and other African countries, we found that permit systems criminalized instead of protected the water rights of small-scale farmers. Moreover, little if any attention is paid to the logistical burdens and costs to the state of implementing such systems relative to the intended revenue generation. As many small-scale farmers in Africa were found to operate under customary land and water tenure systems, the study proposes a hybrid system of water rights that formally recognizes such practices, along with the use of permits, including enforcement of conditions for large users, to serve the interests of both the state and small-scale farmers.
Irrigation / Small scale systems / Farmers / Smallholders / Water users / Legislation / Legal pluralism / Customary law / Licences / Water law / Water governance / Water rights
Record No:H050006
Ananda, J.; Aheeyar, Mohamed. 2020.
An evaluation of groundwater institutions in India: a property rights perspective. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 22(6):5731-5749.
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Fulltext Groundwater governance has become an intractable policy issue, which has many implications for the living standards and well-being of millions of rural poor in South Asia. Groundwater governance is complex as it is influenced by various hydrogeological, sociopolitical and socioeconomic factors. Unregulated groundwater extraction rates in South Asia have depleted the aquifers causing a raft of socioeconomic, environmental and human health problems. This paper analyzes de facto rights in groundwater markets and other emerging ‘groundwater-sharing institutional arrangements’ in India. Using a multi-dimensional property rights model, the paper decomposes de facto groundwater rights while drawing insights and broad policy lessons. The findings indicate that there is much scope for enhancing the ‘small group groundwater sharing’ governed by social regulatory measures. Moreover, distortionary subsidies for agriculture in general and groundwater development, in particular, have had an adverse impact of the resource use and merit further attention.
Economic analysis / Models / Cooperation / Social aspects / Land rights / Conjunctive use / Nexus / Energy / Surface water / Groundwater recharge / Aquifers / Water policy / Groundwater extraction / Transaction costs / Water market / Water use / Water rights / Property rights / Water governance / Evaluation / Water institutions / Groundwater management
Record No:H049313
Saklani, U.; Shrestha, P. P.; Mukherji, Aditi; Scott, C. A. 2020.
Hydro-energy cooperation in South Asia: prospects for transboundary energy and water security. Environmental Science and Policy, 114:22-34.
[DOI] More... The last decade has witnessed rapid progress in energy cooperation between the countries of the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) sub-region. Cooperation has been bilateral, with each of the countries entering into separate energy development and trade agreement with India, broadly similar to the water sector where national governments engage bilaterally on transboundary cooperation and dispute resolution. A more recent wave of electrical grid interconnections and hydro-energy cooperation has emerged with governments increasingly shifting from bilateral to multilateral energy-sharing agreements. This trend holds considerable potential for regional transboundary water governance. Based on documentary and media analysis along with interviews of key BBIN policy-makers, we identify and examine in this paper four factors for future progress: 1) technical cooperation can be extended to information-sharing for policies and institutions to regulate and manage water resources; 2) India must seize the opportunities and benefits of enhanced regional leadership in the region; 3) simultaneous informal discussion and diplomatic negotiation of water, energy and their nexus can provide BBIN countries the opportunity to highlight potential gains of cooperation and interstate interdependencies; and 4) regional cooperation can give a strong impetus to nations for advancing structural reforms, building institutions and capacity, developing a shared knowledge base, bridging infrastructural gaps, attracting private sector participation, and addressing poverty alleviation goals including job creation.
Riparian zones / Institutional development / Political aspects / Investment / Trade agreements / Bilateral agreements / Treaties / International agreements / Water policy / Water governance / River basins / Water resources / Water security / International waters / International cooperation / Energy generation / Hydropower
Record No:H049878
Suhardiman, Diana; Middleton, C. 2020.
The Salween River as a transboundary commons: fragmented collective action, hybrid governance and power. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 61(2):301-314. (Special issue: Governing the Transboundary Commons of Southeast Asia)
[DOI] More... Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state and non-state actors and institutions in hybrid and multi-scaled networks have influenced water governance in general, and large dam decision-making processes in particular. Putting power relations at the centre of this analysis and drawing on the conceptual lenses of hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, we show the complexity of the fragmented processes through which decisions have been arrived at, and their implications. In the context of highly asymmetrical power relations throughout the basin, and the absence of an intergovernmental agreement to date, we argue that hybrid networks of state and non-state actors could be strategically engaged to connect parallel and fragmented decision-making landscapes with a goal of inclusively institutionalising the transboundary commons and maintaining connected local commons throughout the basin, foregrounding a concern for ecological and social justice.
Political aspects / Nongovernmental organizations / Conflicts / International agreements / Development projects / Decision making / Institutions / State intervention / River basins / Dams / Hydropower / Collective action / International waters / Water governance
Record No:H049874
Sadoff, Claudia; Grey, D.; Borgomeo, Edoardo. 2020.
Water security. In Oxford University Press. Oxford research encyclopedia of environmental science. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press. 19p.
[DOI] More... Water security has emerged in the 21st century as a powerful construct to frame the water objectives and goals of human society and to support and guide local to global water policy and management. Water security can be described as the fundamental societal goal of water policy and management. This article reviews the concept of water security, explaining the differences between water security and other approaches used to conceptualize the water-related challenges facing society and ecosystems and describing some of the actions needed to achieve water security. Achieving water security requires addressing two fundamental challenges at all scales: enhancing water’s productive contributions to human and ecosystems’ well-being, livelihoods and development, and minimizing water’s destructive impacts on societies, economies, and ecosystems resulting, for example, from too much (flood), too little (drought) or poor quality (polluted) water.
Indicators / Risks / Investment / Environmental effects / Ecosystems / Water governance / Water policy / Conflicts / Water pollution / Drought / Flooding / Water management / Water resources / Sustainable development / Water scarcity / Water stress / Water security
Record No:H049747
McDonnell, Rachael; Fragaszy, S.; Sternberg, T.; Veeravalli, S. 2020.
Drought Policy and Management. In Dadson, S. J.; Garrick, D. E.; Penning-Rowsell, E. C.; Hall, J. W.; Hope, R.; Hughes, J. (Eds.). Water science, policy, and management: a global challenge. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley and Sons. pp.233-253.
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Case studies / Institutions / Strategies / Impact assessment / Early warning systems / Water allocation / Insurance / Planning / Disaster preparedness / Resilience / Mitigation / Vulnerability / Desertification / Arid climate / Climate change / Monitoring / Governance / Legislation / Water scarcity / Disaster risk management / Policies / Drought
Record No:H049800
Banhoro, Y.; Debevec, Liza. 2020.
Analyse de textes legislatifs et reglementaires concernant la reforme du systeme de gestion des infrastructures d’approvisionnement en eau potable en milieux rural et semi-urbain au Burkina Faso. In French. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 29p.
(IWMI Working Paper 190 / Document de travail IWMI 190) [DOI] More... |
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Le Burkina Faso, pays enclave dapos;Afrique de lapos;Ouest, est confronte au defi de la penurie dapos;eau. Le pays sapos;est engage dans des reformes liees a lapos;eau, conformement a l’evolution a l’echelle mondiale en matiere de gestion des ressources en eau, et met en oeuvre la GIRE depuis le debut des annees 2000. Ce document passe en revue l’ensemble de la legislation passee et actuelle sur lapos;eau au Burkina Faso, en mettant particulierement lapos;accent sur lapos;approvisionnement en eau potable et les associations d’usagers de lapos;eau en milieu rural. Le document traite des lois et reglements adoptes entre 1960 et 2014, avec un suivi supplementaire en 2019 pour inclure tout nouveau texte. Il aborde les questions liees a la participation des usagers et a lapos;inclusion des femmes dans les processus decisionnels de lapos;approvisionnement en eau en milieu rural.
Decision making / Participatory approaches / Water user associations / Gender / Water scarcity / Water governance / Periurban areas / Rural areas / Regulations / Legislation / Law reform / Water management / Water resources / Infrastructure / Drinking water / Water supply
Record No:H049718
Sadoff, Claudia W.; Borgomeo, E.; Uhlenbrook, Stefan. 2020.
Rethinking water for SDG 6. Nature Sustainability, 3(5):346-347.
[DOI] More... The world is not on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation by 2030. We urge a rapid change of the economics, engineering and management frameworks that guided water policy and investments in the past in order to address the water challenges of our time.
Millennium Development Goals / Drinking water / Water resources / Investment / Water governance / Water policy / Water access / Water management / Engineering / Economic aspects / Goal 6 Clean water and sanitation / Sustainable Development Goals
Record No:H049713
Kjellen, M.; White, M.; Matthews, J.; Mauroner, A.; Timboe, I.; Burchi, S.; Dhot, N.; van Waeyenberge, T.; El Fenni, Y. R.; Lohani, A.; Newton, J.; Imamura, Y.; Miyamoto, M.; Moors, E.; de Oliveira, V. G.; Schmeier, S.; Crespo, C. C.; Gutierrez, M. T.; Welling, R.; Suhardiman, Diana; Hada, R.; Saji, M.; Jimenez, A.; Lymer, B. L.; Saikia, P.; Mathews, R.; Bernardini, F.; Koeppel, S.; Aureli, A.; Resende, T. C.; Avellan, T.; Hahn, A.; Kirschke, S. J.; Perera, D.; Loeffen, A.; Turner, R.; Pories, L.; Aldaco-Manner, L.; Daher, B.; Willemart, S.; Schillinger, J. 2020.
Water governance for resilience to climate change. In UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP); UN-Water. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: water and climate change. Paris, France: UNESCO. pp.150-159.
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This chapter outlines legal, institutional and political means to support climate change adaptation and mitigation, to enhance resilience, and to reduce vulnerability through more inclusive water management, especially at the country level.
Poverty / Uncertainty / Monitoring / Decision making / Public participation / Legal aspects / Institutions / Political aspects / Disaster risk reduction / Water policy / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Resilience / Climate change mitigation / Climate change adaptation / Water governance
Record No:H049605
Tran, T. A.; Suhardiman, Diana. 2020.
Laos’ hydropower development and cross-border power trade in the Lower Mekong Basin: a discourse analysis. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 61(2):219-235. (Special issue: Governing the Transboundary Commons of Southeast Asia)
[DOI] More... Increasing demands for energy to boost the Mekong economies have attracted the keen interest of riparian countries for hydropower development. This is evidenced by extensive investment in hydropower projects across the region over the last few decades. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders, including officials from Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, private sector actors, civil society organisations and academics, as well as secondary data from public and policy resources, this paper aims to examine how the government of Laos’ (GoL) decisions in hydropower development are influenced by regional energy dynamics, and how these shape the country’s future energy development. The paper argues that the GoL’s decisions on hydropower development are highly dilemmatic, given the current limited institutional capacity in hydropower governance and the accelerating evolution of alternative energy in neighbouring countries. While uncertainty in power markets is recognised, this places greater pressure on new hydropower projects as to how much power could be sufficiently produced and exported. The paper calls for GoL’s policy considerations on the development and planning of alternative energy to secure the sustainable and equitable use of water resources as stipulated in the 1995 Mekong Agreement.
Environmental effects / Markets / Economic aspects / River basins / Dams / Development projects / Strategies / State intervention / Governance / Energy policies / Trade agreements / International trade / Energy generation / Hydroelectric power generation
Record No:H049593
Bastakoti, Ram; Raut, Manita; Thapa, Bhesh Raj. 2020.
Groundwater governance and adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps: experiences from the eastern Gangetic Plains. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank 16p.
(Water Knowledge Note) More... |
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Solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs) have been promoted in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) in recent decades, but rates of adoption are low. This case study assesses the evidence from several solar pump business models being adopted in parts of the EGP, particularly eastern Nepal and northern India, and explores how different models perform in various contexts. It documents lessons for increasing farmers’ resilience to droughts through better groundwater use by promotion of SPIPs. Groundwater access for agriculture in the past was dependent on diesel and electric pumps, respectively constrained by costs and reliability of energy. Both government and nongovernment agencies have promoted SPIPs in the Ganges basin for irrigation and drinking purposes. SPIPs receive different levels of subsidies across countries and states in the region to facilitate adoption and ensure continuous and timely irrigation, which particularly benefits small and marginal farmers. Because the EGP faces variability in water availability, the SPIPs could help in building drought resilience. However, because low operating costs for SPIPs does little to incentivize farmers to use water efficiently, one critical question is how to balance equitable access to SPIPs while ensuring groundwater overdraft is not perpetuated. Farmers’ awareness of efficient water management options is crucial to avoid overextraction of groundwater.
Case studies / attitudes / Farmersapos / Community involvement / Entrepreneurs / Subsidies / Water costs / State intervention / Policies / Business models / Electricity supplies / Water market / Water use efficiency / Groundwater extraction / Pumps / Solar energy / Irrigation methods / Water governance / Groundwater irrigation
Record No:H049596
Harou, J. J.; Matthews, J. H.; Smith, D. Mark; McDonnell, Rachael A.; Borgomeo, E.; Sara, J. J.; Braeckman, J. P.; Matthews, N.; Dalton, J.; Young, M. D.; Ovink, H. W. J.; Mumba, M.; Shouler, M.; Markkanen, S.; Vicuna, S. 2020.
Water at COP25: resilience enables climate change adaptation through better planning, governance and finance. Editorial. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Management, 173(2):55-58.
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Organizations / Environmental effects / Infrastructure / Investment / Financing / Water governance / Planning / Resilience / Climate change mitigation / Climate change adaptation / Water resources
Record No:H049592
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Saikia, Panchali; Maitra, Shourav. 2020.
Community water management and agricultural extension services: effects, impacts and perceptions in the coastal zone of Bangladesh. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 48p.
(WLE Research for Development (R4D) Learning Series 8) [DOI] More... |
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The coastal region of Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters and these events are expected to worsen as a result of climate change. Combined with anthropogenic factors, these events challenge livelihood opportunities, especially crop production. Waterlogging, tidal activity and the lack of proper drainage facilities are major constraints to agricultural production in these areas.
The CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) tested, at pilot scale, the combination of innovative agricultural technologies with improved water management to overcome these challenges.
This report assesses this intervention by observing the effects, measuring the short-term impacts and understanding the perceptions. The results highlight the need to integrate the interventions into the local context, and acknowledge that institutions and markets need to mature to harness the benefits from innovations. It also underlines the potential of multi-scale interventions combining plot-level and farmer-led innovations, community management and rehabilitation of large schemes.
Households / Villages / Research projects / Climate change / Benefit-cost ratio / Economic analysis / Irrigation canals / Maintenance / Infrastructure / Water governance / Siltation / Drainage / Salinity / Waterlogging / Submergence / Reclaimed land / Family labour / Hired labour / Farmers’ attitudes / Fertilizer application / Rice / High yielding varieties / Diversification / Farm inputs / Markets / Profitability / Crop yield / Agricultural production / Seasonal cropping / Cropping patterns / Technology / Agricultural practices / Agricultural development / Coastal zones / Agricultural extension / Participatory approaches / Community management / Water management in upland / Water management in lowland / Learning / Agricultural research for development
Record No:H049571
Dessalegn, Mengistu; Nicol, Alan; Debevec, Liza. 2020.
From poverty to complexity?: the challenge of out-migration and development policy in Ethiopia. [Policy Brief of the Migration Governance and Agricultural and Rural Change (AGRUMIG) Project]. London, UK: SOAS University of London 8p.
(AGRUMIG Policy Brief Series 2) More... |
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This brief assesses the current state of migration-related policies in Ethiopia, and provides some early recommendations and policy pointers based on work carried out under the AGRUMIG project. In Ethiopia, the scale of migration and its impacts on rural and urban transformations are underestimated and probably increasing. There is a lack of a coherent national migration policy in the country, which is a potential development hindrance. Establishing a national migration policy and improving bilateral arrangements with receiving countries could help Ethiopia reap greater positive impacts from migration and remittance income, including assisting in crucial processes of social transformation in rural areas.
Poverty / Urban areas / Rural areas / Remittances / Employment / Agriculture / Migrants / Labour mobility / Governance / Development policies / Migration
Record No:H049561
Cassara, M.; Beekma, J.; de Strasser, L.; Anarbekov, Oyture; Murzaeva, Makhliyo; Giska, S.; Dorre, A. 2020.
Local and national institutions and policies governing water resources management. In Xenarios, S.; Schmidt-Vogt, D.; Qadir, M.; Janusz-Pawletta, B.; Abdullaev, I. (Eds.). The Aral Sea Basin: water for sustainable development in Central Asia. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.136-154.
(Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World) More...
River basins / Indigenous knowledge / Information systems / Water user associations / Nexus / Energy / Food security / Sustainable Development Goals / Institutional reform / Water governance / Water policy / Water institutions / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H049421
Nicol, Alan; Abdoubaetova, A.; Wolters, A.; Kharel, A.; Murzakolova, A.; Gebreyesus, A.; Lucasenco, E.; Chen, F.; Sugden, F.; Sterly, H.; Kuznetsova, I.; Masotti, M.; Vittuari, M.; Dessalegn, Mengistu; Aderghal, M.; Phalkey, N.; Sakdapolrak, P.; Mollinga, P.; Mogilevskii, R.; Naruchaikusol, S. 2020.
Between a rock and a hard place: early experience of migration challenges under the Covid-19 pandemic. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 22p.
(IWMI Working Paper 195) [DOI] More... |
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This working paper was produced under the European Union Horizon 2020 funded AGRUMIG project and traces the impact of Covid-19 on migration trends in seven project countries – China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand.
The context of global migration has changed dramatically due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both within and between countries there has been a substantial curtailment of movement. As a result of multiple lockdowns, economic activity has severely declined and labor markets have ground to a halt, with mass unemployment in industrialized economies looming on the horizon. For both migrant hosting and origin countries – some are substantially both – this poses a set of complex development challenges.
Partners of the AGRUMIG project undertook a rapid review of impacts across project countries, exploring the impacts on rural households but also identifying the persistent desire to migrate in spite of restrictions.
Uncertainty / Assessment / Policies / Border closures / Travel restrictions / Quarantine / Governance / State intervention / Rural areas / Households / Food supply / Social inequalities / Poverty / Economic activities / Remittances / Income / Health hazards / Livelihoods / Unemployment / Migrant labour / Labour market / Pandemics / COVID-19 / Migration
Record No:H050125
Nguyen-Khoa, S.; McCartney, Matthew; Funge-Smith, S.; Smith, L.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Dubois, M. 2020.
Increasing the benefits and sustainability of irrigation through the integration of fisheries: a guide for water planners, managers and engineers. : Rome, Italy: FAO; Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 92p.
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There is increasing recognition of the need to bring about changes across the full spectrum of agricultural practices to ensure that, in future, food production systems are more diverse, sustainable and resilient. In this context, the objectives of irrigation need to be much more ambitious, shifting away from simply maximizing crop yields to maximizing net benefits across a range of uses of irrigation water, including ecosystems and nature-based solutions. One important way to achieve this is by better integrating fisheries into the planning, design, construction, operation and management of irrigation systems. Irrigation – a major contributor to the Green Revolution – has significantly improved agricultural production worldwide, with consequent benefits for food security, livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Today, irrigated agriculture represents about 21 percent of cultivated land, but contributes approximately 40% of the total global crop production. Many governments continue to invest in irrigation as a cornerstone of food security and rural development. Investments in irrigation often represent a pragmatic form of adaptation to changing climatic conditions. This guide focuses on how to sustainably optimize and broaden the range of benefits from irrigation development - not only economic but also social and environmental benefits. It emphasizes the opportunities that fisheries could provide to increase food production and economic returns, enhance livelihoods and public health outcomes, and maintain key ecosystem services. The guide considers possible trade-offs between irrigation and fisheries, and provides recommendations on how these could be minimized.
Floodplains / Rivers / Water reservoirs / Rural areas / Conflicts / Stakeholders / Institutions / Water governance / Participatory approaches / Community management / Sustainable Development Goals / Trends / Environmental Impact Assessment / Monitoring and evaluation / Socioeconomic environment / Nutrition security / Food security / Livelihoods / Infrastructure / Irrigated farming / Aquaculture / Habitats / Aquatic ecosystems / Irrigation management / Guidelines / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Irrigation systems / Sustainability / Fishery production
Record No:H050111
Molle, F.; Closas, Alvar. 2020.
Why is state-centered groundwater governance largely ineffective?: a review. WIREs Water, 7(1):1-17.
[DOI] More... Faced with severe groundwater depletion, many governments have opted to increase the power of the state. Despite calls for more inclusive governance and a role for groundwater users, modes of governance have tended to continue to rely on a diversity of policy tools and state-run strategies in the attempt to control groundwater (over)abstraction. Yet, around the world, the performance of state-centered governance has remained dismal. Beyond common difficulties in terms of data and financial or human resources, this article analyzes in greater depth the limited effectiveness of state groundwater policies that has been observed, emphasizing its political ramifications. The various aspects of weak monitoring and enforcement, as well as of the infamous “lack of political will,” are considered from the perspective of the political economy of groundwater economies. Cases of relative success are then used to identify favorable drivers and contexts for effective state-centered groundwater governance.
Aquifers / Monitoring / Social aspects / Bureaucracy / Conflicts / Legal aspects / Corruption / Political aspects / Regulations / Water use / Water policy / State intervention / Water governance / Groundwater management
Record No:H049373
Keovilignavong, Oulavanh; Suhardiman, Diana. 2020.
Linking land tenure security with food security: unpacking farm households’ perceptions and strategies in the rural uplands of Laos. Land Use Policy, 90:104260
[DOI] More... Land tenure, or access and rights to land, is essential to sustain people’s livelihoods. This paper looks at how farm households perceive land tenure (in)security in relation to food (in)security, and how these perceptions evolve throughout different policy periods in Laos. The paper highlights the centrality of farmers’ strategies in configuring the dynamic relationships between tenure (in)security and food (in)security, by demonstrating how farmers’ perceived and de facto land tenure insecurity shapes their decisions to diversify livelihood options to ensure food security. While the paper’s key findings reveal the close interlinkages between land tenure (in) security and food (in)security, we argue that the first does not automatically result in the latter. In contrast, we show how perceived and de-facto land tenure insecurity pushes farmers to explore alternative strategies and avenues to ensure food supply, through farm and non-farm employment. From a policy perspective, the paper highlights the need to put people’s livelihoods at the center of land governance, thus moving beyond the current positioning of land as merely a means for agricultural production or environmental conservation.
Case studies / Rural areas / Villages / Highlands / Land governance / Government policy / Non-farm employment / attitudes / Farmersapos / Strategies / Living standards / Household income / Land policies / Land use planning / Food security / Perception of tenure security / Land tenure
Record No:H049372
Closas, Alvar; Villholth, Karen G. 2020.
Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges. WIREs Water, 7(1):1-16.
[DOI] More... With decreasing aquifer levels, increasing groundwater pollution, inequitable access, and generally poor management outcomes, better groundwater governance has been put forward as a recipe to address these challenges worldwide. Existing recommendations focus on improved legal frameworks, monitoring and control of access and abstraction through permits or formal rights. In addition, decentralized water management, enforcement of regulations, and supply-side technological solutions are seen as cornerstone components of good groundwater governance systems. However, until now, these approaches have generally failed to reconcile the fundamental dynamics and properties of groundwater as a natural resource and of governance as a social and political phenomenon. This has caused a disregard for local to planetary boundaries, power dynamics, and intra- and intergenerational inequalities in access to benefits from groundwater. As the current general notion of good groundwater governance is limited, solutions put forward are also partial and do not encompass the wider challenges affecting groundwater governance, in effect replacing sustainable management goals and policy for governance as a process. This paper takes a particular look at the Middle East and North Africa and agricultural groundwater use for irrigation to constructively redefine groundwater governance and fully address the multilayered and multifaceted core challenges of groundwater governance. Equally, the paper puts forward a new conceptual thinking that will help support the effective development of governance-based solutions to achieve sustainable, socially acceptable, resilient and equitable resource use.
Monitoring / Agriculture / Sustainability / Political aspects / Social aspects / Water supply / Decentralization / Legislation / Water law / Water policy / Water governance / Groundwater management
Record No:H049371
Anderson, E. P.; Jackson, S.; Tharme, R. E.; Douglas, M.; Flotemersch, J. E.; Zwarteveen, M.; Lokgariwar, C.; Montoya, M.; Wali, A.; Tipa, G. T.; Jardine, T. D.; Olden, J. D.; Cheng, L.; Conallin, J.; Cosens, B.; Dickens, Chris; Garrick, D.; Groenfeldt, D.; Kabogo, J.; Roux, D. J.; Ruhi, A.; Arthington, A. H. 2019.
Understanding rivers and their social relations: a critical step to advance environmental water management. WIREs Water, 6(6):1-21.
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River flows connect people, places, and other forms of life, inspiring and sustaining diverse cultural beliefs, values, and ways of life. The concept of environmental flows provides a framework for improving understanding of relationships between river flows and people, and for supporting those that are mutually beneficial. Nevertheless, most approaches to determining environmental flows remain grounded in the biophysical sciences. The newly revised Brisbane Declaration and Global Action Agenda on Environmental Flows (2018) represents a new phase in environmental flow science and an opportunity to better consider the co-constitution of river flows, ecosystems, and society, and to more explicitly incorporate these relationships into river management. We synthesize understanding of relationships between people and rivers as conceived under the renewed definition of environmental flows. We present case studies from Honduras, India, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia that illustrate multidisciplinary, collaborative efforts where recognizing and meeting diverse flow needs of human populations was central to establishing environmental flow recommendations. We also review a small body of literature to highlight examples of the diversity and interdependencies of human-flow relationships—such as the linkages between river flow and human well-being, spiritual needs, cultural identity, and sense of place—that are typically overlooked when environmental flows are assessed and negotiated. Finally, we call for scientists and water managers to recognize the diversity of ways of knowing, relating to, and utilizing rivers, and to place this recognition at the center of future environmental flow assessments.
Case studies / Declarations / Ecosystems / Ecological factors / Cultural values / Living standards / Indigenous peoples / Water governance / Water allocation / Freshwater / Social conditions / Human relations / Water management / Environmental flows / Rivers
Record No:H049329
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2019.
IWMI Strategy 2019-2023: innovative water solutions for sustainable development. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
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Data management / Sustainable Development Goals / Reuse / Resource recovery / Urbanization / Poverty / Agricultural productivity / Economic growth / Resilience / Natural resources / Communication / Models / Research and development / Partnerships / Empowerment / Women / Gender equity / Environmental impact assessment / Digital technology / Nexus / Food security / Food systems / Climate change / Ecosystems / Water availability / Water policy / Water use / Water supply / Water security / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water management / Water resources / Research institutes / Strategy planning
Record No:H049297
Suhardiman, Diana; Kenney-Lazar, M.; Meinzen-Dick, R. 2019.
The contested terrain of land governance reform in Myanmar. Critical Asian Studies, 51(3):368-385.
[DOI] More... State control of land plays a critical role in producing land dispossession throughout the Global South. In Myanmar, the state’s approach towards territorial expansion has driven the country’s system of land governance, resulting in widespread and systemic land grabbing. This article investigates ongoing land governance reforms as key terrains for contesting such abuses of power. Employing a relational land governance approach, we view reform processes as shaped by changing power-laden social relations among government, civil society, and international donor actors. Legal and regulatory reforms in Myanmar potentially act as sites of meaningful social change but in practice tend to maintain significant limitations in altering governance dynamics. Civil society organizations and their alliances in Myanmar have played an important role in opening up policy processes to a broader group of political actors. Yet, policies and legal frameworks still are often captured by elite actors, becoming trapped in path dependent power relations.
Social aspects / Land rights / Farmers / Land law / Legal aspects / Political aspects / Donors / Civil society organizations / State intervention / Land grabbing / Land use / Land reform / Land policies / Land governance
Record No:H049252
Dickens, Chris; Nhlengethwa, Sibusiso; Ndhlovu, Brown. 2019.
Mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals in developing countries. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 23p.
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The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promises to achieve change in almost every aspect of life on Earth. Encompassing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, the Agenda marks the first time in history when all nations have agreed on how to chart their future. The SDGs are not just a global reporting exercise, however, but rather involve a global program that embraces country-led efforts. Guided by the ideas contained in the 2030 Agenda, each nation must seek to become more prosperous and sustainable, while contributing to the global effort at the same time. If all the countries achieve this, we will have a sustainable planet and a secure future for all.
This document offers guidance on how developing countries can adapt the SDGs to their own contexts and priorities. It indicates important areas for developing countries to consider when creating their own program to achieve the SDGs, and provides examples of success to demonstrate concrete possibilities for progress.
Strategies / Risk assessment / Adaptability / Accountability / Impact assessment / Monitoring / Budgeting / Financing / Governance / Institutions / Government agencies / National planning / Development policies / Economic development / Awareness raising / Partnerships / Public-private cooperation / Multi-stakeholder processes / Development indicators / UN / Developing countries / Mainstreaming / Sustainable Development Goals
Record No:H049245
Sood, Aditya; Nicol, Alan; Arulingam, Indika. 2019.
Unpacking the water-energy-environment-food nexus: working across systems. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 43p.
(IWMI Working Paper 186) [DOI] More... |
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The increasing demand for water, energy and food, and the interdependence of these systems could lead to potential human conflict in the future. This was seen in the food crisis of 2008, which stirred a renewed interest in taking a quot;systemsquot; approach to managing resources. The initial flurry of activities led to many nexus frameworks, but there remains a gap between theory and its implementation. This paper tries to look at various frameworks and unpacks the concept of nexus in order to develop matrices to help quantify and understand the interlinkages between the nexus systems. It suggests multi-level and multi-system indices to measure the health of nexus systems and to identify the weak links. It is hoped that such frameworks can be used at country level, and eventually be used to measure and rank countries on the health of their systems. The paper suggests a questionnaire that can be used (after modifying for local conditions) to collect country-level institutional and political-economy data (which is difficult to get from online resources) to be used in the framework.
Decision making / Resource allocation / Resource management / Legislation / Sustainability / Risk management / Environmental impact assessment / Socioeconomic environment / Stakeholders / Ecosystem services / Nexus / Water governance / Water policy / Water institutions / Water security / Water availability / Energy sources / Energy generation / Food security / Food production
Record No:H049196
Leder, S.; Shrestha, Gitta; Das, D. 2019.
Transformative engagements with gender relations in agriculture and water governance. New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy, 5(1):128-158. (Special issue: Water Security and Inclusive Water Governance in the Himalayas)
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Despite frequent calls for transformative approaches for engaging in agrarian change and water governance, we observe little change in everyday development and research praxis. Empirical studies on transformative engagements with gender relations among smallscale or tenant farmers and water user groups are particularly rare. We explore transformative engagements through an approach based on critical pedagogy (Freire, 1996) and transformative practice (Leder, 2018). We examine opportunities to promote empathy and critical consciousness on gender norms, roles and relations in agriculture and resource management. We developed and piloted an innovative “Participatory Gender Training for Community Groups” as part of two internationally funded water security projects. The training consists of three activities and three discussions to reflect on gender roles in families, communities and agriculture, to discuss the gendered division of labour and changing gender relations over time and space, and to create empathy and resolve conflicts through a bargaining role play with switched genders. The approach was implemented in twelve villages across four districts in Nepal and India (Bihar, West Bengal). Our results show how the training methods can provide an open space to discuss local gender roles within households, agriculture and natural resource management. Discussing own gender norms promotes critical consciousness that gender norms are socially constructed and change with age, class, caste and material and structural constraints such as limited access to water and land. The activities stimulated enthusiasm and inspiration to reflect on possible change towards more equal labor division and empathy towards those with weaker bargaining power. Facilitators have the most important role in transformative engagements and need to be trained to reinterpret training principles in local contexts, and to apply facilitation skills to focus on transforming rather than reproducing gender norms. We argue that the gender training methods can initiate transformative practice with the gender-water-agriculture nexus by raising critical consciousness of farmers, community mobilisers, and project staff on possibilities of social change “in situ”.
Social aspects / Villages / Water management / Water resources / Labour / Women farmers / Community involvement / Gender training / Participatory research / Participatory approaches / Water governance / Agriculture / Gender relations
Record No:H049737
Suhardiman, Diana; de Silva, Sanjiv; Arulingam, Indika; Rodrigo, Sashan; Nicol, Alan. 2019.
Review of water and climate adaptation financing and institutional frameworks in South Asia. Background Paper 3. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 110p.
(Climate Risks and Solutions: Adaptation Frameworks for Water Resources Planning, Development and Management in South Asia) [DOI] More... |
Fulltext (1.55 MB)
Stakeholders / Coastal area / Irrigation systems / Risk management / Government agencies / Nongovernmental organizations / Cooperation / Domestic water / Climate-smart agriculture / Poverty / Population growth / Integrated management / Groundwater depletion / Surface water / Hydropower / Food production / Food security / Energy resources / Planning / Decision making / Landscape / Costs / Funding / Financing / Economic situation / Rainfall / Drought / Flooding / Climate change adaptation / International waters / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water institutions / Water supply / Water management / Water quality / Water availability / Water demand / Water resources development
Record No:H049186
Davis, R.; Hirji, R. 2019.
Review of water and climate change policies in South Asia. Background Paper 2. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 120p.
(Climate Risks and Solutions: Adaptation Frameworks for Water Resources Planning, Development and Management in South Asia) [DOI] More... |
Fulltext (1.57 MB)
Community involvement / Resource management / Risk management / Conjunctive use / Sanitation / Soil management / Early warning systems / Sedimentation / Landslides / Erosion / Meltwater / Legislation / Irrigation systems / Irrigation management / Dams / Precipitation / Coastal waters / Sea level / Aquifers / Stream flow / International waters / Public administration / Drought / Flood control / Investment / Water storage / Water use efficiency / Water quality / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater management / Surface water / Monitoring / Education / Communication / Planning / Infrastructure / Knowledge / Integrated management / River basin management / Water supply / Water user associations / Water governance / Water policy / Water management / Water resources development / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H049185
Lacombe, Guillaume; Chinnasamy, Pennan; Nicol, Alan. 2019.
Review of climate change science, knowledge and impacts on water resources in South Asia. Background Paper 1. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 73p.
(Climate Risks and Solutions: Adaptation Frameworks for Water Resources Planning, Development and Management in South Asia) [DOI] More... |
Fulltext (7.58 MB)
Aerosols / Models / Hydrological factors / Governance / Decision making / Infrastructure / Monitoring / Knowledge / Semiarid zones / Land use / Erosion / Meltwater / Sea level / Precipitation / Landslides / Sedimentation / Cyclones / Contamination / Drought / Coastal area / Flooding / Risk management / Industrial uses / Stream flow / Groundwater recharge / Aquifers / International waters / Surface water / Evaporation / Temperature / Rain / Environmental impact assessment / Drinking water / Domestic water / Water quality / Water power / Water use efficiency / Water management / Water resources development / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H049184
Borgomeo, Edoardo; Santos, N. 2019.
Towards a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water in the Arab region: fertile ground for innovation. Background paper prepared for the high level meeting on agricultural water policies and investments. : Rome, Italy: FAO; Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 124p.
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The Arab region needs a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water. Agricultural water management has always posed challenges and opportunities in the Arab world. However, unprecedented and accelerating drivers such as climate change, population growth, and land degradation make agricultural water management a more urgent priority than ever before. In addition, as part of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, Arab countries have committed to work towards an ambitious set of development targets, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unless the right policies and investments are put in place, it will be difficult to achieve the SDGs, including ending hunger and providing clean water and sanitation for all.
This paper is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute to foster dialogue on agricultural water policies and investments in the context of the FAO led Regional Water Scarcity initiative. The purpose of the paper is to frame the key challenges and opportunities in the sector – including emerging innovations in digital agriculture, water accounting, water supply and wastewater reuse – and to lay out broad strategic directions for action.
Case studies / Farmers / Gender / Social protection / Economic value / Public-private partnerships / Solar energy / Technology / Innovation / Water reuse / Wastewater / Climate change / Groundwater / Water resources / Water user associations / Water productivity / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water supply / Water security / Food security / Food policies / Agricultural development / Sustainable Development Goals / Funding / Irrigation investment / Agricultural policies / Water policy / Water management / Agricultural sector
Record No:H049659
Scott, C. A.; Zhang, F.; Mukherji, A.; Immerzeel, W.; Mustafa, D.; Bharati, Luna; Zhang, H.; Albrecht, T.; Lutz, A.; Nepal, S.; Siddiqi, A.; Kuemmerle, H.; Qadir, M.; Bhuchar, S.; Prakash, A.; Sinha, R. 2019.
Water in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. In Wester, P.; Mishra, A.; Mukherji, A.; Shrestha, A. B. (Eds.). The Hindu Kush Himalaya assessment: mountains, climate change, sustainability and people. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp.257-299.
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Decision making / International cooperation / International waters / Environmental flows / Ecosystems / Urbanization / Contaminants / Sanitation / Drinking water / Plains / Mountains / Lowland / Groundwater management / Water institutions / Water governance / Water pollution / Water quality / Water use / Water springs / Sedimentation / Flow discharge / River basin management / Precipitation / Water availability
Record No:H049103
Suhardiman, Diana; Keovilignavong, Oulavanh; Kenney-Lazar, M. 2019.
The territorial politics of land use planning in Laos. Land Use Policy, 83:346-356.
[DOI] More... This paper examines land use planning processes in Laos, particularly how they are shaped and reshaped by key actors’ interests and strategies across scales and how they are closely interlinked with state logics of territorialization. It critiques dominant perspectives that view land use planning as a tool for bridging policy and institutional divides to generate holistic land governance. Instead, it presents land use planning as a function of power and a contested arena of power struggle, driven primarily by the development targets of sectoral ministries and the interests of powerful local actors. We show how bureaucratic competition and sectoral fragmentation prevail directly within Laos’s National Land Master Plan formulation process. The paper shows how the logics of land governance in Laos are comprised of a disjuncture between national and local land use planning processes and, a disconnect between formal land use planning and actual land use across scales.
Land allocation / Land policies / Land governance / Corporate culture / Local organizations / Bureaucracy / Political aspects / Territories / Land use planning
Record No:H049143
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2019.
IWMI Annual report 2018. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 42p.
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Fulltext (4.35 MB)
Infrastructure / Financing / Investment / Resilience / Disaster prevention / Flood control / Wetlands / Farmers / Smallholders / Water user associations / Water conservation / Soil conservation / Pollution by agriculture / Water pollution / Resource management / Water accounting / Water governance / Water law / Groundwater irrigation / Irrigation management / Solar energy / Food security / Research programmes / CGIAR / Sustainable Development Goals / Sustainable agriculture / Water management
Record No:H049534
Smith, D. Mark; Matthews, J. H.; Bharati, Luna; Borgomeo, Edoardo; McCartney, Matthew; Mauroner, A.; Nicol, Alan; Rodriguez, D.; Sadoff, Claudia; Suhardiman, Diana; Timboe, I.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Anisha, N. 2019.
Adaptation’s thirst: accelerating the convergence of water and climate action. Background paper prepared for the 2019 report of the Global Commission on Adaptation. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA). 42p.
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Fulltext (1.39 MB)
Technological changes / Uncertainty / Resilience / Insurance / Drought / Flooding / Risk assessment / Hydrological cycle / Participation / Institutions / UNFCCC / Sustainable Development Goals / International agreements / Investment / Funding / Financing / Economic impact / Infrastructure / Water resources / Policies / Strategies / Frameworks / Decision making / Water governance / Water management / Climate change adaptation
Record No:H049446
Young, W. J.; Anwar, Arif; Bhatti, Tousif; Borgomeo, Edoardo; Davies, S.; Garthwaite, W. R. III; Gilmont, M.; Leb, C.; Lytton, L.; Makin, Ian; Saeed, B. 2019.
Pakistan: getting more from water. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank 191p.
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This report builds on prior work to provide a new, comprehensive, and balanced view of water security in Pakistan, stressing the importance of the diverse social, environmental, and economic outcomes from water. The report highlights the complex water issues that Pakistan must tackle to improve water security and sheds new light on conventional assumptions around water. It seeks to elevate water security as an issue critical for national development. The report assesses current water security and identifies important water-related challenges that may hinder progress in economic and human development. It identifies unmitigated water-related risks, as well as opportunities where water can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. The report analyzes how the performance and architecture of the water sector are related to broader economic, social, and environmental outcomes. It models alternative economic trajectories to identify where intervention can lead to a more water-secure future. A consideration of water sector architecture and performance and how these determine outcome leads to recommendations for improving aspects of sector performance and adjusting sector architecture for better outcomes. The sector performance analysis considers (a) management of the water resource, (b) delivery of water services, and (c) mitigation of water-related risks. The description of sector architecture considers water governance, infrastructure, and financing.
Models / Monitoring / Political aspects / Sediment / Dams / Reservoirs / Rivers / Planning / Risk reduction / Flood control / Climate change / Sanitation / Income / Financing / Economic aspects / Investment / Infrastructure / Law reform / Legal frameworks / Environmental sustainability / Nexus / Energy / Hydropower / Water supply / Irrigated farming / Irrigated sites / Irrigation systems / Institutional reform / Water extraction / Water quality / Water demand / Water balance / Water allocation / Water availability / Water productivity / Agricultural water use / Groundwater management / Water policy / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Water security
Record No:H049423
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Yuldashev, Tulkin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2019.
Assessment of the current situation of the Aksu River Basin in Kashkadarya Region: analytical report. In Russian. Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas in Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. 58p. (Also in English/Uzbek)
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Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Land resources / Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Irrigation systems / Agricultural development / Strategies / Stakeholders / Socioeconomic environment / Rural areas / Water quality / Water use / Water supply / Drinking water / Groundwater / Planning / Development policies / Water governance / Legal frameworks / Sustainability / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / River basin development
Record No:H049426
Keovilignavong, Oulavanh. 2019.
Mining governance dilemma and impacts: a case of gold mining in Phu-Hae, Lao PDR. Resources Policy, 61:141-150.
[DOI] More... This paper reexamines how local governments exercised the legal powers related to their official rights and duties to manage the impacts of both large-scale mining (LSM) and artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) activities, and how local households perceived resource changes and what strategies they have adopted to adapt their livelihoods based on a case study of the Phu-Hae area, in Xieng Khouang province of northern Lao PDR. It reveals that local government agencies have insufficient capacity to exercise their legal powers to protect natural resources and local livelihoods, partly as a result of weak governance mechanisms. The impacts from LSM and ASM had degraded natural resources and changed local livelihood strategies, impacting particularly the poorer households and women who perceived ASM as a means to increase income and sustain precarious livelihoods, which was often as the expense of the environment and their health. It highlights the need to strengthen capacity to local government and technical training targeted at farming and non-farming livelihood activities for the local community as a way of facilitating alternative income sources for poor households involved with artisanal mining.
Womans status / Gender / Villages / Strategies / Living standards / Households / Investment / Illegal practices / Legal aspects / Small scale systems / Large scale systems / Local government / Governance / Mining / Gold / Natural resources management
Record No:H049429
Keovilignavong, Oulavanh; Suhardiman, Diana. 2019.
Implications of rubber land concessions on local resource governance in Cambodia. In Phu, L. V.; Giap, N. V.; Tram, L. T. Q.; Hoanh, Chu Thai; McPherson, M. (Eds.). Resource governance, agriculture and sustainable livelihoods in the Lower Mekong Basin. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD). pp.353-368.
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Economic aspects / Public opinion / Villages / Households / Farmers / Gender / Companies / Local authorities / Strategies / Living standards / Rural communities / Natural resources / Concession (land) / Rubber industry / Governance / Resource management
Record No:H049447
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2019.
IWMI Strategy 2019-2023: innovative water solutions for sustainable development. Summary. In Arabic. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 8p. (Also in English)
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Fulltext (252 KB)
Data management / Agriculture / Economic growth / Partnerships / Research programmes / Gender equality / Innovation / Digital technology / Resilience / Nexus / Food security / Climate change adaptation / Ecosystems / Sustainable Development Goals / Water policy / Water use / Water security / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Research institutes / Strategy planning
Record No:H049499
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2019.
IWMI Strategy 2019-2023: innovative water solutions for sustainable development. Summary. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 8p. (Also in Arabic)
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Fulltext (1.27 MB)
Data management / Agriculture / Economic growth / Partnerships / Research programmes / Gender equality / Innovation / Digital technology / Resilience / Nexus / Food security / Climate change adaptation / Ecosystems / Sustainable Development Goals / Water policy / Water use / Water security / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Research institutes / Strategy planning
Record No:H049498
Benin, S.; Ulimwengu, J.; Matchaya, Greenwell; Makombe, T.; Lorka, M.; Vodounhessi, A.; Tefera, W. 2018.
Mutual accountability in CAADP [Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme] and agricultural transformation. In Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Africa agriculture status report: catalyzing government capacity to drive agricultural transformation (Issue 6). Nairobi, Kenya: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). pp.150-184.
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Fulltext (13.6 MB)
Water governance / Resource allocation / Assessment / Accountability / Policy making / Nutrition / Food security / Infrastructure / Stakeholders / Development programmes / Agricultural sector / Agricultural policy / Agricultural development
Record No:H048892
Shah, Tushaar. 2018.
The economics of groundwater development and governance. In Oweis, T. (Ed). Water management for sustainable agriculture. Cambridge, UK: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. pp.1-12.
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Collective action / Aquifers / Economic aspects / Water use / Water governance / Groundwater irrigation / Groundwater development
Record No:H048846
Nijstena, G-J.; Christelis, G.; Villholth, Karen G.; Braune, E.; Gaye, B. C. 2018.
Transboundary aquifers of Africa: Review of the current state of knowledge and progress towards sustainable development and management. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 20: 21-34.
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Study region : Transboundary aquifers (TBAs) of Africa.; Study focus: Review of work on TBAs in Africa, including an overview of assessments and management efforts that have taken place over the last half century.; New hydrological insights : Seventy-two TBAs have been mapped in Africa. They underlie 40% of the continent, where 33% of the population lives, often in arid or semi-arid regions. TBA inventories have progressed since 2000 and remain work in progress. Despite their importance only eleven TBAs have been subjected to more detailed studies. Cooperation has been formalised for seven TBAs. Most of these TBAs are in North Africa and the Sahel. The recent global Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme compiled information at the national level to describe TBAs in terms of key indicators related to the water resource, socio-economic, and legal and institutional conditions. Availability of data at national level is low, hampering regional assessment. Comparing indicators, from questionnaire surveys, with those from a global water-use model showed variable levels of agreement, calling for further research. Reports on agreements scoping TBA management, indicate that this may be dealt with within international river/lake agreements, but reported inconsistencies between TBA sharing countries also indicate that implementation is limited. Increasing awareness and support to joint TBA management is noticeable amongst international organisations. However, such cooperation requires long-term commitment to produce impacts at the local level.
Case studies / Sediment / Groundwater management / Socioeconomic environment / Water quality / Water use / Water management / Water resources / Indicators / Governance / Assessment / Sustainable development / Aquifers / International waters
Record No:H048768
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2018.
IWMI Annual report 2017. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
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Fulltext (5 MB)
Collective action / Equity / Economic aspects / Aquifers / Farmers / Smallholders / Ecosystems / Investment / Groundwater / Water governance / Water accounting / Water reuse / Resource recovery / Wastewater irrigation / Urban environment / Rural communities / Cooperation / Empowerment / Women / Gender / Sustainable development / Water management / Water resources / Water productivity / Solar energy / Natural disasters / Climate change
Record No:H048780
de Silva, Sanjiv; Aheeyar, Mohamed; Arulingam, Indika; Manthrithilake, Herath. 2018.
The new water: opportunities and challenges of the rise to prominence of groundwater in Sri Lanka in the face of socioeconomic and climatic change. In Mukherjee, A. (Ed.). Groundwater of South Asia. Berlin, Germany: Springer. pp.759-799.
More... Overall high annual precipitation in Sri Lanka belies significant spatial and temporal variation in surface water availability. The ‘dry zone’ comprising two-third of Sri Lanka’s land area receives significantly less rainfall and has high precipitation rates and a five-month dry season. Nevertheless, these regions account for the majority of rice production, the staple crop, thanks largely to the ancient hydraulic civilization based on networks of rainwater harvesting (irrigation) tanks. This manipulation of surface water resources including modern surface irrigation schemes continues to form the backbone of dry zone farming. Groundwater irrigation has remained in the shadows except in the North where surface flows are absent. This scenario is now changing as population growth; poorly maintained infrastructure; commercial agriculture; sectoral competition for water and climate change combine to exert severe pressure on surface water resources. Since the dry zone is also home to a large number of Sri Lanka’s poor households, and a close association exists between high poverty clusters and access to irrigation, the implications of water insecurity for a range of poverty indicators are clear. Not surprisingly, these pressures have prompted an increasing recourse to groundwater in several parts of the dry zone, as governments and farmers recognize the imperative to increase agriculture output, promote crop diversification, and improve agrarian incomes. Yet, with limited groundwater potential, limited detailed knowledge of this resource, and under-developed groundwater-oriented institutions, it is far from certain whether future groundwater exploitation can steer away from anarchy.
Poverty / Seasonal cropping / Irrigation schemes / Irrigation water / Water resources / Water storage / Water harvesting / Rainwater / Rice / Dry season / Land area / Surface water / Rain / Precipitation / Water availability / Water governance / Groundwater management / Socioeconomic environment / Climate change adaptation / Climatic change
Record No:H048817
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2018.
Strengthening participatory irrigation management in Tajikistan. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 8p.
(IWMI Water Policy Brief 41) [DOI] More... |
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Rural communities / Women’s participation / Crop production / Food security / Agricultural extension / Collective farms / Farm managers / Farmers / Training programmes / Water user associations / Water governance / Irrigation systems / Irrigation management / Participatory management
Record No:H048783
Aarnoudse, E.; Closas, Alvar; Lefore, Nicole. 2018.
Water user associations: a review of approaches and alternative management options for Sub-Saharan Africa. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 43p.
(IWMI Working Paper 180) [DOI] More... |
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Building on existing literature and the analysis of a portfolio of development projects (past and under implementation), this paper reviews the evolution of water user associations (WUAs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), reflecting on the conceptualization of how they operate, and the promised outcomes related to irrigation development, and the efficient and effective delivery of irrigation services. It also moves one step further from existing studies on WUAs, postulating that additional reflection is needed to understand the limitations of WUAs and proposes alternative, viable and context-based adapted models. This need is particularly strong in SSA where irrigation is incipient, and governments and donors are still consolidating their development approaches. Whereas a growing body of international literature takes into account the sociopolitical context of decentralized irrigation management, practical indication on what remains to be done to address the various limitations found in SSA stays meagre and scattered. The objective of this paper is not to challenge the myth of WUAs but to learn how to better deliver on the promised outcomes. The underlying message is that, if the SSA region is to be made water and food secure while respecting resource sustainability, community development, livelihoods and equality of resource access, the recurrent templates for WUA management and governance need to be revisited and adapted to local needs.
Public authorities / Alternative methods / Socioeconomic environment / Agricultural productivity / Public participation / Participatory approaches / Community development / Cost recovery / Food security / Investment / Decision making / Irrigation water / Irrigation management / Irrigation systems / Groundwater irrigation / Surface water / Partnerships / Public-private cooperation / Stakeholders / Water distribution / Water policy / Water governance / Water resources / Water security / Water management / Water user associations
Record No:H048782
Miles, K.-L.; Suhardiman, Diana; Dwyer, M. B. 2018.
State spaces of resistance: industrial tree plantations and the struggle for land in Laos. Antipode, 50(5): 1290-1310.
[DOI] More... Land grabbing has transformed rural environments across the global South, generating resistance or political reactions “from below”. In authoritarian countries like Laos, where resource investments are coercively developed and insulated from political dissent, resistance appears absent at first glance. Yet, it is occurring under the radar, largely outside transnational activist networks. In this article, we examine how resistance can protect access to rural lands in contexts where it is heavily repressed. Resistance here occurs with, rather than against the state by foregrounding the contradictions of land use and ownership within state spaces, such as competing goals of large-scale industrial plantations versus smallholder agriculture and national forest conservation. Such contradictions are engaged by using historical, place-based political connections to exploit the scalar frictions of a fragmented state and occupying plantation clearance sites to highlight contested lands in situ. Nonetheless, such strategies remain spatially and socially uneven amongst the Lao peasantry.
Case studies / Agriculture / Political aspects / Rural areas / Investment / Governance / Resource management / Land ownership / Land use / Land grabbing / Plantations / Trees
Record No:H048621
Kararach, G.; Nhamo, G.; Mubila, M.; Nhamo, S.; Nhemachena, Charles; Babu, S. 2018.
Reflections on the Green Growth Index for developing countries: a focus of selected African countries. Development Policy Review, 36(S1):O432-O454.
[DOI] More... This article presents a pilot and baseline African Green Growth Index (AGGI). The work is premised on the importance of Africa implementing green growth strategies. Baseline indicators allow countries to monitor progress towards green growth transition. The AGGI incorporates 48 indicators applied to 22 countries that had the requisite data. What emerges is that 18 out of the 22 African countries sampled scored 50 percentage points and above. The countries scoring below this threshold were: Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa. The top five countries on the AGGI (as ranked from 1-5) were: Namibia, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Togo. The authors recommend that for wider acceptance across the continent, the AGGI should work towards incorporating all 54 nations.
Governance / Gender / Environmental management / Resource management / Socioeconomic environment / Poverty / Economic aspects / Developing countries
Record No:H048611
Karki, M.; Gasparatos, A.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Kohsaka, R.; Thaman, R.; Leimona, B.; Opgenoorth, L.; Han, K. H.; Magni, P.; Saito, O.; Talukdar, G.; Zadegan, S. S.; Pandit, R.; Hyakumura, K.; Isa, S. S.; Lasmana, F. 2018.
Setting the scene. In Karki, M.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali [IWMI]; Okayasu, S.; Suzuki, W. (Eds.); 2018. The regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Asia and the Pacific. Bonn, Germany: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). 616p. pp.1-64.
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Coral reefs / Mangroves / Grasslands / Forest management / Wetlands / Land allocation / Landscape / Sustainable Development Goals / Local communities / Urbanization / Governance / Environmental policy / Assessment / Socioeconomic environment / Geographical distribution / Ecosystem services / Biodiversity conservation
Record No:H049097
Karki, M.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Okayasu, S.; Suzuki, W. 2018.
The regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Asia and the Pacific. Bonn, Germany: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) 616p.
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Coastal area / Wetlands / Freshwater / Forest resources / Legal aspects / Environmental management / Public health / Living standards / Food security / Water security / Watershed management / International waters / Waste management / Urbanization / Natural resources management / Socioeconomic environment / Governance / Climate change / Freshwater / Pesticides / Pest control / Infrastructure / Economic growth / Coral reefs / Assessment / Policy making / Decision making / Ecosystem services / Biodiversity conservation
Record No:H049096
Molle, Francois; Closas, Alvar; Al-Zubari, W. 2018.
Governing groundwater in the Middle East and North Africa Region. In Villholth Karen G.; Lopez-Gunn, E.; Conti, K.; Garrido, A.; Van Der Gun, J. (Eds.). Advances in groundwater governance. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press. pp.527-553.
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Participatory approaches / Desalination / Drilling / Wells / Supplemental irrigation / Rainfed farming / Irrigation schemes / Financial situation / Water use / Water policy / Water rates / Water law / Surface water / Aquifers / Irrigated land / Farmers / Agriculture / Water supply / Water governance / Groundwater
Record No:H048564
Puri, S.; Villholth, Karen G. 2018.
Governance and management of transboundary aquifers. In Villholth Karen G.; Lopez-Gunn, E.; Conti, K.; Garrido, A.; Van Der Gun, J. (Eds.). Advances in groundwater governance. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press. pp.367-388.
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Socioeconomic environment / Treaties / International relations / Groundwater / Decision making / Aquifers / International waters / Water management / Water resources / Water governance
Record No:H048557
Villholth, Karen G.; Conti, K. I. 2018.
Groundwater governance: rationale, definition, current state and heuristic framework. In Villholth Karen G.; Lopez-Gunn, E.; Conti, K.; Garrido, A.; Van Der Gun, J. (Eds.). Advances in groundwater governance. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press. pp.3-31.
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Climate change / Human rights / Sustainable Development Goals / Aquifers / International waters / Environmental effects / Natural resources / Water rights / Water supply / Water resources / Water management / Water governance / Groundwater management
Record No:H048539
Vollmer, D.; Shaad, K.; Souter, N. J.; Farrell, T.; Dudgeon, D.; Sullivan, C. A.; Fauconnier, I.; MacDonald, G. M.; McCartney, Matthew P.; Power, A. G.; McNally, A.; Andelman, S. J.; Capon, T.; Devineni, N.; Apirumanekul, C.; Nam Ng, C.; Shaw, M. R.; Wang, R. Y.; Lai, C.; Wang, Z.; Regan, H. M. 2018.
Integrating the social, hydrological and ecological dimensions of freshwater health: the freshwater health index. Science of the Total Environment, 627:304-313.
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Degradation of freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide is a primary cause of increasing water insecurity, raising the need for integrated solutions to freshwater management. While methods for characterizing the multi-faceted challenges of managing freshwater ecosystems abound, they tend to emphasize either social or ecological dimensions and fall short of being truly integrative. This paper suggests that management for sustainability of freshwater systems needs to consider the linkages between human water uses, freshwater ecosystems and governance. We present a conceptualization of freshwater resources as part of an integrated social-ecological system and propose a set of corresponding indicators to monitor freshwater ecosystem health and to highlight priorities for management. We demonstrate an application of this new framework —the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) — in the Dongjiang River Basin in southern China, where stakeholders are addressing multiple and conflicting freshwater demands. By combining empirical and modeled datasets with surveys to gauge stakeholdersapos; preferences and elicit expert information about governance mechanisms, the FHI helps stakeholders understand the status of freshwater ecosystems in their basin, how ecosystems are being manipulated to enhance or decrease water-related services, and how well the existing water resource management regime is equipped to govern these dynamics over time. This framework helps to operationalize a truly integrated approach to water resource management by recognizing the interplay between governance, stakeholders, freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide.
River basins / Indicators / Environmental health / Sustainability / Water demand / Water management / Water resources / Water security / Ecological factors / Ecosystem services / Stakeholders / Water governance / Freshwater
Record No:H048519
Villholth Karen G.; Lopez-Gunn, E.; Conti, K.; Garrido, A.; Van Der Gun, J. 2018.
Advances in groundwater governance. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press 594p.
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Institutions / European Union / River basins / International waters / Surface water / Land management / Land use / Energy resources / Public health / Equity / Social aspects / Poverty / Capacity building / Education / Aquifers / Groundwater extraction / Groundwater management / Conflict / Cooperation / Incentives / Economic aspects / Collective action / Participatory management / Stakeholders / Legislation / Legal aspects / Sustainable Development Goals / Ecology / Water policy / Water resources / Water management / Water governance
Record No:H048538
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Yuldashev, Tulkin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2018.
Assessment of the current situation of the Aksu River Basin in Kashkadarya Region: analytical report. [Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas in Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)]. : Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 58p. (Also in Russian/Uzbek)
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Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Land resources / Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Irrigation systems / Agricultural development / Strategies / Stakeholders / Socioeconomic environment / Rural areas / Water quality / Water use / Water supply / Drinking water / Groundwater / Planning / Development policies / Water governance / Legal frameworks / Sustainability / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / River basin development
Record No:H049441
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Yuldashev, Tulkin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2018.
Assessment of the current situation of the Shakhrikhansay Irrigation System in Andijan Region: analytical report. [Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and supply part]. In Uzbek. : Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 57p. (Also in English/Russian)
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Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Rural areas / Land resources / Agricultural development / Socioeconomic environment / Stakeholders / Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Planning / Infrastructure / Water use / Indicators / Water quality / Groundwater / Water supply / Drinking water / Strategies / Development policies / Water governance / River basin development / Legal frameworks / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / Irrigation systems
Record No:H049440
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Yuldashev, Tulkin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2018.
Assessment of the current situation of the Shakhrikhansay Irrigation System in Andijan Region: analytical report. [Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and supply part]. In Russian. : Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 58p. (Also in English/Uzbek)
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Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Rural areas / Land resources / Agricultural development / Socioeconomic environment / Stakeholders / Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Planning / Infrastructure / Water use / Indicators / Water quality / Groundwater / Water supply / Drinking water / Strategies / Development policies / Water governance / River basin development / Legal frameworks / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / Irrigation systems
Record No:H049439
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Akramov, Isomiddin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2018.
Assessment of the current situation of the Shakhrikhansay Irrigation System in Andijan Region: analytical report. [Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas of Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and supply part]. : Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 57p. (Also in Russian/Uzbek)
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Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Rural areas / Land resources / Agricultural development / Socioeconomic environment / Stakeholders / Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Planning / Infrastructure / Water use / Indicators / Water quality / Groundwater / Water supply / Drinking water / Strategies / Development policies / Water governance / River basin development / Legal frameworks / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / Irrigation systems
Record No:H049438
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaypnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Gafurov, Zafar; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Yuldashev, Tulkin; Akramov, Bekzod; Murzaeva, Makhliyo. 2018.
Assessment of the current situation of the Aksu River Basin in Kashkadarya Region: analytical report. [Project report prepared under the European Union Programme on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas in Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)]. In Uzbek. : Tashkent, Uzbekistan: European Union; Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH 58p. (Also in English/Russian)
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Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Land resources / Risk analysis / Natural disasters / Irrigation systems / Agricultural development / Strategies / Stakeholders / Socioeconomic environment / Rural areas / Water quality / Water use / Water supply / Drinking water / Groundwater / Planning / Development policies / Water governance / Legal frameworks / Sustainability / Integrated management / Water management / Water resources / River basin development
Record No:H049427
Merrey, D. J.; Lefore, Nicole. 2018.
How to support effective and inclusive irrigation water users’ associations: a guide for practitioners. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 16p.
(WLE Research for Development (R4D) Learning Series 9) [DOI] More... |
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The purpose of this Guide is to provide an overview of the major considerations and steps to be followed in organizing new irrigation farmers’ organizations or Irrigation Water Users’ Associations (IWUAs). The Guide should support developing or strengthening a specialized formal IWUA for implementing a program aimed at creating or improving a collectively managed irrigation scheme. The Guide is focused on programs involving construction of new irrigation schemes; rehabilitation, modernization or revitalization of existing irrigation schemes; or supporting farmers wishing to improve the performance of their irrigation scheme. While based on extensive research and evidence, the intended audience for this Guide is the set of practitioners responsible for planning and implementing communal irrigation programs. This may include managers of publicly or externally supported projects, government agricultural and irrigation officials, private investments and nongovernmental organizations.; The Guide draws on over 50 years of experience organizing farmers to participate in the creation, improvement and management of both farmer-managed and government-managed irrigation schemes. The major lesson learned is that investing in the “software” component – training and institutional development – of irrigation is critical for success. If the IWUA is weak or ineffective, the scheme will fail to achieve its potential, no matter how good the hardware is.; The Guide seeks to avoid imposing a specific organizational design for what an institution should look like and do, but suggests a process organized around six ‘steps’ to be followed, more or less in sequence. Using these steps creatively as a guideline, not as a recipe to be followed precisely, will increase the likelihood that irrigation investments achieve the desired project goals.
Local authorities / Communities / Socioeconomic environment / Infrastructure / Stakeholders / Sustainability / Nongovernmental organizations / Water availability / Water institutions / Water governance / Water policy / Evaluation / Monitoring / Training programmes / Gender / Costs / Investment / Policy making / Small scale systems / Collective action / Irrigation schemes / Farmers organizations / Guidelines / Best practices / Water user associations / Irrigation efficiency / Irrigation management / Irrigation water / Learning / Research and development
Record No:H049026
Cobbing, J. 2018.
The North West dolomite aquifers, South Africa: a stalled opportunity for water security and development. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 20p.
(Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP) Case Profile Series 03) [DOI] More... |
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The karst dolomite aquifers of the North West Province in South Africa are among the most important in the nation. They serve as key water sources for municipal water supply and irrigation, and are also ecologically important in supplying springs that feed important rivers. Over-abstraction and consequent falling groundwater levels jeopardize water supply security, with increasing costs and risks to sustainable development. Better aquifer and conjunctive water management would improve water supply security and lower costs, with wider benefits to many sectors. This GRIPP Case Profile discusses these challenges and management experiences through the examples of two representative North West dolomite aquifers - the Grootfontein and Steenkoppies aquifers. These aquifers are relatively well understood hydrogeologically, and modern South African water law mandates sustainable use. Yet, underperforming collaboration between stakeholders using and managing the aquifers at various levels, and poor support from the national authority have led to an entrenched suboptimal equilibrium where stakeholders are reluctant to change behavior, despite awareness of the negative outcomes. Neither prescriptive local nor top-down organization has been effective. The synthesis argues for prioritized input from a legally mandated and capacitated convening authority (the national Department of Water and Sanitation) to catalyze and support effective local stakeholder groups and other governance initiatives. It calls for a renewed effort by this convening authority and other stakeholders, emphasizing mutually beneficial or “win-win” outcomes.
Costs / Farmers / Stakeholders / Hydrogeology / Local authorities / Municipal authorities / Policy making / Regulations / Legal aspects / Public health / Dolomite / Water institutions / Water supply / Water quality / Water user associations / Water governance / Water resources development / Groundwater extraction / Groundwater level / Groundwater management / Aquifers
Record No:H048970
Shah, Tushaar; Rajan, Abhishek; Rai, Gyan Prakash; Verma, Shilp; Durga, Neha. 2018.
Solar pumps and South Asia's energy-groundwater nexus: exploring implications and reimagining its future. Environmental Research Letters, 13(11):1-13
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South Asiaapos;s groundwater economy stands at the threshold of a revolution in adoption of solar irrigation pumps (SIPs). This has potential to unlock the regionapos;s perverse energy-groundwater nexus. In much of South Asia, the price of energy used in irrigation, the only surrogate for water price, fails to signal the abundance or scarcity of groundwater, resulting in myriad distortions. We analyse these in South Asiaapos;s eight distinct energy-groundwater interaction settings. We then explore SIP promotion policies to ease pressure on scarce groundwater in South Asiaapos;s apos;groundwater depletion zoneapos; and accelerate groundwater irrigation for poverty reduction in its apos;groundwater abundance zoneapos;.
Tube wells / Farmer-led irrigation / Poverty / Market economies / Economic aspects / Irrigation water / Surface water / Energy consumption / Nexus / Pumps / Solar energy / Water policy / Water pricing / Water scarcity / Water governance / Groundwater depletion / Groundwater irrigation
Record No:H048971
Closas, Alvar; Molle, Francois. 2018.
Chronicle of a demise foretold: state vs. local groundwater management in Texas and the high plains aquifer system. Water Alternatives, 11(3):511-532
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This paper assesses a case of co-management of groundwater between the state of Texas, pushing for the rationalisation of groundwater management, and local (mainly farming) communities organised in Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs), which are protective of their private groundwater rights. We first describe the main legal and policy steps that have shaped this relationship. The article focuses on the Texan portion of the Ogallala Aquifer in the High Plains aquifer system – an almost non-renewable system covering 90,000 km2 and providing 95% of the irrigation needs in northern Texas. With this example, we further highlight the strategies of both parties, the different political, administrative, legal and regulatory complexities of the struggle around the definition of GCD-level aquifer management rules (the so-called apos;Desired Future Conditionsapos;). We end by reflecting on the power balance that has resulted from successive adjustments to a co-management form of governance, the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-layered state water governance system, and whether the de facto apos;managed depletionapos; of the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas should be seen as an achievement or a failure.
Pumping / Local communities / Co-management / Regulations / Legal aspects / Aquifers / Water demand / Water storage / Water conservation / Water use / Water supply / Water rights / Water policy / Water governance / Groundwater depletion / Groundwater management
Record No:H048957
van Koppen, Barbara; Schreiner, B. 2018.
A hybrid approach to decolonize formal water law in Africa. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 45p.
(IWMI Research Report 173) [DOI] More... |
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In recent decades, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have pursued national water permit systems, derived from the colonial era and reinforced by “global best practice.” These systems have proved logistically impossible to manage and have worsened inequality in water access. A new study conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Pegasys Institute, with support from the UK government, traces the origins of these systems, and describes their implementation and consequences for rural smallholders in five countries – Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The authors of this report propose a hybrid water use rights system to decolonize Africa’s water law, lighten the administrative burden on the state and make legal access to water more equitable. This would strengthen smallholder irrigation, which is vital for boosting Africa’s food production and making it more resilient in the face of worsening drought.
Marginalization / Equity / Small scale systems / Regulations / Political aspects / Rural population / Investment / Authorities / State intervention / Economic aspects / Colonialism / Water security / Water distribution / Water governance / Water policy / Water allocation / Water management / Water rights / Water use / Water users / Water resources / Water law / Customary law / Legal pluralism / Legislation
Record No:H048956
Nigussie, Likimyelesh; Barron, Jennie; Haile, Alemseged Tamiru; Lefore, Nicole; Gowing, J. 2018.
Gender dimensions of community-based groundwater governance in Ethiopia: using citizen science as an entry point. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 24p.
(IWMI Working Paper 184) [DOI] More... |
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Understanding the gender dimensions of community-based groundwater governance is important because men and women differ in their need for and having access to groundwater, and their participation in the development, management and monitoring of the resource. The leading role played by women in obtaining and safeguarding water is not usually reflected in the institutional arrangements for water management. Addressing this gender inequality could lead to the equal participation of men and women in monitoring and sustainable management of groundwater, and women’s empowerment. This paper explores gender aspects of community-based groundwater governance in Dangeshta and Farawocha kebeles in Dangila and Boloso Bombe woredas, respectively, in Ethiopia. The findings suggest that women place a high value on groundwater and could be motivated to play a greater role in governance of the resource. However, the constraints they face in participating in groundwater development and management, particularly exclusion from decision-making, suggest that their effective participation and leadership could be significantly curtailed without specific interventions. Indeed, this is reflected in women’s willingness to participate in groundwater monitoring, as well as men’s reluctance to allow their wives to participate. This is in contrast to a high number of men willing to participate. Citizen science as an entry point for community-based groundwater governance relies on (i) the active involvement of myriad actors (including men and women citizens) whose actions interact with the hydrological processes; and (ii) volunteer interest (i.e., willingness to participate). A gender-sensitive approach to programs, gender awareness training, and partnerships with organizations working for women’s empowerment, natural resource management and adult literacy are recommended to support a citizen science approach to groundwater monitoring.
Wells / Natural resources management / Decision making / Sustainability / Empowerment / Equity / Women’s participation / Role of women / Monitoring / Participatory approaches / Citizen participation / Community involvement / Water use / Water availability / Water management / Water resources / Water security / Water governance / Groundwater development / Groundwater management / Gender
Record No:H048928
Anarbekov, Oyture; Gaipnazarov, Norboy; Akramov, Isomiddin; Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Gafurov, Zafar; Solieva, Umida; Khodjaev, Shovkat; Eltazarov, Sarvarbek; Tashmatova, Mukhtabar. 2018.
Overview of existing river basins in Uzbekistan and the selection of pilot basins. [Project Report of the Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Rural Areas in Uzbekistan. Component 1: National policy framework for water governance and integrated water resources management and supply part]. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 89p.
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Agricultural production / Soil salinity / Population growth / Population density / Assessment / Pumps / Streams / River basin management / Land use / Land resources / Irrigated land / Irrigation systems / Hydrometeorology / Meteorological factors / Climatic factors / Rural areas / Sustainability / International waters / Water use / Water supply / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H048491
Naber, M. A. 2017.
Controlling groundwater over abstraction: state policies vs localpractices in the Jordan highlands. Water Policy, 19(4):692-708.
[DOI] More... The control of groundwater over abstraction is a vexing problem worldwide. Jordan is one of the countries facing severe water scarcity which has implemented a wide range of measures and policies over the past 20 years. While the gap between formal legal and policy frameworks and local practices on the ground is widely acknowledged, few studies investigate how local users react to state regulations and document their tactics to circumvent them. This paper examines the major tools implemented by the Jordanian government to control well expansion and water abstraction and how farmers in the Azraq basin have responded to these measures. It then documents how, in response, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has recently enacted a series of creative counter-measures, both direct and indirect, in an attempt to toughen law enforcement and raise pressure over groundwater users. The lessons learned are highly relevant for countries with similar situations, both in the region and elsewhere.
Wells / Farmers / Local communities / Highlands / State intervention / Legislation / Water law / Water policy / Water governance / Groundwater management / Groundwater extraction
Record No:H048254
Suhardiman, Diana; Rutherford, J.; Bright, S. J. 2017.
Putting violent armed conflict in the center of the Salween hydropower debates. Critical Asian Studies, 49(3):349-364
[DOI] More... Regional economic integration has become the dominant development pathway promoted, endorsed, and followed by many developing country governments in South East Asia and globally. Focusing on hydropower development, this article shows how forces of globalization manifested in the Myanmar government’s strategies to promote economic growth are shaping the Salween River basin’s development trajectory. Contesting the general belief that economic development would help the country’s transition to full democracy and achieve peace, it illustrates how hydropower development plans in the basin are closely interlinked with human rights issues. Well known for its long histories of violent conflict involving the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups in various states, hydropower development in the Salween River is not only linked to the ongoing peace process in Myanmar but could also have direct implications on the actual significance of the process. Despite the signing of nationwide ceasefire agreements in 2012, hydropower dam projects could contribute to and trigger reoccurrences of violent armed conflict. Recognizing this conflict-prone and politically fragile condition as the main characteristics of Salween water governance is essential if we are to strive for sustainable and just development.
Land tenure / Political aspects / Decision making / Best practices / Living standards / Local communities / Dams / River basin development / Armed conflicts / Economic growth / Economic integration / Water governance / Water power
Record No:H048208
Djumaboev, Kakhramon; Hamidov, A.; Anarbekov, Oyture; Gafurov, Zafar; Tussupova, K. 2017.
Impact of institutional change on irrigation management: a case study from southern Uzbekistan. Water, 9(6):1-17.
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The rapidly growing population in Uzbekistan has put massive pressure on limited water resources, resulting in frequent water shortages. Irrigation is by far the major water use. Improving irrigation water use through the institutional change of establishing water consumer associations (WCAs) has been identified as a way to increase agricultural production and meet the food demand in the area. However, most WCAs are not fully able to organize collective action or generate sufficient funds to carry out their responsibilities. This study investigated the water-resource-related challenges faced by WCAs and local farmers in Kashkadarya Province in Uzbekistan, using semi-structured expert interviews and focus group discussions. The resulting data were analyzed using qualitative analysis software (Atlas.ti). The results indicated that outdated infrastructure, poor governance, and farmers’ non-payment of irrigation service fees hamper sustainable water management. Greater trust and communication within the WCAs would make an important contribution to effective collective action and to the long-term sustainability of local associations.
Case studies / Communities / Households / Farmers / Agricultural production / Water use / Water management / Water resources / Water user associations / Sustainable development / Governance / Collective action / Institutional development / Infrastructure / Irrigation water / Irrigation systems / Irrigation management
Record No:H048175
Clarke, James; McCartney, Mathew. 2017.
International Water Management Institute. In Finlayson, C. M.; Everard, M.; Irvine, K. McInnes, R.; Middleton, B.; van Dam, A.; Davidson, N. C. (Eds.). The Wetland book I: structure and function, management and methods. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. pp.681-685.
More... The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a non-pro t, scienti c research organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in developing countries. IWMI works in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to develop scalable agricultural water management solutions that have a real impact on poverty reduction, food security and ecosystem health. IWMI is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
Capacity building / Irrigation systems / Wetlands / Health / Resource recovery / Governance / Gender / Ecosystem services / Sustainable agriculture / Developing countries / Land resources / Water availability / Water quality / Water management / Water resources / Poverty / Food security / Nongovernmental organizations / Research institutions / International organizations
Record No:H048800
Mekuria, Wolde; Barron, Jennie; Dessalegn, Mengistu; Adimassu, Zenebe; Amare, T.; Wondie, M. 2017.
Exclosures for ecosystem restoration and economic benefits in Ethiopia: a catalogue of management options. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 28p.
(WLE Research for Development (R4D) Learning Series 4) [DOI] More... |
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Public sector / Private sector / Risk reduction / Sustainability / Management techniques / Watershed management / Water conservation / Soil conservation / Fodder plants / Income / Living standards / Land degradation / Land management / Land use / Community involvement / Local communities / State intervention / Governance / Guidelines / Youth / Women / Gender / Natural resources management / Energy sources / Renewable energy / Habitats / Woodlands / Milk production / Livestock production / Smallholders / Stakeholders / Economic situation / Ecosystems / Capacity building / Learning / Research and development
Record No:H048081
Lefore, Nicole; Weight, Elizabet; Rubin, D. 2017.
Gender in irrigation learning and improvement tool. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 40p.
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Monitoring / Investment / Performance evaluation / Governance / Participatory approaches / Agricultural production / Domestic water / Water use / Water resources / Land allocation / Literacy / Training / Learning / Stakeholders / Irrigation schemes / Policy making / Decision making / Irrigation schemes / Equity / Men / s participation / Womenapos / Gender
Record No:H048080
Shah, Tushaar. 2017.
Sustainable groundwater governance: India’s challenge and response. The Journal of Governance, 14:23-45.
More... Since independence, India has emerged as the world’s largest groundwater economy, with annual groundwater use increasing from less than 50 BCM in the 1950s to over 230 BCM today. While this groundwater boom has been the bedrock of India’s agricultural growth, it has also created formidable challenges in groundwater governance. Meeting the challenge of water security in the face of hydro-climatic change requires a paradigm shift in our official thinking about groundwater governance. Although the Central Ground Water Board is the custodian of the nation’s groundwater resource, in reality, multiple agencies in public and private sectors have emerged as major players in India’s groundwater economy. This paper reviews international experience in groundwater governance and argues for greater synergy and coordination among various stakeholders group to improve productivity, equity and ecological sustainability of India’s groundwater economy.
Participatory management / Aquifers / Legal aspects / Irrigated land / Irrigation systems / Pumps / Ecology / Equity / Productivity / Stakeholders / Private sector / Public sector / Climate change / Agriculture / Economic aspects / Sustainability / Water resources / Water governance / Water security / Water use / Groundwater
Record No:H048021
Pandey, Vishnu Prasad; Dhaubanjar, Sanita; Bharati, Luna. 2017.
Sustainable irrigation development: knowledge generation for Karnali-Mohana River Basin. In Nepal. Department of Irrigation. Proceedings of the 10th National Irrigation Seminar on Climate Smart Innovation for the Sustainable Irrigation Development, Nagarkot, Kathmandu, 1-2 June 2017. Lalitpur, Nepal: Department of Irrigation. pp.39-50.
More... Water resources planning and management requires technical knowledge as well as social and environmental considerations and enabling environment for sustainable and equitable development. In this context, this paper highlights the Digo Jal Bikas project which is using a multi-disciplinary framework to generate science-based understanding required for sustainable irrigation development. The project is creating a knowledgebase including an inventory of irrigation and hydropower projects; water availability under current and future climatic conditions; environmental flows requirements for various types of river systems; tradeoff analysis of various water resources development scenarios; and water governance analysis. We present here how the project is generating such a multi-disciplinary knowledgebase that is key for promoting sustainable irrigation development in the Karnali-Mohana basin in the western Nepal.
Environmental flows / Water management / Water governance / Irrigation systems / Knowledge based systems / River basins / Water availability / Water resources / Irrigation programs / Sustainable development / Irrigation management
Record No:H049464
Closas, Alvar; Imache, A.; Mekki, I. 2017.
Groundwater governance in Tunisia. A Policy White Paper. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 43p.
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Land management / Wells / Irrigation water / Water pricing / Water policy / Water law / Water use / Water management / Water resources / Water governance / Groundwater
Record No:H048394
Molle, Francois; Nassif, M.-H.; Jaber, B.; Closas, Alvar; Baydoun, S. 2017.
Groundwater governance in Lebanon: the case of Central Beqaa. A Policy White Paper. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
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Case studies / Policy making / Monitoring / Planning / Drilling / Wells / Illegal practices / Legal aspects / Agriculture / Domestic water / Water rights / Water availability / Water governance / Water use / Water resources / Groundwater management
Record No:H048393
de Silva, Sanjiv; Miratori, K.; Bastakoti, Ram C.; Ratner, B. D. 2017.
Collective action and governance challenges in the Tonle Sap Great Lake, Cambodia. In Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto (Eds.). Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.108-119.
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Local organizations / Community management / Fisheries / Natural resources management / Democracy / Lakes / Governance / Collective action
Record No:H048352
Closas, Alvar; Molle, Francois; Hernandez-Mora, N. 2017.
Sticks and carrots: managing groundwater overabstraction in La Mancha, Spain. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 42p.
(IWMI Working Paper 177) [DOI] More... |
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This paper presents a historical analysis of the different policy tools used to manage and regulate groundwater abstraction in the Western Mancha aquifer. Without much initial regulation and control, groundwater resources and aquifer levels decreased dramatically, threatening agriculture and also highly valuable groundwater-dependent wetland ecosystems. The interplay between sticks and carrots used in La Mancha shows the necessity for regulatory bodies to complement soft management approaches based on incentives with the threat of sanctions and limitations. However, as this case study shows, each policy modality has its legal, administrative and practical loopholes, which can be negotiated and exploited by groundwater users to their own advantage. The paper also studies the distribution of decision-making power and how local dynamics and individual behaviors are linked to higher level policies and their impacts on groundwater management, with an emphasis on the effectiveness and limitations of these tools.
Wells / Resource depletion / River basins / Regulations / Legal aspects / Incentives / Decision making / Socioeconomic development / Public participation / Agricultural policy / Environmental management / Water users / Water policy / Water rates / Water governance / Water rights / Water law / Ecosystems / Wetlands / Aquifers / Groundwater irrigation / Groundwater extraction / Groundwater management / Groundwater development
Record No:H048364
Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017.
Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 190p.
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River basin management / Cooperation / Mining / Gold / Lakes / Stakeholders / Peasant workers / Land ownership / Agriculture / Community involvement / Cooperatives / Groundwater / Watersheds / Dams / Political aspects / International waters / Water control / Water management / Water security / Water law / Collective action / Water governance
Record No:H048342
Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017.
Power, alliances, and pathways towards deliberative and just water governance. In Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto (Eds.). Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.177-184.
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Nongovernmental organizations / Environmental degradation / International waters / Economic aspects / Local communities / Natural resources management / Collective action / Water governance
Record No:H048358
Bastakoti, Ram C.; Sugden, Fraser; Raut, M.; Shrestha, S. 2017.
Key constraints and collective action challenges for groundwater governance in the eastern Gangetic Plains. In Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto (Eds.). Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.131-142.
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Pumps / Land ownership / Farmers / Water use / Groundwater irrigation / River basins / Deep tube wells / Shallow tube wells / Water availability / Water policy / Water management / Water governance / Groundwater / Collective action
Record No:H048354
Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017.
Introduction. In Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto (Eds.). Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.1-8.
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River basin management / Cooperation / Mining / Gold / Lakes / Stakeholders / Peasant workers / Land ownership / Agriculture / Community involvement / Cooperatives / Groundwater / Watershed management / Political aspects / International waters / Water control / Water management / Water security / Water law / Collective action / Water governance
Record No:H048343
Clement, Floriane; Suhardiman, Diana; Bharati, Luna. 2017.
IWRM Discourses, Institutional Holy Grail and Water Justice in Nepal. Water Alternatives, 10(3):870-887.
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Fulltext Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) still stands today as one of the most influential governance models in the water sector. Whereas previous analyses of IWRM have focused on the effectiveness of the institutional models it embodies and on policy implementation gaps, we examine the meanings that IWRM discourses have given to water management issues and how these meanings have in turn supported certain policy choices, institutions and practices. We use discourse analysis to study IWRM discourses in Nepal, where IWRM was introduced as the guiding policy principle for water management more than a decade ago, but not yet operationalised. We argue that IWRM discourses have operated a discursive closure in policy debates, thereby limiting the range of policy and institutional choices perceived as politically possible. In particular, we found that the promotion of IWRM as an institutional holy grail has obscured critical issues of social (in) justice related to water resources development by promoting an apolitical and techno-managerial vision of water development, largely centralised and relying on expert knowledge. We defend the need to move away from institutional panaceas and towards deliberative processes that allow alternative voices, discourses and knowledge.
Economic growth / Planning / River basin / Institutions / Flow discharge / Water policy / Water governance / Water law / Water management / Water resources development / Integrated management
Record No:H048330
Villholth, Karen. 2017.
The role of groundwater in achieving water security and approaches to its governance [Abstract Only]. In Germany. Institute for Technology and Resources Management (ITT). (Ed.). Water Security and Climate Change Conference, Cologne, Germany, 18-21 September 2017. Book of abstracts. Cologne, Germany: Institute for Technology and Resources Management (ITT). pp.22.
More... Groundwater is integral to water security. It is the largest store of unfrozen freshwater on earth, and it serves almost half of the global population for basic water needs. In addition, it contributes more than 40% of the irrigation water globally. Groundwater also secures critical ecosystems and ecosystem services, on which people and the environment depend. This paper gives an overview of the significance of groundwater and the critical interlinkages in the Water–Food–Energy–Climate–Environment nexus. It also discusses how opportunities for bringing in groundwater as part of the solutions to water security at various levels are often missed out. Examples are given of how research can contribute to moving forward to ensure that groundwater plays a stronger role in achieving the SDGs. Realizing that sustainable groundwater development, use and management hinges on conscious and pro-active governance, the presentation gives an highlight of the upcoming book on Advances in Groundwater Governance. Finally, some recent developments in terms of developing global platforms and initiative to work across disciplines, sectors and levels and geographic boundaries to address groundwater management challenges are presented, including GRIPP, the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice and the Working Group on Groundwater Management under the Sustainable Water Future Program. These initiatives are emerging with strong buy-in from stakeholders at various levels, from local to global.
Environmental effects / Climate change / Energy / Food security / Ecosystem services / Irrigation water / Freshwater / Sustainable development / Water governance / Water security / Groundwater
Record No:H048333
Nicol, Alan; Odinga, W. 2017.
IWRM in Uganda-progress after decades of implementation. In Mehta, L.; Derman, B.; Manzungu, E. (Eds.). Flows and practices: the politics of integrated water resources management in eastern and southern Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver Press. pp.301-321.
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Economic aspects / Political aspects / Decentralization / Water governance / Water policy / Water management / Water resources development / Integrated management
Record No:H048286
Apgar, J. M.; Cohen, P. J.; Ratner, B. D.; de Silva, Sanjiv; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Longley, C.; Bastakoti, Ram C.; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017.
Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research. Ecology and Society, 22(1):1-13.
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Challenges of governance often constitute critical obstacles to efforts to equitably improve livelihoods in social-ecological systems. Yet, just as often, these challenges go unspoken, or are viewed as fixed parts of the context, beyond the scope of influence of agricultural, development, or natural resource management initiatives. What does it take to get governance obstacles and opportunities out in the open, creating the space for constructive dialogue and collective action that can help to address them? We respond to this question by comparing experiences of participatory action research (PAR) in coastal and floodplain systems in four countries (Zambia, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, and Cambodia) with a focus on understanding how to build more equitable governance arrangements. We found that governance improvement was often an implicit or secondary objective of initiatives that initially sought to address more technical natural resource or livelihood-related development challenges. We argue that using PAR principles of ownership, equity, shared analysis, and feedback built trust and helped to identify and act upon opportunities to address more difficult-to-shift dimensions of governance particularly in terms of stakeholder representation, distribution of authority, and accountability. Our findings suggest that the engaged and embedded approach of researcher-facilitators can help move from identifying opportunities for governance change to supporting stakeholders as they build more equitable governance arrangements.
Ecological factors / Accountability / Stakeholders / Ownership / Living standards / Floodplains / Resource management / Authorities / Governance / Research / Collective action / Participatory approaches / Equity / Agricultural systems / Aquatic environment
Record No:H047980
Williams, Timothy O.; Mul, Marloes L.; Biney, C. A.; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2016.
The Volta River Basin: water for food, economic growth and environment. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 281p.
(Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World) More...
Case studies / Land cover change / Land use / Emission / Global warming / Dams / Energy generation / Legislation / Gender / Infrastructure / Meteorological stations / Riparian zones / Food composition / Farmland / Economic aspects / Population density / Intensification / Public health / Environmental flows / Ecosystem services / Industrial development / Urban development / Crops / Agricultural development / Sustainable agriculture / Food security / Living standards / Poverty / Socioeconomic environment / Drought / Flood control / Climate change / Industrial uses / Domestic consumption / Wastewater treatment / International waters / Drinking water / Groundwater / Surface water / Water policy / Water availability / Water scarcity / Water balance / Water quality / Water power / Water use / Water governance / Water resources / Economic growth / River basin management
Record No:H047720
Saruchera, Davison; Lautze, Jonathan. 2016.
Transboundary river basin organizations in Africa: assessing the secretariat. Water Policy, 18(5):1053-1069.
[DOI] More... Secretariats are an increasingly common feature in Africa’s transboundary river basin organizations (RBOs). Non-secretariat-based forms of transboundary RBOs nonetheless also exist, and such forms of cooperation have often functioned effectively. These realities drive questions about the rationale and role for secretariats. This paper employs two approaches to compare secretariat-based RBOs vis--vis RBOs without secretariats in Africa. First, we compared the degree to which five governance instruments, determined to enable effective transboundary water management, are contained in treaties creating secretariat-based RBOs versus treaties creating non-secretariat-based RBOs. Second, the costs and benefits of six African transboundary RBOs – three with secretariat and three without – were compared based on a survey of regular costs and volume and number of projects. Key findings are that RBOs with secretariats have achieved stronger governance and secured more investment than RBOs without secretariats. Costs associated with operating secretariats appear justified by their benefits. These findings help to lay an improved basis for selecting desired models of RBOs in Africa’s transboundary basins.
Riparian zones / Monitoring / Conflict / Decision making / Stakeholders / Governance / Corporate culture / Cost benefit analysis / Treaties / International cooperation / Secretariats / International organizations / River basins / International waters
Record No:H047701
Haileslassie, Amare; Hagos, Fitsum; Agide, Z.; Tesema, E.; Hoekstra, D.; Langan, Simon. 2016.
Institutions for irrigation water management in Ethiopia: assessing diversity and service delivery. Nairobi, Kenya: Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) 31p.
(Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) Working Paper 17) More... |
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Irrigation systems cannot ensure the equitable distribution of water among users and sustainable operation and maintenance of the schemes without capable irrigation institutions. In Ethiopia, traditional institutions have emerged with the expansion of traditional irrigation schemes and most of them were established and operated on the initiative of the farmers. These often have very limited financial and technical capacities. Current trends show that developing infrastructure is the major concern in irrigation development efforts. However, managing the schemes is largely overlooked, particularly for externally initiated irrigation schemes. Operation and maintenance of the irrigation schemes, particularly those at tertiary levels, are commonly not well set and often neglected or left to farmers without building their capacities. The overarching objectives of the study were to: i) assess the nature and diversity of irrigation institutions in the study schemes; ii) evaluate existing institutions service delivery with respect to selected attributes and draw useful lessons; and iii) identify appropriate interventions. This study focused on 10 irrigation schemes located in four regional states of Ethiopia (Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and SNNP). Various approaches were used to generate data required for this study, such as household interview, transect walk and systematic observation, focus group discussion, key informant interviews and the review of existing literature. We clustered the study schemes as modern, semi-modern and traditional, using selected criteria (operation and maintenance service delivery, managing financial service delivery, level of inequity) to generate empirical evidence for evaluation of their performances. The results found two forms of irrigation institutions: irrigation water users associations (IWUA) and irrigation cooperatives or water committee. More than 30% of the irrigation schemes considered in the study, regardless of their typology, had no institution. Membership in the irrigation institution for traditional schemes was 100%, while the average membership both in modern and semi-modern schemes was about 70% of the respondents. This contrasts with the new proclamation in Ethiopia on IWUA which suggest mandatory membership for any water user in a scheme. Without exception bylaws were either not detailed enough to address scheme specific problems or not recorded at all. Ambiguity associated with these, and probably presence of non-member water users, deterred the decision-making processes and the enforcement of rules and regulations for water use, thus create opportunities for free riders. This also explains the reason for occasional conflict between irrigators and the inequity of water distribution within scheme. In many cases, irrigation institutions service delivery limited to operational management and other services, such as financial management, were not common even at those schemes where irrigation fee exists. Problems
s participation / Womenapos / Sedimentation / Sustainable agriculture / Organization / Financial situation / Irrigation water / Water supply / Water user associations / Water users / Water governance / Water distribution / Equity / Institutions / Performance evaluation / Water management / Irrigation systems / Irrigation schemes / Irrigation management
Record No:H047677
Bekchanov, Maksud; Lamers, J. P. A. 2016.
Economic costs of reduced irrigation water availability in Uzbekistan (Central Asia). Regional Environmental Change, 21p. (Online first).
[DOI] More... Reduced river runoff and expected upstream infrastructural developments are both potential threats to irrigation water availability for the downstream countries in Central Asia. Although it has been recurrently mentioned that a reduction in water supply will hamper irrigation in the downstream countries, the magnitude of associated economic losses, economy-wide repercussions on employment rates, and degradation of irrigated lands has not been quantified as yet. A computable general equilibrium model is used to assess the economy-wide consequences of a reduced water supply in Uzbekistan—a country that encompasses more than half of the entire irrigated croplands in Central Asia. Modeling findings showed that a 10–20 % reduction in water supply, as expected in the near future, may reduce the areas to be irrigated by 241,000–374,000 hectares and may cause unemployment to a population of 712–868,000, resulting in a loss for the national income of 3.6–4.3 %. A series of technical, financial, and institutional measures, implementable at all levels starting from the farm to the basin scale, are discussed for reducing the expected water risks. The prospects of improving the basin-wide water management governance, increasing water and energy use efficiency, and establishing the necessary legal and institutional frameworks for enhancing the introduction of needed technological and socioeconomic change are argued as options for gaining more regional water security and equity.
Household consumption / Value added / Resource management / Public services / Models / Energy consumption / Downstream / River basins / Income / Land use / Farmland / Unemployment / Agriculture / Water power / Water use / Water governance / Water supply / Water availability / Irrigation water / Costs / Macroeconomics / Economic aspects
Record No:H047544
Mapedza, Everisto; Manzungu, E.; Rosen, T.; Ncube, P.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2016.
Decentralised water governance in Zimbabwe: disorder within order. Water Resources and Rural Development, 8:1-11.
[DOI] More... The Decentralised Water reform process in Zimbabwe has largely been informed by the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) process based on the 1992 Dublin Principles onWater. The attempt to reform one sector (water), under the IWRM rubric, when other key sectors are in disarray (agriculture, energy) and when social and government institutions, in general, are not functioning as they should, made it more complicated. The decentralised water reform process, with support from a number of donors, was perceived to be a technical process which would result in better water management in Zimbabwe. The research in Zimbabwe, however, shows that instead of establishing order within the water sector, the reform process has largely been disorderly since it downplays the political nature of the water reform process. In attempting to change the water legislation, the reform brought out the different and competing interests on water. The economic crisis, the contested land reform process that ensued, resulted in disorder which benefited those who are politically connected. This paper contributes to the scholarship on the need to have a better political economy approach to development interventions such as water reform as they have to play out in political, social and economic contexts which will impact on human livelihoods.
Catchment areas / Water users / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Social aspects / Economic aspects / Political aspects / Land reform / Decentralization / Water governance
Record No:H047587
Barlund, I.; da Costa, M. P.; Modak, P.; Mensah, A. M.; Gordon, C.; Babel, M. S.; Dickens, Chris; Jomaa, S.; Ollesch, G.; Swaney, D.; Alcamo, J. 2016.
Water pollution in river basins. In United Nations Environment Programme. A snapshot of the world’s water quality: towards a global assessment. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme. pp.49-80.
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Case studies / Nutrients / Catchment areas / Sediment / Community involvement / Wastewater treatment / Contamination / Faecal coliforms / Sewage / Watersheds / Drinking water / River basins / Surface water / Water resources / Water governance / Water quality / Water pollution
Record No:H047585
Shah, Tushaar. 2016.
Increasing water security: the key to implementing the sustainable development goals. Stockholm, Sweden: Global Water Partnership, Technical Committee (TEC) 56p.
(TEC Background Papers 22) More... |
Fulltext (963 KB)
Stakeholders / Socioeconomic development / Cost recovery / Economic development / Environmental effects / Groundwater / Water demand / Water supply / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / Sustainable development / Water security
Record No:H047582
Frija, A.; Dhehibi, B.; Chebil, A.; Villholth, Karen G. 2016.
Performance evaluation of groundwater management instruments: the case of irrigation sector in Tunisia. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 1:23-32.
More... Around 27% of aquifers in Tunisia are being overexploited. Groundwater extractions is mainly for the irrigation sector, where more than 40% of the water used for irrigation comes from GW sources. The objective of this study is to critically review and analyze GW management instruments adopted in Tunisia during the last four decades. Evaluation of current instruments was based on a set of criteria (the impact of the instrument on increasing water productivity, reducing aquifer withdrawals, acceptability of the instrument and its implementation cost) assessed through interviews with policy makers and experts, in addition to discussions at farmersapos; focus groups. Results show that regulatory instruments are widely used but weakly enforced, which can explain their limited impact. To be more effective, economic instruments need a better vertical interplay between different stakeholders. Analysis of stakeholders’ participation shows limited awareness by farmers and a lack of collective actions for GW management at local levels. The alignment of GW policies to other cross-sectorial policies, the enhancement of the vertical interplay between water users’ associations and local and national water administrations, and the horizontal integration of different water users and managers at the local and regional levels, are among the main recommendations of this study.
Policy making / Economic policy / Participation / Regulations / Collective action / Stakeholders / Farmers / Water governance / Water user associations / Water productivity / Water use / Aquifers / Irrigation / Performance evaluation / Groundwater extraction / Groundwater management
Record No:H047449
Shah, Tushaar; van Koppen, Barbara. 2016.
The precept and practice of integrated water resources management (IWRM) in India. In Narain, V.; Narayanamoorthy, A. (Eds). Indian water policy at the crossroads: resources, technology and reforms. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp.15-33.
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Economic growth / Corporate culture / Groundwater / Water rates / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H047447
Aheeyar, Mohamed; Manthrithilake, Herath; Pathmarajah, S.; Makin, Ian W. 2016.
Groundwater development through sprinkler irrigation: consequences of a lack of a governance structure in Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka. In Pathmarajah, S. (Ed.). Symposium Proceedings of Groundwater Availability and Use in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 22 July 2016. Peradeniya, Sri Lanka: Cap-Net Lanka; University of Peradeniya. Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA). pp.115-127.
More... Groundwater provides nearly 100 % of the water supplies in some districts of Sri Lanka and is a major source of domestic water in all other districts. However, the resource remains largely neglected and invisible to society and policymakers. Groundwater offers the advantage of being a more reliable and readily available resource for agriculture, and offers the basis for a ‘silent revolution’ in many areas. A groundwater-supported agricultural boom has, while imparting a large number of benefits, created its own set of obstinate problems, including over-exploitation and depletion of groundwater resources. In some districts, over-exploitation is putting the livelihoods of farmers that have come to depend on groundwater resources in jeopardy.
Micro-irrigation technologies have been widely promoted as a means of reducing water demand by enhancing farm-level water-use efficiency. These technologies are proven to improve irrigation uniformity; increase irrigation application efficiency, by reducing soil evaporation and seepage losses; and increase crop productivity. It is assumed that using these technologies will enable water to be reallocated for other uses. The Government of Sri Lanka has made repeated attempts to promote micro-irrigation as a means of improving irrigation performance to minimize water scarcity in areas of the Dry Zone. These attempts have involved providing substantial heavy subsidies, but have met with little success in terms of adoption of ‘professionally designed’ installations. However, in Kalpitiya, farmers have adopted a locally designed sprinkler technology within a short period of time without subsidies and professional design inputs.
This paper reviews the evolving agricultural boom as a result of groundwater and sprinkler irrigation that has occurred on the Kalpitiya peninsula. The development of a farmer-led sprinkler technology is assessed with reference to improving livelihoods of the people, and the potential consequences on sustainable management of groundwater resources. The experiences in Kalpitiya show that, in the absence of effective groundwater governance and policies, supported with appropriate institutions, micro-irrigation has enabled the expansion of the cultivated area and crop intensification. This has increased, rather than decreased, net water use on the peninsula. The estimated increase in water withdrawals is 14,490 m3/ha /y. This indicates that promoting efficient technologies alone is not sufficient to achieve water savings, which requires control of overall abstractions and recharge levels to stabilize aquifer storage. In the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework and lack of political will to manage groundwater, it is recommended that the social framework and community governance arrangements are developed and strengthened to enable sustainable use of groundwater resources.
Aquifers / Cultivated land / Arid zones / Living standards / Intensification / Cropping systems / Farming systems / Farmers / Governance / Irrigation water / Irrigation efficiency / Sprinkler irrigation / Water scarcity / Water demand / Water use efficiency / Water resources / Groundwater irrigation / Groundwater depletion / Groundwater development
Record No:H048018
Bahri, A.; Brikke, F.; Vairavamoorthy, Kalanithy. 2016.
Managing change to implement integrated urban water management in African cities. Aquatic Procedia, 6:3-14.
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With increasing pressures from global changes (urbanization, climate change, etc.), cities in Africa will experience difficulties in efficiently managing water resources. Most of the urbanization in Africa over the next 30 years will occur in fast-growing small towns that lack mature infrastructure. This offers a unique opportunity to implement innovative solutions based on integrated urban water management (IUWM). While IUWM approaches have been widely reported in the literature, their application has been limited. This paper describes the African Water Facility’s experience in applying the approach to three projects, in the Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo, which illustrate the types of challenges faced in different institutional frameworks and contexts (such as islands, a small town and a megacity). The paper identifies the critical issues for improving uptake and scaling up, including strong leadership, the commitment of government and the institutions involved, and a formal programme of capacity building and technical assistance.
Case studies / Project planning / Stakeholders / Institutional development / Climate change / Population growth / Urbanization / Infrastructure / Water governance / Sustainability / Water security / Water use / Sanitation / Drinking water / Water supply / Approaches / Integrated management / Urban areas / Water management
Record No:H048031
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; MacDonald, K.; Saikia, Panchali; Balasubramanya, Soumya; Aslamy, Sohrob; Horbulyk, Theodore. 2016.
Impact of water users associations on water and land productivity, equity and food security in Tajikistan. Mid-term Technical Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 102p.
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Labour / Crops / Community organizations / Decision making / Field preparation / Private farm / Cultivated land / Agriculture / Small scale farming / Irrigation management / Irrigation water / Farmers / Female labour / s participation / Womenapos / Role of women / Household food security / Food security / Equity / Land productivity / Water rates / Water supply / Water availability / Water management / Water governance / Water productivity / Water user associations
Record No:H047854
Balasubramanya, Soumya; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Saikia, Panchali; MacDonald, K.; Aslamy, Sohrob; Horbulyk, Theodore; Hannah, C.; Yakubov, Murat; Platonov, Alexander. 2016.
Impact of water-user associations on water and land productivity, equity, and food security in Tajikistan. Baseline Technical Report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 131p.
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Living standards / Private farms / Farm area / Cultivated land / Crop yield / Financing / Canals / Infrastructure / Irrigation water / Irrigation management / Impact assessment / Cotton industry / Agricultural sector / s participation / Womenapos / Role of women / Gender / Food security / Equity / Land productivity / Waterlogging / Water supply / Watercourses / Water governance / Water management / Water productivity / Water user associations
Record No:H047847
Chikozho, C.; Mapedza, Everisto. 2016.
Free-market economics and developmental statism as political paradigms: implications for water governance theory and practice in developing countries. In Karar, E. (Ed). Freshwater governance for the 21st century. London, UK: SpringerOpen. pp.51-79.
(Global Issues in Water Policy 6) More... |
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Key actors in various developing countries are often confronted by difficult choices when it comes to the selection and deployment of appropriate water governance regimes taking into account national socio-economic and political realities. Indeed, scholars and practitioners alike continue to grapple with the need to create the optimum water-supply and allocation decision-making space applicable to specifi c developing countries. This chapter uses case studies to explore the utility of free-market economics and developmental statism as two major paradigms that have emerged in the face of enduring questions about how best to govern water supply systems in developing countries. The chapter establishes that increasing pressure on available natural resources may have already rendered obsolete some of the water-supply systems and governance regimes that have served human societies very well for many decades. It is also clear that national water-supply governance paradigms tend to change in tandem with emerging national development theoretical frameworks and priorities. Each nation or local government feels compelled to adopt a particular framework to fulfi l its needs taking into account the broader global water policy context. While many developing countries have adopted water policy prescriptions from the international arena, national and local socio-economic and political realities ultimately determine what works and what does not work on the ground. Local realities have also helped to inform how nation-states domesticate global concepts for their local purposes. Thus, the choice between free-market approaches and developmental state-oriented approaches is never simple, and hybrid models are often deployed. Indeed, the majority of countries and municipalities rely on a mix of market economics and developmental statism to make their water governance regimes more realistic and workable on the ground.
Decision making / Socioeconomic environment / Political aspects / Market economies / Developing countries / Water management / Water resources / Water policy / Water governance
Record No:H047926
Van Koppen , Barbara; Hellum , A.; Mehta, L.; Derman, B.; Schreiner, B. 2016.
Rights-based freshwater governance for the twenty-first century: beyond an exclusionary focus on domestic water uses. In Karar, E. (Ed). Freshwater governance for the 21st century. London, UK: SpringerOpen. pp.129-143.
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The UN recognition of a human right to water for drinking, personal and other domestic uses and sanitation in 2010 was a political breakthrough in states’ commitments to adopt a human rights framework in carrying out part of their mandate. This chapter explores other domains of freshwater governance in which human rights frameworks provide a robust and widely accepted set of normative values to such governance. The basis is General Comment No. 15 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2002, which states that water is needed to realise a range of indivisible human rights to non-starvation, food, health, work and an adequate standard of living and also procedural rights to participation and information in water interventions. On that basis, the chapter explores concrete implications of the Comment for states’ broader infrastructure-based water services implied in the recognised need to access to infrastructure, rights to non-discrimination in public service delivery and respect of people’s own prioritisation. This implies a right to water for livelihoods with core minimum service levels for water to homesteads that meet both domestic and small-scale productive uses, so at least 50–100 l per capita per day. Turning to the state’s mandates and authority in allocating water resources, the chapter identifi es three forms of unfair treatment of smallscale users in current licence systems. As illustrated by the case of South Africa, the legal tool of “Priority General Authorisations” is proposed. This prioritises water allocation to small-scale water users while targeting and enforcing regulatory licences to the few high-impact users.
Infrastructure / Living standards / Food security / Licences / Multiple use / Human rights / Sanitation / Drinking water / Water allocation / Water supply / Water use / Domestic water / Water governance / Freshwater
Record No:H047925
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2016.
Watershed moments: a photographic anthology celebrating 30 years of research for a water-secure world (1985–2015 and beyond). Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 96p.
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Dams / Rural communities / Food security / Urbanization / Rain / Environmental effects / Soils / Equity / s participation / Womenapos / Gender / Floodplains / Households / Living standards / River basins / Farmers / Pumps / Sprinkler irrigation / Irrigation systems / Multiple use / Wastewater / Groundwater / Water security / Water governance / Water reuse / Water quality / Water balance / Water use / Water management / Water resources / Watersheds / Sustainable agriculture
Record No:H047829
Closas, Alvar; Molle, Francois. 2016.
Groundwater governance in America. [Project report of the Groundwater Governance in the Arab World - Taking Stock and Addressing the Challenges]. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 238p.
(Groundwater Governance in the Arab World - Report 5) More... |
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Land management / Energy / Pumping / Drought / Agriculture / Plains / River basins / Aquifers / Water resources / Cooperatives / Community involvement / Water users / Taxes / Water market / Corporate culture / State intervention / Conflict / Urban areas / Water supply / Pollution control / Water quality / Surface water / Groundwater table / Groundwater depletion / Water conservation / Water law / Groundwater extraction / Water governance / Groundwater management
Record No:H048400
Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2016.
The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 327p.
(Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World) More...
Riparian zones / Deltas / Highlands / Villages / Remuneration / Women farmers / Migrant labour / Gender / Land ownership / Equity / Rural poverty / Living standards / Socioeconomic environment / Water governance / Institutional development / Waste water treatment plants / Public health / Food chains / Water quality / Contamination / Arsenic / Groundwater pollution / Hydrogeology / Models / Hydrometeorology / Biodiversity conservation / Species / Freshwater / Ecosystem services / Environmental flows / Water demand / Irrigated land / Water accounting / Water power / Energy resources / Water productivity / Forecasting / Drought / Flooding / Climate change / Water policy / Investment / Intensification / Agricultural practices / Water use / Agricultural production / Sustainable agriculture / International cooperation / International waters / Surface water / Aquifers / Groundwater table / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater management / Water resources / River basin management
Record No:H047808
Nicol, Alan; Odinga, W. 2016.
IWRM [Integrated Water Resources Management] in Uganda - progress after decades of implementation. Water Alternatives, 9(3):627-643. (Special issue: Flows and Practices: The Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in southern Africa).
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Uganda lies almost wholly within the Nile Basin and is a country characterised as well-endowed with water resources. Receiving considerable inflows of aid since the early 1990s, some of this aid emerging after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro enabled the country to begin a process of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), taking the lead from Chapter 18 of Agenda 21. With a focus on more comprehensively managing the country’s critical water endowment amidst growing pressure on the resource, bilateral technical assistance and financial support played a large part in backstopping these national efforts. Nevertheless, in spite of this support and government backing, some two decades later implementation on the ground remains thin and the exercise of IWRM in practice is limited. This paper examines the Ugandan IWRM experience and identifies complex political-economy issues lying at the heart of current challenges. It argues that rarely is there likely to be an easy fix to sustainable financing and suggests the need for stronger citizen engagement and buy-in to the wider logic of IWRM to support longer-term effectiveness and sustainability.
Economic aspects / Political aspects / Government / Institutional development / Water authorities / Decentralization / Water governance / Water policy / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H047822
van Eeden, A.; Mehta, L.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2016.
Whose waters? large-scale agricultural development and water grabbing in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin, Tanzania. Water Alternatives, 9(3):608-626. (Special issue: Flows and Practices: The Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in southern Africa).
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In Tanzania like in other parts of the global South, in the name of apos;developmentapos; and apos;poverty eradicationapos; vast tracts of land have been earmarked by the government to be developed by investors for different commercial agricultural projects, giving rise to the contested land grab phenomenon. In parallel, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been promoted in the country and globally as the governance framework that seeks to manage water resources in an efficient, equitable and sustainable manner. This article asks how IWRM manages the competing interests as well as the diverse priorities of both large and small water users in the midst of foreign direct investment. By focusing on two commercial sugar companies operating in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin in Tanzania and their impacts on the water and land rights of the surrounding villages, the article asks whether institutional and capacity weaknesses around IWRM implementation can be exploited by powerful actors that seek to meet their own interests, thus allowing water grabbing to take place. The paper thus highlights the power, interests and alliances of the various actors involved in the governance of water resources. By drawing on recent conceptual insights from the water grabbing literature, the empirical findings suggest that the IWRM framework indirectly and directly facilitates the phenomenon of water grabbing to take place in the Wami-Ruvu River Basin in Tanzania.
Case studies / Biofuels / Sugar industry / Private enterprises / Downstream / Upstream / River basins / State intervention / Investment / Land acquisitions / Legislation / Development policies / Licences / Water rights / Water users / Water governance / Water acquisitions / Large scale systems / Agricultural development / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H047821
Kumar, M. D.; Dhungel, D. N.; Mirza, M. M. Q.; Suhardiman, Diana. 2016.
Institutions and policies governing water resources management in the Ganges River Basin. In Bharati, Luna; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir (Eds.). The Ganges River Basin: status and challenges in water, environment and livelihoods. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.241-254.
(Earthscan Series on Major River Basins of the World) More...
Decision making / Centralization / Price policies / Energy resources / Property rights / Land policies / Agencies / Water authorities / Institutional development / International waters / Water supply / Water policy / Water management / Water governance / Water resources
Record No:H047817
Denby, K.; Movik, S.; Mehta, L.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2016.
The 'Trickle Down' of IWRM: a case study of local-level realities in the Inkomati Water Management Area, South Africa. Water Alternatives, 9(3):473-492.
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The historical legacy in South Africa of apartheid and the resulting discriminatory policies and power imbalances are critical to understanding how water is managed and allocated, and how people participate in designated water governance structures. The progressive post-apartheid National Water Act (NWA) is the principal legal instrument related to water governance which has broadly embraced the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). This translation of IWRM into the South African context and, in particular, the integration of institutions related to land and water have faced many challenges due to the political nature of water and land reforms, and the tendency of governmental departments to work in silos. The paper explores the dynamics surrounding the implementation of IWRM in the Inkomati Water Management Area, and the degree of integration between the parallel land and water reform processes. It also looks at what these reforms mean to black farmers’ access to water for their sugar cane crops at the regional (basin) and local levels. The empirical material highlights the discrepancies between a progressive IWRM-influenced policy on paper and the actual realities on the ground. The paper argues that the decentralisation and integration aspects of IWRM in South Africa have somewhat failed to take off in the country and what apos;integratedapos; actually entails is unclear. Furthermore, efforts to implement the NWA and IWRM in South Africa have been fraught with challenges in practice, because the progressive policy did not fully recognise the complex historical context, and the underlying inequalities in knowledge, power and resource access.
Case studies / Agriculture / Rivers / Catchment areas / Equity / Decentralization / Farmers / Land reform / Water law / Legal aspects / Water availability / Water governance / Water allocation / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management
Record No:H047789
Soliev, Ilkhom; Wegerich, Kai; Kazbekov, Jusipbek. 2015.
The costs of benefit sharing: historical and institutional analysis of shared water development in the Ferghana Valley, the Syr Darya Basin. Water, 7(6):2728-2752.
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Ongoing discussions on water-energy-food nexus generally lack a historical perspective and more rigorous institutional analysis. Scrutinizing a relatively mature benefit sharing approach in the context of transboundary water management, the study shows how such analysis can be implemented to facilitate understanding in an environment of high institutional and resource complexity. Similar to system perspective within nexus, benefit sharing is viewed as a positive sum approach capable of facilitating cooperation among riparian parties by shifting the focus from the quantities of water to benefits derivable from its use and allocation. While shared benefits from use and allocation are logical corollary of the most fundamental principles of international water law, there are still many controversies as to the conditions under which benefit sharing could serve best as an approach. Recently, the approach has been receiving wider attention in the literature and is increasingly applied in various basins to enhance negotiations. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the costs associated with benefit sharing, particularly in the long run. The study provides a number of concerns that have been likely overlooked in the literature and examines the approach in the case of the Ferghana Valley shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan utilizing data for the period from 1917 to 2013. Institutional analysis traces back the origins of property rights of the transboundary infrastructure, shows cooperative activities and fierce negotiations on various governance levels. The research discusses implications of the findings for the nexus debate and unveils at least four types of costs associated with benefit sharing: (1) Costs related to equity of sharing (horizontal and vertical); (2) Costs to the environment; (3) Transaction costs and risks of losing water control; and (4) Costs as a result of likely misuse of issue linkages.
Case studies / Environmental effects / Equity / River basins / Water supply / Water governance / Water resources development / Corporate culture / History / Benefit-cost ratio / Cost benefit analysis / Cooperation / International waters
Record No:H047080
Humphreys, E.; Tuong, T. P.; Buisson, Marie-Charlotte; Pukinskis, I.; Phillips, M. 2015.
Proceedings of the CPWF, GBDC, WLE Conference on Revitalizing the Ganges Coastal Zone: Turning Science into Policy and Practices, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 21-23 October 2014. Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) 600p.
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Incentives / Pumps / Watermelons / Land productivity / Diversification / Shrimp culture / Fisheries / Aquaculture / Living standards / Households / Food production / Women / Rural communities / Community involvement / Ecosystems / Bacteriological analysis / Aquifers / Salt water intrusion / Soil salinity / Irrigation water / Groundwater irrigation / Farmers / Farming systems / Seasonal cropping / Mustard / Wheat / Oil crops / Rice / Cropping systems / Crop production / Climate change / Water management / Water governance / Water use / Water requirements / Water resources / Surface water / Coastal area
Record No:H047106
Saldias, C.; Speelman, S.; Amerasinghe, Priyanie; van Huylenbroeck, G. 2015.
Institutional and policy analysis of wastewater (re)use for agriculture: case study Hyderabad, India. Water Science and Technology, 72(2):322-331.
[DOI] More... Wastewater constitutes an alternative water source for the irrigation sector. To fully benefit from it, and reduce possible adverse effects on public health and the environment, we need to look at the regulation of the practice. A prerequisite for this is an institutional analysis, and the points to consider are the institutional mandates. We used the city of Hyderabad, India, as a case study. There, irrigation with wastewater is not supported or recognized, but it happens in practice. It takes place in an indirect and unplanned way. Institutions fail at enforcing regulations, and little attention is given to formalization of the practice. With this article, we aim to untangle the institutional setup, and by doing so, identify the constraints surrounding development of a formal practice. Ultimately, we aim at contributing to the discussion on the agricultural use of wastewater.
Case studies / Regulations / Legal aspects / Environmental health / Public health / Agriculture / Policy making / Corporate culture / Water governance / Water law / Water policy / Water pollution / Water user associations / Wastewater irrigation / Water reuse / Wastewater
Record No:H047104
Mul, Marloes; Obuobie, E.; Appoh, Richard; Kankam-Yeboah, K.; Bekoe-Obeng, E.; Amisigo, B.; Logah, F. Y.; Ghansah, Benjamin; McCartney, Matthew. 2015.
Evaluation des ressources en eau du bassin de la Volta. In French. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 84p. (Also in English)
(IWMI Working Paper 166/Document de travail IWMI 166) [DOI] More... |
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Le projet WISE UP to climate vise a demontrer lapos;utilite des infrastructures naturelles comme une solution basee sur la nature pour lapos;adaptation au changement climatique et le developpement durable. Dans le bassin de la Volta, les infrastructures naturelles, comme les construites, offrent des benefices pour la subsistance des personnes. Comprendre les interrelations entre ces deux types dapos;infrastructures est une condition indispensable a une gestion et un developpement durables des ressources en eau. Cela est particulierement vrai dans un contexte ou les pressions sur les ressources en eau sapos;intensifient, et ou les impacts du changement climatique augmentent. Ce rapport donne un apercu des caracteristiques biophysiques, des services ecosystemiques, et de leur relation avec les moyens de subsistance dans le bassin.
Economic aspects / Institutions / Riparian zones / Energy generation / Hydrology / Land use / Sedimentation / Soils / Geology / Industry / Fishing / Livestock / Strategies / Policy making / Dams / Lakes / Wetlands / Infrastructure / Natural resources / Ecosystem services / Water availability / Water power / Water demand / Water use / Water quality / Water governance / Water management / International waters / River basins / Environmental impact assessment / Water resources
Record No:H047580
Chartres, C. J.; Noble, Andrew. 2015.
Sustainable intensification: overcoming land and water constraints on food production. Food Security, 7:235-245.
[DOI] More... Feeding over 9 billion people by the second half of this century will require a major paradigm shift in agricultural systems. Agriculture uses approximately 40 % of the terrestrial surface, is the major user of fresh water resources and contributes 17%of greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, agriculture will be detrimentally affected by climate change in many climatic regions. Impacts of agriculture on ecosystem services include land clearing, loss of forest cover and biodiversity, significant soil degradation and water quality decline. Agricultural production will have to increase, even if we can reduce the rate of increase in demand for food. Given the current pressures on natural resources, this will have to be achieved by some form of agricultural intensification that causes less environmental impact. Therefore, it is not just intensification of agriculture, but ‘sustainable intensification’ that must be at the forefront of the paradigmshift. There is also a need to assess the situation holistically, taking into account population growth and resource intensive consumption patterns, improved systems of governance, changing diets and reducing waste. We review how and where natural resources are being placed under increasing pressure and examine the Becological footprint^ of agriculture. Suggested solutions include the application of existing scientific knowledge, implementation of emerging principles for sustainable land and water management and reclamation of salinized land. Encouragement of community action and private sector supply chain and production codes, backed up by improved national and regional governance and regulation also need to be encouraged if we are to see agricultural production become truly sustainable.
Salinity / Natural resources / Soils / Emission / Greenhouse gases / Climate change / Agricultural production / Environmental flows / Ecosystem services / Water governance / Water availability / Water resources / Water productivity / Land productivity / Sustainability / Food production
Record No:H047006
Joffre, O.; de Silva, Sanjiv. 2015.
Community water access, availability and management survey in the Tonle Sap Region, Cambodia. Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems 32p.
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Villages / Drought / Flooding / Land use / Households / Ecosystems / Women / Development plans / Conflict / Institutions / Fisheries / Aquaculture / Agriculture / Irrigation schemes / Communities / Water governance / Wastewater treatment / Water quality / Water use / Domestic water / Water resources / Water management / Water availability
Record No:H047000
Molle, Francois; Closas, Alvar. 2015.
State regulations in groundwater management: they bark but do they bite? Paper presented at the ICID 26th Euro-Mediterranean Regional Conference and Workshops on Innovate to Improve Irrigation Performances. Theme 3: What Governance for Groundwater and Surface Water Use in Agriculture?, Montpellier, France, 12-15 October 2015. 4p.
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Because of the logics of both colonization or de-colonization, the need to counter the anarchy of groundwater use, or the dissemination of global apos;best practicesapos; of IWRM, states have often assumed full ownership or custody of groundwater. Regulating groundwater use includes giving drilling and abstraction authorizations/licenses, establishing an inventory of wells and reducing use in existing wells. Although laws and regulations look neat and straightforward on paper, registration, regularization, and metering have been bedeviled by a host of logistical nightmares, policy contradictions, legal challenges, and vested private interests. The overall outlook is bleak and questions the overstating of state power in reordering groundwater use. Co-management with users, while in itself not sufficient to ensure success, often arises as a possible way out of the failure of state control.
Licences / Water rights / Water users / Wells / Aquifers / Groundwater extraction / Water policy / Water use / Water governance / Regulations / State intervention / Groundwater management
Record No:H047396
Mul, Marloes; Obuobie, E.; Appoh, Richard; Kankam-Yeboah, K.; Bekoe-Obeng, E.; Amisigo, B.; Logah, F. Y.; Ghansah, Benjamin; McCartney, Matthew. 2015.
Water resources assessment of the Volta River Basin. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 78p.
(IWMI Working Paper 166) [DOI] More... |
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The ‘WISE-UP to climate’ project aims to demonstrate the value of natural infrastructure as a ‘nature-based solution’ for climate change adaptation and sustainable development. Within the Volta River Basin, both natural and built infrastructure provide livelihood benefits for people. Understanding the interrelationships between the two types of infrastructure is a prerequisite for sustainable water resources development and management. This is particularly true as pressures on water resources intensify and the impacts of climate change increase. This report provides an overview of the biophysical characteristics, ecosystem services and links to livelihoods within the basin.
Economic aspects / Institutions / Riparian zones / Energy generation / Hydrology / Land use / Sedimentation / Soils / Geology / Industry / Fishing / Livestock / Strategies / Policy making / Dams / Lakes / Wetlands / Infrastructure / Natural resources / Ecosystem services / Water availability / Water power / Water demand / Water use / Water quality / Water governance / Water management / International waters / River basins / Environmental impact assessment / Water resources
Record No:H047413
Mukhtarov, F.; Fox, S.; Mukhamedova, Nozilakhon; Wegerich, Kai. 2015.
Interactive institutional design and contextual relevance: water user groups in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Environmental Science and Policy, 53(B):206-214.
[DOI] More... Institutional design for water governance assumes the possibility of intentional introduction of policy innovations into the new contexts or amending existing institutions. Such institutional design has been common in the water sector and examples include participatory irrigation management, integrated water resources management plans and water privatization programmes. With increasing application of institutional design across various political, socio-economic and cultural settings, the importance of the context is increasingly accepted. The key question is therefore how to reconcile institutional design and contextual variability. Based on our research on the introduction of water user associations in parts of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, we conclude that a top-down institutional design implemented nation-wide and not involving multiple stakeholders and engaging their views, is doomed to failure. As an alternative, we offer interactive institutional design, which is based on collaborative approaches to institutional design and treats design as works of assemblage.
Case studies / Stakeholders / Irrigation management / Water management / Water governance / Policy making / Collective action / Water user associations / Institution building
Record No:H046740
Saruchera, D.; Lautze, Jonathan. 2015.
Measuring transboundary water cooperation: learning from the past to inform the sustainable development goals. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 28p.
(IWMI Working Paper 168) [DOI] More... |
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Water cooperation has received prominent focus in the post-2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While proposals for measuring water cooperation appear to be converging toward a small set of indicators, the degree to which these proposed indicators draw on past work is unclear. This paper mines relevant past work to generate guidance for monitoring the proposed SDG target related to transboundary water cooperation. Potential measures of water cooperation were identified, filtered and applied in three countries (Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe). Six indicators were ultimately determined as being suitable for measuring water cooperation. As the SDG process turns its focus to the selection of indicators, the indicators proposed in this paper may merit consideration.
Planning / Policy making / Stakeholders / Capacity building / Monitoring / Water allocation / Water law / Legislation / Financing / Information management / Indicators / Water governance / Water management / Water resources / Integrated management / River basin management / Sustainable development / International agreements / Cooperation / International waters
Record No:H047338
Hellum, A.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2015.
Water is life: women’s human rights in national and local water governance in southern and eastern Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver Press 620p.
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Case studies / Living standards / Households / Food security / Multiple use / Community organizations / Corporate culture / Institutions / Standards / Small farms / Irrigation schemes / Suburban areas / Urban areas / Rural areas / Local authorities / Social aspects / Colonialism / Political aspects / Economic aspects / Legislation / Legal aspects / Common lands / Land reform / Land ownership / Landscape / Sanitation / Freshwater / Water user associations / Water quality / Water availability / Water use / Domestic water / Water policy / Water law / Water rights / Water scarcity / Water governance / Water resources / Ethnic groups / Equity / Women / Gender / Human rights
Record No:H047293
van Koppen, Barbara; Schreiner, B. 2015.
Gender-equality in statutory water law: the case of priority general authorizations in South Africa. In Hellum, A.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; van Koppen, Barbara. (Eds.) Water is life: women’s human rights in national and local water governance in southern and eastern Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver Press. pp.507-534.
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Social aspects / Legislation / Legal aspects / Local authorities / Administration / Human rights / Water users / Water resources / Water use / Water governance / Water law / Discrimination / Equity / Women / Men / Gender
Record No:H047309
Hellum, A.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; van Koppen, Barbara. 2015.
The human right to water and sanitation in a legal pluralist landscape: perspectives of southern and eastern African women. In Hellum, A.; Kameri-Mbote, P.; van Koppen, Barbara. (Eds.) Water is life: women’s human rights in national and local water governance in southern and eastern Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe: Weaver Press. pp.1-31.
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Case studies / Local authorities / Legislation / Legal aspects / Periurban areas / Urban areas / Rural areas / Empowerment / Living standards / Colonialism / Political aspects / s participation / Womenapos / Gender / Landscape / Water policy / Multiple use / Domestic water / Water law / Water use / Water governance / Legal aspects / Sanitation / Human rights
Record No:H047295
Williams, Timothy Olalekan; Sidibe, Yoro. 2015.
Can current land and water governance systems promote sustainable and equitable large-scale agricultural investments in sub-Saharan Africa? In Global Water Partnership (GWP); International Land Coalition (ILC); International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Proceedings of the Joint GWP-ILC-IWMI Workshop on Responding to the Global Food Security Challenge Through Coordinated Land and Water Governance, Pretoria, South Africa, 15-16 June 2015. Stockholm, Sweden: Global Water Partnership (GWP); Rome, Italy: International Land Coalition (ILC); Pretoria, South Africa: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 9p.
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Ever since the oil, financial and food crises of 2008, sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed a marked increase in large-scale investment in agricultural land. The drivers of this investment are varied and include growing food, water and energy insecurity as well as social and economic interests of investors and recipient countries. The shape of these investments and their eventual outcomes are equally influenced by the existing land and water governance systems in the host countries. Based on fieldlevel research conducted in Ghana and Mali which covered six large-scale agricultural investments, this paper analyzes the current land and water governance systems in these two countries through the lens of land and water acquisition and initial outcomes. It highlights missed opportunities for sustainable and equitable large-scale agricultural land investments due to uncoordinated governance systems and failure to rigorously apply detailed rules and regulations that are already in place. It offers suggestions for revamping land and water governance to promote large-scale investments that will lead to equitable distribution of benefits and sustainable management of natural resources.
Living standards / Food security / Natural resources / Property rights / Sustainability / Equity / Institutions / Farmland / Agriculture / Land rights / Land investments / Land acquisitions / Land tenure / Water rights / Water governance
Record No:H047292
van Koppen, Barbara. 2015.
Towards voluntary guidelines for people-centred land-water tenure: the untapped synergies between rights-based land and water governance. In Global Water Partnership (GWP); International Land Coalition (ILC); International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Proceedings of the Joint GWP-ILC-IWMI Workshop on Responding to the Global Food Security Challenge Through Coordinated Land and Water Governance, Pretoria, South Africa, 15-16 June 2015. Stockholm, Sweden: Global Water Partnership (GWP); Rome, Italy: International Land Coalition (ILC); Pretoria, South Africa: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 8p.
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Water is absent in the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of Food Security’ (FAO, 2012). This paper explored whether and how the people-centred approaches and the human rights values that underpin this document can be better applied in the water sector and how more recognition of the land-water interface can support this. This is elaborated for participatory approaches in which people, especially the rural and peri-urban poor, better oversee the many interdependencies of natural resources and their multiple uses than the compartmentalised public sector. Further, human rights values are discussed for the development of land-bound water infrastructure, tracing the upcoming debates about a core minimum water service level that includes small-scale productive uses. Lastly, entitlements to land and to naturally available water resources are compared. While the water sector should replicate the current strong recognition of customary land rights to customary and informal water entitlements, an important difference is discussed as well: states are water regulators in a public interest. In this capacity, they should also to protect water entitlements by the vulnerable in negotiations about large-scale land-based investments through procedural and water prioritization arrangements.
Domestic water / Guidelines / Human rights / Land rights / Land tenure / Multiple use / Water law / Water allocation / Water resources / Water governance / Water rights
Record No:H047290
Suhardiman, Diana; Giordano, Mark; Molle, Francois. 2015.
Between interests and worldviews: the narrow path of the Mekong River Commission. Environment and Planning C-Government and Policy, 33(1) :199-217.
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Hydropower development is occurring at a rapid, though controversial, pace in the Mekong. We highlight the role of scientific assessment in shaping the Mekong hydropower debate, taking the strategic environmental assessment of the twelve planned mainstream dams as a case study. While environmental impact assessments are designed as science-based decision-making tools, they have often been criticized in practice as a political means to justify already made development decisions. In this case we demonstrate how the Mekong River Commission, operating in a constrained political environment, has instead used environmental impact assessment as a way of providing political space and opening the discussion on dams to a wider public. The main argument of this paper is that scientific assessment can be politically maneuvered to shape governance alliances at both national and transboundary levels, and to a certain extent democratize decision-making processes.
Decision making / Bureaucracy / Environmental impact assessment / Dams / Water power / Water governance / International waters / River basins
Record No:H046652
Lebel, L.; Lebel, P.; Sriyasak, P.; Ratanawilailak, S.; Bastakoti, Ram C.; Bastakoti, G. B. 2015.
Gender relations and water management in different eco-cultural contexts in northern Thailand. International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 11(3/4):228-246.
[DOI] More... This paper assessed water management by households from three ethnic groups in two contrasting ecological settings (upland and lowland) in the Upper Ping River Basin in Northern Thailand. Important gender differences in the use and management of water were identified. Women are major users of water for agriculture in the uplands, but less so in the lowlands. In the lowlands irrigation is viewed as a masculine activity. In the uplands the role of women is more widely accepted, with women frequently being members of water user groups. Men, however, dominate ‘decision-making’ positions in communitybased and state-led water organisations in both upland and lowland areas. Perceptions of contributions to daily tasks, and behavioural traits important to governance roles, differed between men and women, and sometimes also across eco-cultural contexts, underlining the complexity of factors influencing gender relations in water governance.
Culture / Economic aspects / Decision making / Farmers / River basins / Households / Ethnic groups / Urbanization / Agrarian reform / Men / s participation / Womenapos / Gender / Water shortage / Water users / Water use / Water governance / Water management
Record No:H047364
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2015.
Thinking inside the basin: scale in transboundary water management. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 8p.
(IWMI Water Policy Brief 39) [DOI] More... |
Fulltext (847 KB)
Case studies / Treaties / Infrastructure / Catchment areas / Cooperation / Institutions / Tributaries / River basins / Water governance / Water law / Water management / International waters
Record No:H047363
Wegerich, Kai; Warner, J.; Tortajada, C. 2014.
Water sector governance: a return ticket to anarchy. International Journal of Water Governance, 2:7-20.
[DOI] More... A political-science perspective of anarchy holds that anarchy is the absence of a ruler. In the water sector, especially in terms of irrigated agriculture, emerging deficiencies of public irrigation systems as well as the budget crisis of governments to sustain irrigated agriculture, resulted into increased water user participation. Understanding the apparently increasing smidgeon of anarchy in the water sector includes the appreciation of the complexity of water governance developments such as the introduction of Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM), Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT), basin councils, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSP), as well as the limited role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and grassroots organisations (GROs), for decades considered the ‘magic bullet’ in taking over and providing state services to the public. We conclude that governance is anarchy by other means.
Water user associations / Nongovernmental organizations / Economic aspects / Irrigated farming / Irrigation systems / Political aspects / Water resources / Water governance
Record No:H046618
Shah, Tushaar. 2014.
Groundwater governance and irrigated agriculture. Stockholm, Sweden: Global Water Partnership, Technical Committee (TEC) 71p.
(TEC Background Papers 19) More... |
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Community management / Pumping / Tube wells / Farmers / Smallholders / Food security / Aquifers / Administration / Prices / Economic aspects / Agriculture / Groundwater irrigation / Water conservation / Water use / Water governance / Groundwater
Record No:H046583
Hoanh, Chu Thai; Suhardiman, Diana; Anh, L. T. 2014.
Irrigation development in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta: towards polycentric water governance? International Journal of Water Governance, 2:61-82.
[DOI] More... Vietnam’s irrigation development policy directions are divided between the objective to continue increasing rice production through agricultural intensification and to improve farmer’s livelihoods through crop diversification and integrated farming. While the first objective requires the construction of new large-scale irrigation system in deeply flooded area of the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta, the latter demands the modification in management of existing irrigation physical infrastructure for non-rice crops, in particular brackish aquaculture in the coastal zones. This article looks at Vietnam’s irrigation policy formulation processes in the last three and half decades in relation to the idea of polycentric governance. It discusses the current shortcomings and potential role of polycentric governance networks to capture stakeholders’ interests at multiple governance levels essential for future policy development. It partially sheds light on the dark side of water governance, bringing to light the fragmented polycentric decision-making processes in Vietnam’s irrigation development policies.
Income / Households / Flood control / Aquaculture / Farmers / Crop production / Rice / Deltas / Water resources / Water governance / Irrigation systems / Decision making / Policy making / Irrigation development
Record No:H046572
Lautze, Jonathan; de Silva, Sanjiv; Giordano, M.; Sanford, L. 2014.
Water governance. In Lautze, Jonathan (Ed.). Key concepts in water resource management: a review and critical evaluation. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.25-38.
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Sustainability / Decision making / Water management / Water governance
Record No:H046517
Lautze, Jonathan. 2014.
Introduction. In Lautze, Jonathan (Ed.). Key concepts in water resource management: a review and critical evaluation. New York, NY, USA: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.1-6
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Virtual water / Water productivity / Water security / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water management / Water resources
Record No:H046515
Pavelic, Paul; Xayviliya, O.; Ongkeo, O. 2014.
Pathways for effective groundwater governance in the least-developed-country context of the Lao PDR. Water International, 39(4):469-485
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Fulltext Instituting effective groundwater governance is highly challenging in a least developed country such as the Lao PDR where groundwater resources need to be developed for a variety of reasons but the levels of understanding, awareness and technical capacity are extremely limited. This paper discusses the current state of knowledge and management of groundwater and suggests some pathways forward. Whilst the level of governance remains very low, there is growing interest in tackling the entrenched technical and non-technical issues and constraints. Various initiatives have recently emerged, resulting in positive institutional change.
Government departments / Households / Development plans / Stakeholders / Climate change / Developing countries / Water resources development / Water governance / Groundwater
Record No:H046494
Krittasudthacheewa, C.; Lebel, L.; Hoanh, Chu Thai. 2014.
Introduction: pursuing sustainability in the Mekong region. In Lebel, L.; Hoanh, Chu Thai [IWMI]; Krittasudthacheewa, C.; Daniel, R. (Eds.). Climate risks, regional integration and sustainability in the Mekong region. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRDC); Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). pp.1-6.
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Economic development / Living standards / Governance / Resource management / Sustainable development
Record No:H046900
Giordano, Mark; Shah, Tushaar. 2014.
From IWRM back to integrated water resources management. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 30(3):364-376
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Fulltext Integrated water resources management provides a set of ideas to help us manage water more holistically. However, these ideas have been formalized over time in what has now become, in capitals, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), with specific prescriptive principles whose implementation is often supported by donor funding and international advocacy. IWRM has now become an end in itself, in some cases undermining functioning water management systems, in others setting back needed water reform agendas, and in yet others becoming a tool to mask other agendas. Critically, the current monopoly of IWRM in global water management discourse is shutting out alternative thinking on pragmatic solutions to existing water problems. This paper explains these issues and uses examples of transboundary water governance in general, groundwater management in India and rural–urban water transfer in China to show that there are (sometimes antithetical) alternatives to IWRM which are being successfully used to solve major water problems. The main message is that we should simply get on with pragmatic politics and solutions to the world’s many individual water challenges.
River basins / Groundwater management / Water rates / Water allocation / Water governance / International waters / Water management
Record No:H046322
Amerasinghe, Priyanie. 2014.
Peri-urbanisation of rural India - is this the furute? [Abstract only]. In Maheshwari, B. L.; Simmons, B.; Thoradeniya, B. Proceedings of the International Conference on Peri-Urban Landscapes: Water, Food and Environmental Security. Penrith, New South Wales, Australia: University of Western Sydney. pp.16.
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Governance / Political aspects / Environmental effects / Socioeconomic aspects / Rural areas / Suburban agriculture
Record No:H046845
Venot, J.-P.; Suhardiman, Diana. 2014.
Governing the ungovernable: practices and circumstances of governance in the irrigation sector. International Journal of Water Governance, 2:41-60
More... Since the early 2000s, governance has been at the core of the international water agenda. This has elicited calls for reforms in the irrigation sector, including efforts to address the problem of corruption. Nevertheless, the history of policy reform in the irrigation sector is one of repeated institutional refinements, which have hardly materialized into grounded policy measures and practices. Though international donors, policy makers, irrigation scholars and practitioners have long agreed to invest in the ‘soft issues’ of irrigation, most policy interventions have retained a focus on infrastructure-oriented development. This paper identifies decisive factors that preserve the status quo in irrigation development. We draw our analysis on empirical data from countries with a recent (Ghana, West Africa) and long (Indonesia) irrigation history. Beyond the idiosyncrasies of the two case studies that highlight that everyday practices are embedded in, and constrained by, existing institutional rules and mechanisms, but also contribute to shaping these, we make a broader theoretical point. We argue that the ‘business-as-usual’ trajectory that characterizes the irrigation sector is also rooted in the very concept of governance, which is fundamentally about “governing”, that is a practice aiming at steering people towards defined ends, and through different means such as infrastructure, management practices and policies.
Case studies / Farmers / Reservoirs / Investment / Water user associations / Water resources / Bureaucracy / Policy making / Governance / Development / Irrigation management
Record No:H046571
van Koppen, Barbara; Schreiner, B. 2014.
Priority General Authorisations in rights-based water use authorisation in South Africa. Water Policy, 16:59-77.
[DOI] More... This article unravels the notions of justice in statutory water law in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and South Africa in particular. These laws, which allocate and regulate water resources, are licence (or permit) systems. Three forms of injustices are identified for small-scale water users who typically encompass all poor water users: the reinforcement of the historical injustices by which colonial powers captured ownership of water resources and undermined customary water law; administrative discrimination as a result of governments’ lack of capacity to license the large numbers of small-scale users; and discrimination of the smallest-scale users whose exemption from the obligation to apply for a licence relegates them to a second-class entitlement to water. Based on the texts and implementation experiences of the National Water Act (1998) and the pro-poor prioritisation rules in the National Water Resource Strategy-2 (2013), the authors propose the transformative legal tool of priority General Authorisations for black small-scale users to overcome these injustices. Via this tool all black small-scale users, including the poor, would obtain equal access to minimum quantities of water needed to progressively achieve constitutional rights to water, food, and non-discrimination, while the remaining water resources would be allocated to high-impact users through licences with strict and enforceable conditions.
Smallholders / Poverty / Gender / Licences / Authority / Water governance / Water law / Water resources / Water use
Record No:H046749
CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 2014.
Ecosystem services and resilience framework. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) 46p.
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Fulltext (6 MB)
Case studies / Decision making / Monitoring / Impact assessment / Planning / Soil conservation / Farmers / Stakeholders / Investment / Income / Public health / Nutrition / Food security / Poverty / Living standards / Rural areas / Communities / Sustainability / Governance / Rice / Productivity / Agroecosystems / Landscape / Agriculture / Ecosystem services
Record No:H046683
Suhardiman, Diana; Wichelns, D.; Lebel, L.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali. 2014.
Benefit sharing in Mekong Region hydropower: whose benefits count? Water Resources and Rural Development, 4:3-11.
[DOI] More... Notions of benefit sharing play an increasingly important role in shaping the debate around the merits of existing and future hydropower development in the Mekong region. In this paperwe assess how the concept of benefit sharing is articulated and applied in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. We discuss the conceptual strengths and weaknesses of benefit sharing, within the broader context of land and water resources and environmental governance. We argue that while benefit sharing provides an entry point for placing the current debate on hydropower development within the perspective of social justice, better understanding of governance structures and processes is needed. Our primary message is that innovations in policies and programs should not be analyzed in isolation from the wider governance structure, processes, and outcomes. To this end, we are pleased also to introduce this Special Issue of Water Resources and Rural Development, in which several authors analyze current benefit sharing programs in the Mekong region, with a focus on governance, process, and policy implications.
Living standards / Social aspects / Governance / Environmental impact assessment / Land resources / Water resources / Water power
Record No:H046698
McCornick, Peter; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Bharati, Luna; Johnston, Robyn; McCartney, Matthew; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane; McIntyre, Beverly. 2014.
Afrontar el cambio: Cuidar del agua, de la agricultura y de la seguridad alimentaria en una era de incertidumbre climatica. In Spanish. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
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Environmental flows / Women / Gender / Soil moisture / Malaria / Health hazards / Food security / Rainfed farming / Agriculture / Irrigation schemes / River basins / Aquifers / Groundwater recharge / Water storage / Water governance / Water productivity / Water management / Water resources / Climate change
Record No:H046664
van der Bliek, Julie; McCornick, Peter; Clarke, James. 2014.
On target for people and planet: setting and achieving water-related sustainable development goals. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 52p.
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River basins / Women / Social aspects / Economic growth / Farmers / Drought / Flooding / Climate change / Ecosystem services / Sustainable development / Energy / Food security / Wastewater / Water accounting / Water policy / Domestic water / Water management / Water resources / Groundwater / Water quality / Water governance
Record No:H046660
Harrington, Larry W.; Vidal, Alain. 2014.
Messages and meaning. In Harrington, Larry W.; Fisher, M. J. (Eds.). Water scarcity, livelihoods and food security: research and innovation for development. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.200-216.
(Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management) More...
Models / Marketing / Investment / Stakeholders / Partnerships / Planning / Decision making / Innovation / Institutions / Poverty / Sustainability / Water power / Water governance / Water scarcity / Infrastructure / Water management / Research programmes
Record No:H046789
Clayton, Terry; Victor, Michael. 2014.
From research outputs to development outcomes: selected stories. In Harrington, Larry W.; Fisher, M. J. (Eds.). Water scarcity, livelihoods and food security: research and innovation for development. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.178-199.
(Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management) More...
Fisheries / Farmers / Multiple use / Water governance / River basins / Floodplains / Models / Public health / Living standards / Sustainability / Resource management / Community development / Environmental services / Investment / Research policy
Record No:H046788
Shah, Tushaar; Sadoff, C.; McCornick, Peter; Molle, Francois; Samad, Madar; Suhardiman, Diana; van Koppen, Barbara. 2014.
Water governance: context is crucial. In van der Bliek, Julie; McCornick, Peter; Clarke, James (Eds.). On target for people and planet: setting and achieving water-related sustainable development goals. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.14-18.
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Case studies / Economic development / Water management / Water resources / Water governance / Groundwater
Record No:H046795
Yami, Mastewal. 2013.
Sustaining participation in irrigation systems of Ethiopia: what have we learned about water user associations? Water Policy, 15(6):961-984.
[DOI] More... Community participation, defined as engaging users of schemes in the decision-making processes for the planning and implementation of irrigation projects, is critical for the sustainability of irrigation schemes. This study was carried out in three regional states of Ethiopia to investigate the contribution of Water User Associations (WUAs) to sustaining participation in irrigation projects. The paper demonstrates that the poor understanding of community participation and institutional development by project staff in donor-supported irrigation projects results in the poor performance of WUAs in enhancing participation in irrigation systems. The interventions of external bodies in setting up the WUA by-laws and in determining the responsibilities of users and WUA committees contributed to the low level of participation. The transfer of schemes to WUAs without building WUA committeesapos; abilities in operation and maintenance constrained their ability to sustainably manage irrigation schemes. The WUA committees are male-dominated and the views of women are hardly represented in the decision-making. Therefore, establishing WUA committees that reflect the interests and inputs of scheme users is crucial to achieve fair decision-making. Local authorities and non-governmental organizations could do more to change perceptions and behavior on the importance of gender equity in sustaining the positive outcomes of irrigation at household and community levels.
Surveys / Living standards / Equity / Gender / Water user associations / Community involvement / Small scale systems / Irrigation systems / Irrigation projects / Irrigation schemes / Water governance / Water management
Record No:H046107
Raschid-Sally, Liqa. 2013.
City waste for agriculture: emerging priorities which influence agenda setting. [Selected from the World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden, 26-31 August 2012]. Aquatic Procedia, 1:88-99.
[DOI] More... |
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Using city wastewater in agriculture for its water and nutrient values is a widespread practice that entails varying degrees of risk depending on the context of use. This paper presents the ‘multiple realities’ of wastewater use, describing the complex set of drivers that impels prevalent practices. These drivers in turn define a set of emerging issues and priorities. The paper emphasizes that recent thinking on the use of city water in agriculture has evolved rapidly, leading to gaps between the existing knowledge base and the knowledge needed to respond effectively and maximize benefits. In this paper we attempt to address these gaps by presenting a cross section of concepts, approaches and tools that are relevant to policy and can be utilized for agenda setting and good governance.
Health hazards / Environmental effects / Irrigation systems / Wastewater irrigation / Water scarcity / Governance / Risk management / Agriculture / Water use / Wastewater
Record No:H046087
Trung, N. H.; Tuan, L. A.; Trieu, T. T.; Bastakoti, Ram Chandra; Lebel, L. 2013.
Multi-level governance and adaptation to floods in the Mekong Delta. In Daniel, R.; Lebel, L.; Manorom, K. (Eds.). Governing the Mekong: engaging in the politics of knowledge. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD). pp.111-126.
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Living standards / Governance / Salt water intrusion / Deltas / Adaptation / Risks / Flooding
Record No:H046055
Wood, A.; Dixon, A.; McCartney, Matthew. 2013.
Wetland management and sustainable livelihoods in Africa. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 281p.
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Vegetation / Soil fertility / Flood control / Natural resources / Ecosystems / River basin development / Water management / Livestock / Fisheries / Farmers / Rice / Agriculture / Governance / Institutions / Case studies / Sustainable livelihoods / Catchment areas / Wetlands
Record No:H045895
Wood, A.; Dixon, A.; McCartney, Matthew. 2013.
Wetland management and sustainable livelihoods in Africa. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 281p.
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Vegetation / Soil fertility / Flood control / Natural resources / Ecosystems / River basin development / Water management / Livestock / Fisheries / Farmers / Rice / Agriculture / Governance / Institutions / Case studies / Sustainable livelihoods / Catchment areas / Wetlands
Record No:H045883
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2013.
Proceedings of the National Seminar on Groundwater Governance in Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 15 August 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 134p.
[DOI] More... |
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Sustainability / Monitoring / Research / Irrigation management / Fluorides / Hydrogeology / Farmers / Stakeholders / Pumps / Arid zones / Tanks / Wells / Aquifers / Surface water / Water pollution / Water quality / Drinking water / Water supply / Water level / Water use / Water governance / Groundwater management / Groundwater development / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater irrigation
Record No:H046388
Shah, Tushaar. 2013.
Climate change and groundwater: India's opportunities for mitigation and adaptation. In Prakash, A.; Singh, S.; Goodrich, C. G; Janakarajan, S. (Eds.). Water resources policies in South Asia. New Delhi, India: Routledge. pp.213-243.
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Electricity supplies / Energy consumption / Carbon / Runoff / Water governance / Water demand / Water availability / Water use / Agriculture / Aquifers / Water storage / Pumps / River basins / Wells / Economic aspects / Groundwater recharge / Groundwater irrigation / Groundwater management / Canals / Irrigation systems / Precipitation / Adaptation / Migration / Climate change / Water management
Record No:H045721
de Silva, Sanjiv; Johnston, Robyn; Try, T. 2013.
Local institutions for irrigated agriculture in Cambodia. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management institute (IWMI) 12p.
(IWMI-ACIAR Investing in Water Management to Improve Productivity of Rice-based Farming Systems in Cambodia Project. Issue Brief 2) More... |
Fulltext (1.26 MB)
Private sector / Water productivity / Water supply / Water governance / Water users / Groundwater / Farmer participation / Local organizations / Agriculture / Irrigation management / Irrigated farming
Record No:H047420
Ratner, B. D.; Meinzen-Dick, R.; Hellin, J.; Mapedza, Everisto; Unruh, J.; Veening, W.; Haglund, E.; May, C.; Bruch, C. 2013.
Addressing conflict through collective action in natural resource management: a synthesis of experience. Washington, DC, USA: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 41p.
(CAPRi Working Paper 112) [DOI] More... |
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The food security crisis, international “land grabs,” and new markets for environmental services have drawn renewed attention to the role of natural resource competition in the livelihoods of the rural poor. While significant empirical research has focused on diagnosing the links between natural resource competition and (violent) conflict, much less has focused on the dynamics of whether and how resource competition can be transformed to strengthen social-ecological resilience and mitigate conflict. Focusing on this latter theme, this review synthesizes evidence from a wide range of cases in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Building on an analytical framework designed to enable such comparative analysis; we present several propositions about the dynamics of conflict and collective action in natural resource management, and a series of recommendations for action. These propositions are: that collective action in natural resources management is influenced by the social-ecological and governance context, that natural resource management institutions affect the incentives for conflict or cooperation, and that the outcomes of these interactions influence future conflict risk, livelihoods, and resource sustainability. Action recommendations concern policies addressing resource tenure, conflict resolution mechanisms, and social inequalities, as well as strategies to strengthen collective action institutions in the natural resource sectors and to enable more equitable engagement by marginalized groups in dialogue and negotiation over resource access and use.
Living standards / Rural areas / Food production / Governance / Ecology / Sociology / Cooperation / Frameworks / Institutions / Risks / Conflict / Collective action / Natural resources management
Record No:H046235
Amerasinghe, Priyanie; Cofie, Olufunke; Larbi, T. O.; Drechsel, Pay. 2013.
Facilitating outcomes: multi-stakeholder processes for influencing policy change on urban agriculture in selected West African and South Asian cities. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 38p.
(IWMI Research Report 153) [DOI] More... |
Fulltext The Multi-stakeholder Policy Formulation and Action Planning approach was applied in the context of a multi-city study to influence and/or change policies that govern urban agriculture practices in three African and two Asian countries. Although the approach was successful and resulted in remarkable outcomes, it showed space for improvement to facilitate its application. The study also showed that there are significant regional differences in how best to achieve policy change, which require careful attention in order to achieve the highest returns on investment in the facilitation of impact pathways.
Capacity building / Action plan / Policy / Stakeholders / Governance / Agricultural development / Urban agriculture
Record No:H046246
McCornick, Peter; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Bharati, Luna; Johnston, Robyn; McCartney, Matthew; Sugden, Fraser; Clement, Floriane; McIntyre, Beverly. 2013.
Tackling change: future-proofing water, agriculture, and food security in an era of climate uncertainty. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 36p.
[DOI] More... |
Fulltext (2.20MB)
Environmental flows / Women / Gender / Soil moisture / Malaria / Health hazards / Food security / Rainfed farming / Agriculture / Irrigation schemes / River basins / Aquifers / Groundwater recharge / Water storage / Water governance / Water productivity / Water management / Water resources / Climate change
Record No:H046223
de Silva, Sanjiv; Johnston, Robyn; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali. 2013.
Agriculture, irrigation and poverty reduction in Cambodia: policy narratives and ground realities compared. : Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Canberra, Australia: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) 70p.
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Livestock / Private sector / Governance / Prices / Fertilizers / Smallholders / Institutions / Pumping / Soil quality / Geography / Hydrology / Rice / Climate change / Economic growth / Poverty / Water scarcity / Participatory approaches / Irrigation management / Irrigation schemes / Agricultural production / Agricultural development
Record No:H046294
Silva, E. I. L.; Katupotha, J.; Amarasinghe, O.; Manthrithilake, Herath; Ariyaratne, Ranjith. 2013.
Lagoons of Sri Lanka: from the origins to the present. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 116p.
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Legislation / Institutions / Governance / Fisheries / Poverty / Species / Geomorphology / Salinity / Marshes / Mangroves / Fauna / Biodiversity / Ecosystems / Hydrography / Hydrology / Coastal lagoons
Record No:H046256
Fisher, M.; Cook, Simon. 2012.
Water, food and poverty in river basins: defining the limits. London, UK: Routledge 400p.
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Case studies / Runoff / Population growth / Investment / Irrigation management / Living conditions / Social aspects / Economic aspects / Fisheries / Livestock / Smallholders / Farmers / Land tenure / Land use / Energy consumption / Administration / Water governance / Water policy / Development policy / Legal aspects / Water use / Water market / Water supply / Water demand / Corporate culture / Institutions / Water availability / Water productivity / Water quality / Water scarcity / Climate change / Ecosystems / Downstream / Upstream / River basins / Indicators / Mapping / Water poverty / Rural poverty / Irrigated farming / Rainfed farming / Farming systems / Crop production / Food security / Rain water management / Groundwater management / Water resources development / Water management
Record No:H045033
Molle, Francois; Mamanpoush, A. 2012.
Scale, governance and the management of river basins: a case study from Central Iran. Geoforum, 43(2):285-294.
[DOI] More... Aquatic socio-ecological systems show pervasive cross-scale interactions and problems of fit between ecosystems and institutions. Nested bio-hydrological processes within river basins are prone to thirdparty impacts, and equitable/sustainable management of water resources requires adequate governance patterns that both cover relevant scalar levels and handle cross-scale interactions. This paper provides the example of the Zayandeh Rud basin, in central Iran, and describes the historical evolution of water use at three different nested scales. It shows how the gradual overallocation of water resources (basin closure) and the manipulation of the hydrological cycle by the state and other actors have resulted in a constant spatial and social redistribution of water use and associated benefits and costs. State-centered modes of governance characterized by the priority to large-scale infrastructure, vested political and financial interests, lack of attention to local processes and hydrological interconnectedness, and the neglect of environmental degradation, must give way to forms of comanagement that better articulate the different levels of control and governance.
Wells / Water use / Water rights / Valleys / Case studies / Water governance / Water resources development / River basin management
Record No:H045085
Chartres, Colin. 2012.
Water and food security: integrated scientific and governance based solutions. In van den Brink, A.; de Haas, W.; Beek, K. J.; Frikkee, D. (Eds.). Globalisation and landscape change: report of the 60th Jubilee Conference of the Land and Water Network, Wageningen, Netherlands, 18 May 2011. Wageningen, Netherlands: Land and Water Network; Wageningen, Netherlands: KLV Wageningen Alumni Network. pp.19-29.
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Arable land / Population growth / Food production / Food security / Water requirements / Water governance / Water scarcity / Water security / Water management
Record No:H043975
Abdullaev, I.; Rakhmatullaev, S.; Platonov, Alexander; Sorokin, D. 2012.
Improving water governance in Central Asia through application of data management tools. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 69(1):151-168.
[DOI] More... Contemporary water management decisions use many sources and forms of data. The paper discusses the implementation results of data management activities in the water sector carried out in five countries of the Central Asia region. Geoinformation systems, remote sensing tools and databases have been applied worldwide for improving water resources management with differing levels of success. Water management organisations, equipped with data management tools will have better capacities to adapt their decision-making in the changing availability and scarcity of water resources. Application of data management tools for improving collection, storage and processing of data and information are a first step towards improved water governance.
Land cover / Land use / Irrigation systems / Satellite imagery / GIS / Remote sensing / Databases / History / Data management / International waters / Water governance / Organizations / Water management
Record No:H044921
Williams, Timothy Olalekan; Gyampoh, Benjamin; Kizito, Fred; Namara, Regassa. 2012.
Water implications of large-scale land acquisitions in Ghana. Water Alternatives, 5(2):243-265.
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This paper examines the water dimensions of recent large-scale land acquisitions for biofuel production in the Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions of Ghana. Using secondary sources of data complemented by individual and group interviews, the paper reveals an almost universal lack of consideration of the implications of large-scale land deals for crop water requirements, the ecological functions of freshwater ecosystems and water rights of local smallholder farmers and other users. It documents the factors responsible for this apparent oversight including the multiplicity of land and water governance systems, sharp sectoral boundaries between land and water policies, property rights and institutions, outdated statutes, poorly resourced and ineffective regulatory agencies, and unequal power relations in land acquisition deals. The paper shows that due to a lack of an approach that jointly considers land and water management policies and institutions in acceding to large-scale land deals, the benefits derived by local people were insufficient to cover the involuntary permanent loss of their water rights and livelihoods and the risks posed to ecosystem services. Options for establishing alternative institutional arrangements that will allow water availability, use and management as well as social and environmental standards to be factored, ex ante, into large-scale land deals are explored. The paper offers recommendations which can help the government to achieve its stated objective of developing a quot;policy framework and guidelines for large-scale land acquisitions by both local and foreign investors for biofuels that will protect the interests of investors and the welfare of Ghanaian farmers and landownersquot;.
Corporate culture / Institutions / Ecology / Sociology / Foreign investment / Water rights / Water governance / Biofuels / Property rights / Land policies / Land acquisitions / Land ownership
Record No:H044917
Fisher, M.; Cook, Simon. 2012.
Water, food and poverty in river basins: defining the limits. London, UK: Routledge 400p.
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Case studies / Runoff / Population growth / Investment / Irrigation management / Living conditions / Social aspects / Economic aspects / Fisheries / Livestock / Smallholders / Farmers / Land tenure / Land use / Energy consumption / Administration / Water governance / Water policy / Development policy / Legal aspects / Water use / Water market / Water supply / Water demand / Corporate culture / Institutions / Water availability / Water productivity / Water quality / Water scarcity / Climate change / Ecosystems / Downstream / Upstream / River basins / Indicators / Mapping / Water poverty / Rural poverty / Irrigated farming / Rainfed farming / Farming systems / Crop production / Food security / Rain water management / Groundwater management / Water resources development / Water management
Record No:H044835
Sharma, Bharat; Amarasinghe, Upali; Cai, Xueliang; de Condappa, D.; Shah, Tushaar; Mukherji, Aditi; Bharati, Luna; Ambili, G. K.; Qureshi, Asad Sarwar; Pant, Dhruba; Xenarios, Stefanos; Singh, R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir. 2012.
The Indus and the Ganges: river basins under extreme pressure. In Fisher, M.; Cook, Simon (Eds.). Water, food and poverty in river basins: defining the limits. London, UK: Routledge. pp.30-58.
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Farmers / Case studies / Economic aspects / Wheat / Rice / Crop production / Land tenure / Land use / Water governance / Water law / Policy / Electricity / Energy consumption / Irrigation water / Groundwater management / Water conservation / Water productivity / Water use / Water demand / Living conditions / Social aspects / Poverty / Population growth / Water resources / River basins
Record No:H044838
Suhardiman, Diana; Giordano, Mark. 2012.
Process-focused analysis in transboundary water governance research. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 12(3):299-308.
[DOI] More... Previous analysis of transboundary water governance has been focused primarily on state-centred approaches. The articles in this special section move us forward from this focus in three ways. First, they highlight the crucial role played by non-state actors in shaping water governance outcomes. Second, they show us how these actors can increase the ‘room for manoeuvre’ in negotiations. Third, they provide an entry point for developing process-focused approaches in transboundary water governance research. This article argues such an approach might improve our understanding of transboundary water outcomes and suggests new focus on how key actors form networks of alliances and shape decision-making landscapes at multiple governance levels and arenas. From a scholarly perspective, it brings to light the blurred boundary between state and non-state actors, as derived from a better understanding of the elusive links between actors and organisations; it unravels additional layers of complexity in the hydro-hegemony concept and bends the rigid notion of power asymmetry, towards the subtleties of power relations and interplays in transboundary decision-making processes.
River basins / Dams / Cooperation / Conflict / Non governmental organizations / Decision making / Water governance / International Waters
Record No:H044882
Nagabhatla, N.; Dhyani, S.; Finlayson, C. M.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; van Brakel, Martin; Wickramasuriya, R.; Pattanaik, C.; Prasad, S. N. 2012.
A case study approach to demonstrate the use of assessment and monitoring as tools for participatory environmental governance. Ecologia, 2(3):60-75.
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Effective implementation of participatory environmental governance faces a number of challenges, including the need for appropriate mechanisms and incentive systems that can operate across multiple-use landscapes. This study demonstrated scenarios for such governance from three agro-ecological zones in different geographical, biophysical and socio-cultural settings: (i) Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary in the temperate forests of the Central Himalayas, (ii) Kolleru Lake, a freshwater lake in the Krishna Basin and (iii) the downstream Ganges seasonal floodplains in Bangladesh. The cross-disciplinary set of approaches in these examples involves the use of spatial tools and socioeconomic surveys to build a scenario-based framework with cross-scaling prospects. The comparative analysis between these sites is significant in the context of providing guidance for trans-boundary environmental governance and the underlying challenges that occur in politically complex and common property resource institutional arrangements. Meeting these challenges will assist in the efforts, locally and nationally, to make wise use of all wetlands, as required under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary symbolizes a case of increasing anthropogenic pressure, limited livelihood options and with gaps in the governance structure. Kolleru Lake represents a case of inadequate understanding of the ecological dimensions of livelihood interventions and the consequential community conflict. The case of floodplains in Bangladesh illustrates the potential of collective action, supported by appropriate institutional arrangements, for improving rice-fish productivity. The case studies support the argument that monitoring and assessment of the resource structure and its dynamics, with the application of geospatial tools, adds value when shaping a framework for policy debate and for ensuring the wise use of wetlands.
Wildlife / Nature reserves / Public-private cooperation / Institutions / Resource management / River basins / Floodplains / Downstream / Forests / Wetlands / Ecosystems / Freshwater / Lakes / Agroecology / Governance / Environmental effects / Case studies
Record No:H044782
Dore, J.; Lebel, L.; Molle, Francois. 2012.
A framework for analysing transboundary water governance complexes, illustrated in the Mekong Region. Journal of Hydrology, 466-467:23-36.
[DOI] More... In this paper we present a framework for analysing transboundary water governance complexes, illustrated in the Mekong Region. In this region, the sharing of waters between countries adds a critical dimension to decision making about producing food and energy, maintaining vital ecosystems, and sustaining livelihoods. Hydropower, dams, diversions, expanding cities and irrigation schemes are all in the mix. The key elements of the framework are: context, drivers, arenas, tools, decisions and impacts. The use of deliberation, technical and advocacy tools is explored and normative governance improvements are suggested.
Dams / Ecosystems / Decision making / Water resources development / Impact assessment / Water governance / International waters
Record No:H045624
Funder, M.; Bustamante, R.; Cossio, V.; Huong, P. T. M.; van Koppen, Barbara; Mweemba, C.; Nyambe, I.; Phuong, L. T. T.; Skielboe, T. 2012.
Strategies of the poorest in local water conflict and cooperation – evidence from Vietnam, Bolivia and Zambia. Water Alternatives, 5(1): 20-36.
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Media stories often speak of a future dominated by large-scale water wars. Rather less attention has been paid to the way water conflicts play out at local levels and form part of people’s everyday lives. Based on case study studies from Vietnam, Bolivia and Zambia, this paper examines the strategies of poor households in local water conflicts. It is shown how such households may not only engage actively in collaborative water management but may also apply risk aversion strategies when faced with powerful adversaries in conflict situations. It is further shown how dependency relations between poor and wealthy households can reduce the scope of action for the poor in water conflicts. As a result, poor households can be forced to abstain from defending their water resources in order to maintain socio-economic and political ties with the very same households that oppose them in water conflicts. The paper concludes by briefly discussing how the poorest can be supported in local water conflicts. This includes ensuring that alternative spaces for expressing grievances exist and are accessible; facilitating that water sharing agreements and rights are clearly stipulated and monitored; and working beyond water governance to reduce the socio-economic dependency-relations of poor households.
Natural resources management / Villages / Reservoirs / Irrigation systems / Pipes / Households / Case studies / Non governmental organizations / Cooperation / Conflicts / Water sharing / Water governance / Water resources / Poverty
Record No:H045505
Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Molden, David; Peden, D. 2012.
The Nile River Basin: water, agriculture, governance and livelihoods. Abingdon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 316p.
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Case studies / Models / Sedimentation / Evaporation / Erosion / Environmental effects / Dams / Climate change / Water power / Livestock / Farming systems / Food security / Poverty / Living standards / Agricultural production / Land management / Irrigation development / Hydrology / Aquifers / Water policy / Institutions / Water conservation / Water balance / Water availability / Wetlands / Water productivity / Water governance / Watersheds / Groundwater management / Water resources development / Water management / History / River basins
Record No:H045307
Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Molden, David; Peden, D. 2012.
The Nile River Basin: water, agriculture, governance and livelihoods. Abingdon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan 316p.
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Case studies / Models / Sedimentation / Evaporation / Erosion / Environmental effects / Dams / Climate change / Water power / Livestock / Farming systems / Food security / Poverty / Living standards / Agricultural production / Land management / Irrigation development / Hydrology / Aquifers / Water policy / Institutions / Water conservation / Water balance / Water availability / Wetlands / Water productivity / Water governance / Watersheds / Groundwater management / Water resources development / Water management / History / River basins
Record No:H045306
Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Molden, David; Peden D. 2012.
Introduction. In Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Smakhtin, Vladimir; Molden, David; Peden D. (Eds.). The Nile River Basin: water, agriculture, governance and livelihoods. Abingdon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. pp.1-4.
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Irrigated sites / Rainfed farming / Water governance / Agricultural production / Poverty / Hydrology / Water productivity / Water management / Water resources development / River basins
Record No:H045308
Suhardiman, Diana; Giordano, Mark; Molle, Francois. 2012.
Scalar disconnect: the logic of transboundary water governance in the Mekong. Society and Natural Resources, 25(6):572-586.
[DOI] More... This article provides an institutional analysis of the Mekong River Commission and brings to light the institutional dissonances between regional and national decision-making landscapes in the Lower Mekong Basin. The current scalar disconnect between regional and national decision-making processes reflects how international donors and member country representatives obscure potential conflict/tension in transboundary water governance in the Mekong. From a scholarly perspective, it questions academic approaches that assume that the state is the sole or primary actor in international relations.
River basins / Funding / Bureaucracy / Government / Decision making / Corporate culture / Institutions / Water governance / International waters / Water management
Record No:H044374
Chartres, Colin. 2012.
Water and food security. In Rayfuse, R. ; Wiesfelt, N. (Eds.). The challenge of food security. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. pp.128-146.
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Women / Agricultural production / River basins / Food security / Water use / Water scarcity / Water governance / Water management / Water resources
Record No:H045609
Namara, Regassa E.; Barry, Boubacar; Owusu, Eric S.; Ogilvie, A. 2011.
An overview of the development challenges and constraints of the Niger Basin and possible intervention strategies. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 26p.
(IWMI Working Paper 144) [DOI] More... |
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The Niger River Basin covers 7.5% of the African continent and is shared between nine riparian countries. The human population of the basin is growing at an average annual rate of about 3%, which makes the Niger River Basin one of the areas with the highest fertility rates in the world. The desert margin is expanding; climate change is negatively impacting rainfall; and urbanization, industrialization, and the human and livestock population are threatening the quantity and quality of available water resources. The basin population already suffers from chronic poverty. Based on a literature review, this paper suggests some key water-related and other interventions that are capable of easing the basinapos;s development challenges.
Water governance / Agriculture sector / Climate change / Social aspects / Poverty / River basin development
Record No:H044299
Molden, David; Vithanage, M.; de Fraiture, Charlotte; Faures, J. M.; Finlayson, M.; Gordon, L.; Molle, Francois; Peden, D.; Stentiford, D. 2011.
Water availability and its use in agriculture. In Wilderer, P. (Ed.). Treatise on water science. Vol.4. Oxford, UK: Elsevier. pp. 707-732.
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Water governance / Health hazards / Ecosystems / Fisheries / Aquaculture / Livestock / Rainfed farming / Irrigated farming / River basin management / Climate change / Water demand / Water productivity / Agriculture / Water scarcity / Water use / Water availability
Record No:H044171
Amede, Tilahun; Descheemaeker, Katrien; Mapedza, Everisto; Peden, D.; van Breugel, P.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Haileslassie, A. 2011.
Livestock-water productivity in the Nile Basin: solutions for emerging challenges. In Melesse, A. M. (Ed.). Nile River Basin: hydrology, climate and water use. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer. pp.297-320.
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River basins / Hydrology / Gender / Water conservation / Water governance / Water productivity / Livestock
Record No:H044035
Lautze, Jonathan; de Silva, Sanjiv; Giordano, Mark; Sanford, Luke. 2011.
Putting the cart before the horse: water governance and IWRM. Natural Resources Forum, 35(1):1-8.
[DOI] More... Water governance has emerged as perhaps the most important topic of the international water community in the 21st century, and achieving “good” water governance is now a focus of both policy discourse and innumerable development projects. Somewhat surprisingly in light of this attention, there is widespread confusion about the meaning of the term “water governance”. This paper reviews the history of the term’s use and misuse to reveal how the concept is frequently inflated to include issues that go well beyond governance. Further, it highlights how calls to improve water governance often espouse predetermined goals that should instead be the very function of water governance to define. To help overcome this confusion, the paper suggests a more refined definition of water governance and related qualities of good water governance that are consistent with broader notions of the concepts. In light of the substantial resources allocated in its name, this paper’s findings show there is significant potential to strengthen efforts at improving water governance.
Institutions / Water resource management / Water governance
Record No:H043958
de Silva, Sanjiv; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Kodituwakku, D. C.; Atapattu, S. 2011.
Governance performance in integrated coastal management: Sri Lanka country report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 91p.
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Legal rights / Access to information / Mangroves / Lagoons / Wetlands / Case studies / Government departments / Institutions / Decision making / Public participation / Participatory management / Rules / Accountability / Transparency / Legislation / Coastal area
Record No:H044787
de Silva, Sanjiv; Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali; Kodituwakku, D. C.; Atapattu, S. 2011.
Governance performance in integrated coastal management: Sri Lanka country report. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 91p.
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Legal rights / Access to information / Mangroves / Lagoons / Wetlands / Case studies / Government departments / Institutions / Decision making / Public participation / Participatory management / Rules / Accountability / Transparency / Legislation / Coastal area
Record No:H044786
AgWater Solutions Project (Agricultural Water Solutions Project). 2011.
Small reservoirs in Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on a report by Jean-Philippe Venot. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). AgWater Solutions Project (Agricultural Water Solutions Project) 2p.
(AgWater Solutions, Agricultural Water Management Learning and Discussion Brief) More... |
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Governance / Water user associations / Water use / Investment / Irrigation projects / Development projects / Dams / Reservoirs
Record No:H044584
Venot, Jean-Philippe; Andreini, Marc; Pinkstaff, C. B. 2011.
Planning and corrupting water resources development: the case of small reservoirs in Ghana. Water Alternatives, 4(3):399-423.
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Agricultural (water) development is once again at the fore of the development agenda of sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, corruption is seen as a major obstacle to the sustainability of future investments in the sector but there is still little empirical evidence on the ways corruption pervades development projects. This paper documents the planning and implementation processes of two specific small reservoir programmes in the north of Ghana. We specifically delve into the dynamics of corruption and interrogate the ways they add to the inherent unpredictability of development planning. We argue that operational limitations of small reservoirs such as poor infrastructure, lack of managerial and organisational capacity at the community level and weak market integration and public support are the symptoms – rather than inherent problems – of wider lapses in the planning processes that govern the development of small reservoirs in Ghana and plausibly worldwide. A suite of petty misconduct and corrupt practices during the planning, tendering, supervision, and administration of contracts for the rehabilitation and construction of small reservoirs results in delays in implementation, poor construction, escalating costs, and ultimately failures of small reservoirs vis--vis their intended goals and a widely shared frustration among donor agencies, civil servants, contractors, and communities. Such practices hang on and can only be addressed through a better understanding of the complex web of formal decisions and informal rules that shape the understanding and actions of the state.
Policy / Irrigation programs / Investment / Economic aspects / Bureaucracy / Monitoring / Corruption / Water governance / Case studies / Dams / Reservoirs / Agricultural development / Water resources development
Record No:H044582
Mapedza, Everisto; Tafesse, T. 2011.
Benefit sharing as a mechanism for improving transboundary water governance: the case of the eastern Nile Sub-basin. [Abstract only]. Paper presented at the European Science Foundation (ESF) Conference on Water Governance: Meeting the Challenges of Global Change, University of Innsbruck, Obergurgl, Austria, 5 -10 June 2011. 1p.
More... Benefit sharing is a mechanism that can enable riparian countries to share diverse benefits derived from water rather than physical water per se. This approach transforms transboundary water governance from a Zero Sum Scenario (ZSS) to Positive Sum Outcomes (PSO), where all stakeholders benefit from cooperation. The Zero Sum Scenario undermines collective action because gains by one actor or country results in loss to others as in the Chayanovian model. Zero sum scenarios imply sharing a cake of a fixed size. Viewed through a Boserupian lens, benefit sharing opens up the possibility of expanding the size of the ‘cake’ so that all users can gain from effective water utilization. Some researchers argue that although benefit sharing sounds simple and logical, the application of the concept is difficult in practice. This study aims to assess how transboundary institutions could adopt benefit sharing framework in the Eastern Nile River Sub-basin in the context of the shifting political landscape in Egypt and the reconfiguration of political boundaries due to the division of Sudan into two countries which is most likely going to increase chances of cooperation within the Blue Nile.
River basins / Case studies / Water governance / International waters / Benefits
Record No:H044580
Samad, Madar; Kuppannan, Palanisami; Jinapala, K. 2011.
Fragmentation of property rights and externalities: a comparative study of small tank systems of Sri Lanka and Tamilnadu, India. [Abstract only]. In International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). 13th IASC Biennial International Conference on Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, Hyderabad, India, 10-14 January 2011. Book of abstracts. Mexico City, DF, Mexico: International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC); Gujarat, India: Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). pp.222-223.
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Of the various types of irrigation system in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka and South India small tank systems are the least well-endowed in terms of the quantity and reliability of water. Yet, these systems have existed for centuries and continue to support a sizeable proportion of the population. The Tank systems generally provide or regulate water for multiple uses: irrigation, domestic needs, livestock, inland fishery and sub-surface moisture for upland crops The multiple use of resources was facilitated by moderating the strategic behavior of agents in a semicommons setting where the tank and water conveyance structures were held as common property and a system of private property rights exercised over scattered parcels of land in the command area. The resilience the system was further strengthened strengthened by operating the system within the framework of a moral economy. In recent decades the economic significance of minor tanks is on the wane. Important performance indicators such as area irrigated, cropping intensities, productivity levels, efficiency in water use are below potential. Farmers are increasingly compelled to rely on off farm employment and rainfed cultivation for their subsistence needs. Underlying many of the problems is a set of circumstances creating a vicious cycle which starts with pollution pressure, sub-division of land, fragmentation of in property rights regimes from semi-commons to private property, degradation of the catchment area, deterioration of the water conveyance systems and the proliferation of groundwater development resulting in differential access to water and consequently significant socio-economic differentiation in a traditionally egalitarian society and weakening the moral economy. This paper is an attempt to grasp the complex dynamics that characterize the transitional nature of agrarian systems and the fragmentation of property rights in tanks systems in Sri Lanka and Tamilnadu due to changes in social, economic, political, cultural processes and technological innovations, This paper identifies potential vulnerable areas in the management of commons property resources in the villages especially in the context of less reliance l on local resources; change in the individual preferences; enhanced economic, social, and geographical mobility of people; the high transaction costs of social arrangements to manage local resources; gradual loss of common interests and group identity, and greater integration to the market, The paper attempts to examine the shape and the role of the institutions managing the small tank systems under such changing circumstance and propose institutional arrangements for the effective governance of the tank systems.
Rainfed farming / Indicators / Multiple use / Arid zones / Irrigation systems / Institutions / Water governance / Tanks / Property rights
Record No:H044579
Venot, Jean-Philippe. 2011.
What Commons? rethinking participation in the Sub-Saharan African water sector. [Abstract only]. In International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). 13th IASC Biennial International Conference on Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, Hyderabad, India, 10 - 14 January 2011. Book of abstracts. Mexico City, DF, Mexico: International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC); Gujarat, India: Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). pp.266.
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Global reports and major funding agencies herald the comeback of agriculture on the international development agenda as a means of achieving the Millenium Development Goals. Within this renewed interest, irrigation is presented as pivotal to increasing food production and alleviating poverty. This is especially the case in subSaharan Africa, where macro indicators point to an underdeveloped and underperforming agriculture-cum-irrigation sector. While large dam projects are still prevalent, small-scale irrigation has also become the focus of increased attention from researchers, national decision-makers and the international development community. Indeed, small-scale irrigation fits well within the development narratives of decentralization and participation. This paper questions such perceptions. It uses the example of small reservoirs in sub-Saharan Africa to highlight that small scale irrigation projects are, firstly, based on narrow visions of the ‘commons’ and participation that rarely consider the experiences and perceptions of local populations; secondly do not account for the de-facto institutional “bricolage” and the diverse land and water claims that they contribute to; thirdly, and in contrast to the new vocabulary of development, continue to regard intended beneficiaries as ‘recipients’ rather than participants with agency; and, finally, largely ignore power distribution issues that characterize decentralization reforms within and outside of communities. Further investments and reforms are said to be the remedy. These are unlikely to succeed, so long as they adhere to a narrowly-defined notion of development. This paper calls for a new approach, which acknowledges the multiple claims and uses of natural resources, and which recognizes that projects contribute to shaping new meanings of space and relationships to environments, whose fairness depends on the vantage point considered.
Irrigation programs / Water user associations / Reservoirs / Water governance / Water resources
Record No:H044574
Scott, C. A.; Drechsel, Pay; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Bahri, Akissa; Mara, D. 2011.
Les defis et les perspectives pour attenuer les risques dans les pays a faible revenu. In French. In Drechsel, Pay; Scott, C. A.; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Redwood, M.; Bahri, Akissa. L’irrigation avec des eaux usees et la sante: evaluer et attenuer les risques dans les pays a faible revenu. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Ottawa, Canada: International Development Research Centre (IDRC); Quebec, Canada: University of Quebec. pp.413-428. (Also in English).
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Governance / Wastewater management / Risk assessment / Urban agriculture / Public health / Wastewater irrigation
Record No:H044476
Huibers, F.; Redwood, M.; Raschid-Sally, Liqa. 2011.
Discuter les approches conventionnelles de gestion de l’utilisation des eaux usees en agriculture. In French. In Drechsel, Pay; Scott, C. A.; Raschid-Sally, Liqa; Redwood, M.; Bahri, Akissa. L’irrigation avec des eaux usees et la sante: evaluer et attenuer les risques dans les pays a faible revenu. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI); Ottawa, Canada: International Development Research Centre (IDRC); Quebec, Canada: University of Quebec. pp.309-325. (Also in English).
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In developing countries urban wastewater management often fails to cope with increasing wastewater generation. Financial, technical and institutional limitations force authorities to discharge substantial amounts of untreated or partially treated wastewater into surface waters. Consequently, uncontrolled use of polluted water is increasingly common in the downstream peri-urban areas. Although wastewater use bears a significant risk on human health, such use is also productive and an asset for many. Agricultural use of wastewater is a strong manifestation of the urban-rural connection and transfers a waterborne risk from the wastewater disposal system to the food chain, requiring a paradigm shift in the approaches applied to risk minimization. Conventional models for urban wastewater treatment and management are based on top-down, mechanically driven approaches that do not, or do not sufficiently, consider the links between the social, economic and health aspects. This situation is understandable from historical and technological points of view, but does not provide innovative solutions to current problems in developing country cities. A different approach is required, one that rethinks conventional wastewater system design and management. By adopting a systems approach to analysing both the water and food chains, one discovers the interactions of different stakeholders that treat and use (or abuse) water, the impacts on overall productivity and the risks. Governance systems to manage wastewater use in agriculture must incorporate decentralization to accommodate thinking at the bottom layer, encourage stakeholder engagement and provide coordination and policy cohesion for managing risks jointly from both the water and food chains.
Wastewater irrigation / Urban areas / Decentralization / Governance / Wastewater management
Record No:H044471
Venot, Jean-Philippe. 2011.
What Commons? rethinking participation in the Sub-Saharan African water sector. Paper presented at the 13th IASC Biennial International Conference on Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, Hyderabad, India, 10 -14 January 2011. 10p.
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Global reports and major funding agencies herald the comeback of agriculture on the international development agenda as a means of achieving the Millenium Development Goals. Within this renewed interest, irrigation is presented as pivotal to increasing food production and alleviating poverty. This is especially the case in sub-Saharan Africa, where macro indicators point to an underdeveloped and underperforming agriculturecum-irrigation sector. While large dam projects are still prevalent, small-scale irrigation has also become the focus of increased attention from researchers, national decisionmakers, and the international development community. Indeed, small-scale irrigation fits well within the development narrative of participation. This paper engages with such a view. It uses the example of small reservoirs in northern Ghana to highlight that small scale irrigation projects are, firstly, based on narrow visions of the ‘commons’ and participation that rarely consider the experiences and perceptions of local populations; secondly do not account for the de-facto institutional “bricolage” and the diverse land and water claims that they contribute to shape; thirdly, and in ontrast to the new vocabulary of development, continue to regard intended beneficiaries as ‘recipients’ rather than participants with agency; and, finally, largely ignore broader institutional issues that characterize the water sector in the country. Further investments and reforms are said to be the remedy. These are unlikely to succeed, so long as they adhere to a narrowly-defined notion of development. This paper calls for an approach that which acknowledges the multiple claims and uses of natural resources, and which recognizes that projects contribute to shaping new meanings of space and relationships to environments, whose fairness depends on the vantage point considered.
Irrigation programs / Water user associations / Reservoirs / Water governance / Water resources
Record No:H044426
Deneke, T. T.; Mapedza, Everisto; Amede, Tilahun. 2011.
Institutional implications of governance of local common pool resources on livestock water productivity in Ethiopia. Experimental Agriculture, 47(Supplement S1):99-111
[DOI] More... Improving water productivity depends on how local communal water and grazing resources are governed. This involves institutional and organizational issues. In the mixed farming systems of the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia, non-participatory water users’ associations, neglect of traditional water rights, corruption, village power relations, inequitable allocation of irrigated land and free-grazing practice impact the governance of local common pool resources (CPR). Indigenous governance structures for CPR such as the kire are participatory and effective in terms of rule enforcement. Externally initiated governance structures lack acceptance by farmers and sufficient support from local government. In order to improve water productivity in the mixed farming systems, institutional deficiencies need attention and existing indigenous governance structures require recognition and support.
Villages / Grazing lands / Pumping / Wells / Ponds / Water user associations / Governance / Water resources / Collective ownership / Water productivity / Livestock
Record No:H043517
Shah, Tushaar. 2011.
Climate change and India's agricultural water security. In Business standard India 2011. New Delhi, India: BS Books. pp.183-209
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Groundwater recharge / Water governance / Wells / Pumps / Aquifers / Water storage / Impact assessment / Drought / Economic aspects / Social aspects / Groundwater irrigation / Water security / Adaptation / Climate change
Record No:H043495
Molle, Francois; Wester, P.; Hirsch, P. 2010.
River basin closure: processes, implications and responses. Agricultural Water Management, 97(4):569-577.
[DOI] More... Increasing water withdrawals for urban, industrial, and agricultural use have profoundly altered the hydrology of many major rivers worldwide. Coupled with degradation of water quality, low flows have induced severe environmental degradation and water has been rendered unusable by downstream users. When supply of water falls short of commitments to fulfil demand in terms of water quality and quantity within the basin and at the river mouth, for part or all of the year, basins are said to be closing. Basin closure is an anthropogenic process and manifested at societal as well as ecosystem levels, and both its causes and consequences are analyzed. Implications in terms of increased interconnectedness between categories of users and between societal processes and ecosystems in different parts of river basins are emphasized. Finally, several possible responses to the challenges posed by the overexploitation of water resources are reviewed.
Cost benefit analysis / Governance / Hydrology / Environmental effects / Social aspects / Ecosystems / Water use / Water rights / Water allocation / Water resources development / Water management / River basin management
Record No:H044247
Clement, Floriane. 2010.
Analysing decentralised natural resource governance: proposition for a “politicised” institutional analysis and development framework. Policy Sciences, 43(2):129-156
[DOI] More... There has often been a gap between policy intentions and outcomes in the field of natural resource governance. Analysing the factors for these discrepancies requires multi-level approaches that relate policy decisions formulated at the national and international level with the decisions of local resource users. A key asset of the Institutional Analysis and Development framework is precisely its ability to link multiple governance levels. Yet most commons literature has been limited to the study of collective action among local communities without considering higher institutional and government levels. To overcome this limitation, I posit for a methodological development of the framework, which bridges the gap between institutional analysis, power-centred and historical approaches, and discourse analysis. The application of the extended framework to the study of state afforestation policies in Vietnam highlights the need to simultaneously consider institutions, the politico-economic context and discourses across governance and government levels. As illustrated in this paper, such a framework does not only facilitate the analysis of policy shortcomings but also supports the design and dissemination of policy recommendations.
Policy / Institutions / Decentralization / Governance / Natural resources management
Record No:H034817
Chartres, Colin; Varma, Samyuktha. 2010.
Out of water: from abundance to scarcity and how to solve the world's water problems. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: FT Press 230p.
More... From cities to biofuels, competition for water is accelerating. Climate change threatens to intensify the onset and severity of the water crisis in several regions of the developing world: this is already happening throughout much of Asia, the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, and the southwestern US. Along with water shortages, unsafe water becomes an increasingly widespread problem, too.As water crises trigger food and health crises, billions may slip further into poverty, leading to greater social and political unrest, new wars, and worsening national security. Out of Water doesnapos;t just illuminate the coming global water crisis: it presents innovative solutions in agriculture, engineering, governance, and beyond, including state-of-the art techniques for integrated water management. This book will help raise the level of debate about water to the highest levels of government, and identify workable reforms and incentives to help water users utilize this crucial resource far more efficiently.
Women / Farmers / Poverty / Rivers / Water reuse / Irrigation water / Water use / Water allocation / Water rights / Water governance / Water resource management / Adaptation / Climate change / Water scarcity
Record No:H043171
International Water Management Institute (IWMI). 2010.
Water governance. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI) 4p.
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International waters / Water governance
Record No:H044167
Molden, David; Lautze, Jonathan; Shah, Tushaar; Bin, D.; Giordano, Mark; Sanford, Luke. 2010.
Governing to grow enough food without enough water—second best solutions show the way. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 26(2):249-263
[DOI] More... As economies develop and societies change, emerging sets of challenges are placed on water resources and its governance. Population growth and economic development tend to drive the demand for more water, and push river basins into situations of scarcity. Agriculture, globally the largest user of water, is a major driver of water scarcity, and also the sector that has to bear the consequences of scarcity. Yet governance arrangements the world over have difficulty coming to grips with the management of agricultural water within the larger water resource context. The four major agricultural water governance challenges are: to manage transitions from abundance to scarcity; to deal with the large informal sectors of the agricultural water economy; to adapt to the changing objectives of society; and within each of these challenges, to craft contextspecific solutions. This paper presents examples of these challenges and uses them to derive a conceptual framework to help us understand present agricultural water-use contexts, and to develop context specific solutions. The framework is based on two important and shifting contextual dimensions: the degree of scarcity within a basin, and the degree of formality in water use. Looking at agricultural water governance within this framework shows that some standard prescriptions for water problems may not always be appropriate and that ‘second best’ solutions can in fact be the best way forward. The challenge for governance is to facilitate the development of these solutions.
Cost recovery / Groundwater management / Irrigation management / Food security / Water scarcity / River basin management / Water governance
Record No:H043098
Wegerich, Kai; Warner, J. 2010.
The politics of water: a survey. London, UK: Routledge 393p.
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Case studies / Irrigation systems / Rural poverty / Gender / Water rights / Water governance / Legal aspects / Political aspects / International agreements / Treaties / River basins / Aquifers / International waters
Record No:H043018
Wegerich, Kai; Warner, J. 2010.
The politics of water: a survey. London, UK: Routledge 393p.
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Case studies / Irrigation systems / Rural poverty / Gender / Water rights / Water governance / Legal aspects / Political aspects / International agreements / Treaties / River basins / Aquifers / International waters
Record No:H043861