Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges

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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Closas, Alvar, Villholth, Karen G.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106349
_version_ 1855517606395510784
author Closas, Alvar
Villholth, Karen G.
author_browse Closas, Alvar
Villholth, Karen G.
author_facet Closas, Alvar
Villholth, Karen G.
author_sort Closas, Alvar
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description 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.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace106349
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher Wiley
publisherStr Wiley
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1063492024-05-01T08:15:34Z Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges Closas, Alvar Villholth, Karen G. groundwater management water governance water policy water law legislation decentralization water supply social aspects political aspects sustainability agriculture monitoring ocean engineering ecology oceanography 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. 2020-01 2019-12-31T08:47:26Z 2019-12-31T08:47:26Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106349 en Limited Access Wiley Closas, Alvar; Villholth, Karen G. 2020. Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges. WIREs Water 7:e1392. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1392
spellingShingle groundwater management
water governance
water policy
water law
legislation
decentralization
water supply
social aspects
political aspects
sustainability
agriculture
monitoring
ocean engineering
ecology
oceanography
Closas, Alvar
Villholth, Karen G.
Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title_full Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title_fullStr Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title_full_unstemmed Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title_short Groundwater governance: addressing core concepts and challenges
title_sort groundwater governance addressing core concepts and challenges
topic groundwater management
water governance
water policy
water law
legislation
decentralization
water supply
social aspects
political aspects
sustainability
agriculture
monitoring
ocean engineering
ecology
oceanography
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106349
work_keys_str_mv AT closasalvar groundwatergovernanceaddressingcoreconceptsandchallenges
AT villholthkareng groundwatergovernanceaddressingcoreconceptsandchallenges