Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions

Background: Competition for freshwater between cities and agriculture is projected to grow due to rapid urbanization, particularly in the Global South. Water reallocation from rural to urban regions has become a common strategy to meet freshwater needs in growing cities. Conceptual issues and associ...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Garrick, D., Stefano, L. de, Yu, Winston, Jorgensen, I., O’Donnell, E., Turley, L., Aguilar-Barajas, I., Dai, X., Souza Leao, R. de, Punjabi, B., Schreiner, B., Svensson, J., Wight, C.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: IOP Publishing 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107436
_version_ 1855516236866125824
author Garrick, D.
Stefano, L. de
Yu, Winston
Jorgensen, I.
O’Donnell, E.
Turley, L.
Aguilar-Barajas, I.
Dai, X.
Souza Leao, R. de
Punjabi, B.
Schreiner, B.
Svensson, J.
Wight, C.
author_browse Aguilar-Barajas, I.
Dai, X.
Garrick, D.
Jorgensen, I.
O’Donnell, E.
Punjabi, B.
Schreiner, B.
Souza Leao, R. de
Stefano, L. de
Svensson, J.
Turley, L.
Wight, C.
Yu, Winston
author_facet Garrick, D.
Stefano, L. de
Yu, Winston
Jorgensen, I.
O’Donnell, E.
Turley, L.
Aguilar-Barajas, I.
Dai, X.
Souza Leao, R. de
Punjabi, B.
Schreiner, B.
Svensson, J.
Wight, C.
author_sort Garrick, D.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Background: Competition for freshwater between cities and agriculture is projected to grow due to rapid urbanization, particularly in the Global South. Water reallocation from rural to urban regions has become a common strategy to meet freshwater needs in growing cities. Conceptual issues and associated measurement problems have impeded efforts to compare and learn from global experiences. This review examines the status and trends of water reallocation from rural to urban regions based on academic literature and policy documents. Methods: We conduct a systematic literature review to establish the global reallocation database (GRaD). This process yielded 97 published studies (academic and policy) on rural-to-urban reallocation. We introduce the concept of reallocation ‘dyads’ as the unit of analysis to describe the pair of a recipient (urban) and donor (rural) region. A coding framework was developed iteratively to classify the drivers, processes and outcomes of water reallocation from a political economy perspective. Results: The systematic review identified 69 urban agglomerations receiving water through 103 reallocation projects (dyads). Together these reallocation dyads involve approximately 16 billion m3 of water per year moving almost 13 000 kilometres to urban recipient regions with an estimated 2015 population of 383 million. Documented water reallocation dyads are concentrated in North America and Asia with the latter constituting the majority of dyads implemented since 2000. Synthesis: The analysis illustrates how supply and demand interact to drive water reallocation projects, which can take many forms, although collective negotiation and administrative decisions are most prevalent. Yet it also reveals potential biases and gaps in coverage for parts of the Global South (particularly in South America and Africa), where reallocation (a) can involve informal processes that are difficult to track and (b) receives limited coverage by the English-language literature covered by the review. Data regarding the impacts on the donor region and compensation are also limited, constraining evidence to assess whether a water reallocation project is truly effective, equitable and sustainable. We identify frameworks and metrics for assessing reallocation projects and navigating the associated trade-offs by drawing on the concept of benefit sharing.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace107436
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
publishDateSort 2019
publisher IOP Publishing
publisherStr IOP Publishing
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1074362023-06-12T09:36:35Z Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions Garrick, D. Stefano, L. de Yu, Winston Jorgensen, I. O’Donnell, E. Turley, L. Aguilar-Barajas, I. Dai, X. Souza Leao, R. de Punjabi, B. Schreiner, B. Svensson, J. Wight, C. water allocation water supply rural communities urbanization access and benefit-sharing transfer of waters projects water demand water rights water use rural urban relations conflicts compensation water policy decision making Background: Competition for freshwater between cities and agriculture is projected to grow due to rapid urbanization, particularly in the Global South. Water reallocation from rural to urban regions has become a common strategy to meet freshwater needs in growing cities. Conceptual issues and associated measurement problems have impeded efforts to compare and learn from global experiences. This review examines the status and trends of water reallocation from rural to urban regions based on academic literature and policy documents. Methods: We conduct a systematic literature review to establish the global reallocation database (GRaD). This process yielded 97 published studies (academic and policy) on rural-to-urban reallocation. We introduce the concept of reallocation ‘dyads’ as the unit of analysis to describe the pair of a recipient (urban) and donor (rural) region. A coding framework was developed iteratively to classify the drivers, processes and outcomes of water reallocation from a political economy perspective. Results: The systematic review identified 69 urban agglomerations receiving water through 103 reallocation projects (dyads). Together these reallocation dyads involve approximately 16 billion m3 of water per year moving almost 13 000 kilometres to urban recipient regions with an estimated 2015 population of 383 million. Documented water reallocation dyads are concentrated in North America and Asia with the latter constituting the majority of dyads implemented since 2000. Synthesis: The analysis illustrates how supply and demand interact to drive water reallocation projects, which can take many forms, although collective negotiation and administrative decisions are most prevalent. Yet it also reveals potential biases and gaps in coverage for parts of the Global South (particularly in South America and Africa), where reallocation (a) can involve informal processes that are difficult to track and (b) receives limited coverage by the English-language literature covered by the review. Data regarding the impacts on the donor region and compensation are also limited, constraining evidence to assess whether a water reallocation project is truly effective, equitable and sustainable. We identify frameworks and metrics for assessing reallocation projects and navigating the associated trade-offs by drawing on the concept of benefit sharing. 2019-04-11 2020-03-10T06:28:19Z 2020-03-10T06:28:19Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107436 en Open Access IOP Publishing Garrick, D.; De Stefano, L.; Yu, Winston; Jorgensen, I.; O’Donnell, E.; Turley, L.; Aguilar-Barajas, I.; Dai, X.; de Souza Leao, R.; Punjabi, B.; Schreiner, B.; Svensson, J.; Wight, C. 2019. Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions. Environmental Research Letters, 14(4):043003. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab0db7
spellingShingle water allocation
water supply
rural communities
urbanization
access and benefit-sharing
transfer of waters
projects
water demand
water rights
water use
rural urban relations
conflicts
compensation
water policy
decision making
Garrick, D.
Stefano, L. de
Yu, Winston
Jorgensen, I.
O’Donnell, E.
Turley, L.
Aguilar-Barajas, I.
Dai, X.
Souza Leao, R. de
Punjabi, B.
Schreiner, B.
Svensson, J.
Wight, C.
Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title_full Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title_fullStr Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title_full_unstemmed Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title_short Rural water for thirsty cities: a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
title_sort rural water for thirsty cities a systematic review of water reallocation from rural to urban regions
topic water allocation
water supply
rural communities
urbanization
access and benefit-sharing
transfer of waters
projects
water demand
water rights
water use
rural urban relations
conflicts
compensation
water policy
decision making
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/107436
work_keys_str_mv AT garrickd ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT stefanolde ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT yuwinston ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT jorgenseni ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT odonnelle ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT turleyl ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT aguilarbarajasi ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT daix ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT souzaleaorde ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT punjabib ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT schreinerb ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT svenssonj ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions
AT wightc ruralwaterforthirstycitiesasystematicreviewofwaterreallocationfromruraltourbanregions