Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico

In many parts of the world, especially in South Asia, the size of the groundwater economy has rapidly grown during the past 5 decades, and is growing still. Elsewhere in Asia— Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand — and in Maghreb countries, groundwater use in agriculture has begun to grow during the p...

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Autor principal: Shah, Tushaar
Formato: Capítulo de libro
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/65270
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author Shah, Tushaar
author_browse Shah, Tushaar
author_facet Shah, Tushaar
author_sort Shah, Tushaar
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In many parts of the world, especially in South Asia, the size of the groundwater economy has rapidly grown during the past 5 decades, and is growing still. Elsewhere in Asia— Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand — and in Maghreb countries, groundwater use in agriculture has begun to grow during the past decade and is likely to peak in the coming 10 years. Global concerns with growing groundwater use in agriculture have focused mostly on its sustainability, quality degradation and adverse impacts on environment and ecological flows. Direct regulation of groundwater draft through stringent laws, regulatory frameworks and aggressive water pricing has been strongly advocated. However, despite the consensus for need to move in these directions, many governments have dragged their feet in operationalizing direct regulation. Where governments have taken pro-active stance, as in Mexico and to lesser extent, China, the impacts are variable. Governing groundwater economies is proving intractable; and responses to intensive groundwater use vary widely across nations. This paper attempts to understand why. It also argues that particularly in Asia, direct regulation of groundwater use may remain a pipe dream for a long time to come; and for effective governance of the groundwater economy, there is need to invent a wider toolkit - including direct and indirect instruments of management - that can be adapted to peculiar contexts of the groundwater economy in different countries.
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spelling CGSpace652702023-06-08T20:43:58Z Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico Shah, Tushaar groundwater irrigation villages bureaucracy water law water policy institutions In many parts of the world, especially in South Asia, the size of the groundwater economy has rapidly grown during the past 5 decades, and is growing still. Elsewhere in Asia— Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand — and in Maghreb countries, groundwater use in agriculture has begun to grow during the past decade and is likely to peak in the coming 10 years. Global concerns with growing groundwater use in agriculture have focused mostly on its sustainability, quality degradation and adverse impacts on environment and ecological flows. Direct regulation of groundwater draft through stringent laws, regulatory frameworks and aggressive water pricing has been strongly advocated. However, despite the consensus for need to move in these directions, many governments have dragged their feet in operationalizing direct regulation. Where governments have taken pro-active stance, as in Mexico and to lesser extent, China, the impacts are variable. Governing groundwater economies is proving intractable; and responses to intensive groundwater use vary widely across nations. This paper attempts to understand why. It also argues that particularly in Asia, direct regulation of groundwater use may remain a pipe dream for a long time to come; and for effective governance of the groundwater economy, there is need to invent a wider toolkit - including direct and indirect instruments of management - that can be adapted to peculiar contexts of the groundwater economy in different countries. 2005 2015-04-30T13:41:29Z 2015-04-30T13:41:29Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/65270 en Open Access Shah, T. 2005. Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico. In Sahuquillo, A.; Capilla, J.; Martinez-Cortina, L.; Sanchez-Vila, X. (Eds.). Groundwater intensive use: Selected papers, SINEX, Valencia, Spain, 10-14 December 2002. Lieden, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema. pp.23-51. (IAH Selected Papers on Hydrogeology 7)
spellingShingle groundwater irrigation
villages
bureaucracy
water law
water policy
institutions
Shah, Tushaar
Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title_full Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title_fullStr Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title_full_unstemmed Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title_short Governing the groundwater economy: comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in South Asia, China and Mexico
title_sort governing the groundwater economy comparative analysis of national institutions and policies in south asia china and mexico
topic groundwater irrigation
villages
bureaucracy
water law
water policy
institutions
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/65270
work_keys_str_mv AT shahtushaar governingthegroundwatereconomycomparativeanalysisofnationalinstitutionsandpoliciesinsouthasiachinaandmexico