ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9110-3480
Current Organisation
NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
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Publisher: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.5337/2018.210
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-12-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2019
DOI: 10.1002/WAT2.1395
Abstract: 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 ersity 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. This article is categorized under: Human Water Water Governance Engineering Water Planning Water
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-05-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-11-2019
DOI: 10.1002/WAT2.1394
Abstract: The sustainability of groundwater abstraction is fast becoming a global challenge. This article reviews cases and assess the potential of groundwater comanagement, beginning by identifying a comanagement spectrum with varying degrees of role sharing between the state and user communities. Twelve case studies selected from a global review illustrate varied levels of success. Key contextual elements are identified that contribute to raising the chances of success of comanagement. These include certain characteristics of the user community, the existence of a credible environmental or legal threat, joint monitoring and transparency, and substantial available funding. State action is shown to involve a delicate balance between “carrots” and “sticks” as part of a wider political balancing between parties. The limitations of both state‐ and community‐centered governance make comanagement appear as a way forward but a delicate set of conditions is needed for it to be effective. This article is categorized under: Human Water Water Governance Engineering Water Planning Water
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-10-2019
DOI: 10.1002/WAT2.1392
Abstract: 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. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water Planning Water Human Water Water Governance
Publisher: CRC Press
Date: 14-12-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-03-2014
Publisher: University of Arizona
Date: 14-06-2021
DOI: 10.2458/JPE.2369
Abstract: This article presents the Liwa Oasis as a hydrosocial territory. It is defined by its natural resource, social, economic, and political context and we show how these manifest in policy and practice. The article identifies these components through analysis of the political economy of water management and agricultural production systems. Two distinct hydrosocial periods are defined: from independence in 1971 to the formation of agencies with water sustainability remits in 2006, and then from 2010 to the present, when subsidy regimes incentivized changes to cropping in existing agricultural production systems. The changes between these periods reflect alterations in the hydrosocial cycle stemming from natural resource degradation and from how agricultural policy responded to it, while still meeting social stability and food security objectives. In Liwa, water management and agricultural production regimes reflect the distributive nature of the state, in that agricultural subsidies and payments are a significant source of supplementary income for UAE citizens. The current hydrosocial cycle leads to major groundwater resource degradation, which is beginning to pose a major challenge. This disruption is at the heart of the hydrosocial dialectic playing out now in Liwa: resource degradation and depletion will ultimately require new patterns of resource utilization. Arriving at new practices will require new laws, policies and modes of governance, which will alter the political, social, and economic context.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2017
Publisher: International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.5337/2017.218
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2019
DOI: 10.1002/WAT2.1409
Abstract: The cover image is based on the Overview Groundwater Governance: Addressing core concepts and challenges , by Alvar Closas and Karen Villholth. 0.1002/wat2.1392 image
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-04-2017
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Alvar Closas.