Webinar: Crafting combinations to govern groundwater: Knowledge, motivation, and agency

You can now read a summary of this webinar and watch the recording here.

NEXUS Gains Talk 28:

Crafting combinations to govern groundwater: Knowledge, motivation, and agency

Groundwater is an increasingly vital common pool resource for water supply, irrigation, and ecosystems, but difficult to govern. While there are many institutional tools for governing groundwater, there are no panaceas, and successes are rare. Effective groundwater governance requires that key stakeholders have combinations of knowledge, motivation, and agency to act together effectively. This CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains webinar will share results from research on groundwater governance, including findings from a recent special issue of the International Journal of the Commons.

• Groundwater games can not only improve understanding but can be combined with other tools to achieve systemic change.
• Attention to how people care about groundwater and their practices in caring for groundwater yields innovative insights into capabilities and opportunities for groundwater governance.
• Groundwater co-management can combine stakeholders’ knowledge, values, and collective action with external science, resources, and authority.
• Participatory processes can craft combinations of tools to fit contexts and pursue shared gains.
• Improving governance of groundwater storage, not just extraction, offers a key nexus for coping with the challenges of sustaining solar-powered pumping, equitably sharing groundwater recharge, and including ecosystems in groundwater governance.

Speakers

• Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI): Nexus Gains research on groundwater governance; Knowledge, motivation, and agency: A framework for groundwater governance
• Richu Sanil, Senior Project Manager, Foundation for Ecological Security: Groundwater games and other tools: Combining approaches for systemic change in groundwater governance
• Margreet Zwarteveen, Professor of Water Governance, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education: How care can expand and transform groundwater governance
• Bryan Bruns, Independent Researcher and Consultant, Greenbelt, Maryland USA: Governing aquifer storage for nexus gains: Solarizing irrigation, negotiating recharge, and including ecosystems

Panelists

• Hagar ElDidi, Senior Research Analyst, International Food Policy Research Institute
• Alvar Closas, International Consultant, Bogotá, Colombia

Find out more about past webinars on the NEXUS Gains Talks landing page, with links to summaries, recordings, and presentation downloads. Subscribe to the NEXUS Gains newsletter to be notified about upcoming talks.

Background reading

Special issue of the International Journal of the Commons (editorial and nine articles)

• Meinzen-Dick, R. and B.R. Bruns. (2024). Crafting Combinations to Govern Groundwater: Knowledge, Motivation, and Agency. International Journal of the Commons 18(1):585–600. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.147
• Sanil, R., T. Falk, R. Meinzen-Dick, and P. Priyadarshini. (2024). Combining Approaches for Systemic Behaviour Change in Groundwater Governance. International Journal of the Commons 18(1): 411–424. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1317
• ElDidi, H., W. Zhang, I. Blackmore, F. Gelaw, C. De Petris, N. Teka, S. Yimam, D. Mekonnen, C. Ringler, and R. Meinzen-Dick. (2024). Getting Ahead of the Game: Experiential Learning for Groundwater Governance in Ethiopia. International Journal of the Commons 18(1), pp. 66–81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ijc.1316
• Mukuyu, P., N. Nyambe, M. S. Magombeyi and G. Y. Ebrahim (2004) Polycentric Groundwater Governance: Insights from the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. International Journal of the Commons 18(1), pp. 322–336. DOI: 10.5334/ijc.1336

Blogs

• Playing games to strengthen groundwater governance in rural India
• NEXUS Gains’ groundwater governance workshop
• Groundwater governance toolboxes to encourage sustainable water use
• Governing groundwater for nexus gains: Solarizing irrigation, negotiating recharge, and including nature
• Playing the right game: A decision tree for choosing approaches to strengthen water governance
• Opportunities for co-developing groundwater governance in Barahathawa, Nepal
• A nexus approach to groundwater and cooperation

Header image: Indian village discussion of groundwater governance. Photo by Foundation for Ecological Security staff.