Groundwater Governance in Asia


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Groundwater is a major source of water used in agriculture as well as for domestic and industrial water supply in most countries around the world. This is no exception in South Asia and China where groundwater has come to be a vehicle for much of rural and industrial development over the last half century. Groundwater is there, groundwater is developed and used, groundwater generates jobs and income to many citizens, yet groundwater is not really valued, monitored, known, and much less managed or governed.

The project: ‘Groundwater Governance in Asia – Capacity Building through Action Research in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins’, or in short the GGA-project, sets out to address the pertinent and very pressing issues of groundwater. The rationale is that groundwater is an endangered ‘water species’ that is threatened from overuse and degradation from many sides and that needs and merits increased attention, appreciation and protection from all of its users as well as the public suppliers and management institutions.

The project is a capacity building project and it targets people involved in groundwater at various levels and functions. Individuals with positions within groundwater development and management, groundwater research, training and awareness raising will be invited to participate in a comprehensive and engaging training and research program in order to foster an inter-disciplinary understanding, communication, debate and partnership on the tackling of relevant and practical groundwater issues in the region covered by the project.

Regions covered by the project:

The basin states of the Indo-Gangetic (IGB) and Yellow River (YRB) Basins, i.e. Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and China.

The project is an inter-disciplinary endeavor that evolves around two central capacity building components, training and research in groundwater related topics. The capacity building is given in two annual cycles, starting in October 2006 and October 2007. Each phase consists of a class room training program and a subsequent action research phase.

The research consists of two strands: action or fellow research conducted by the fellows enrolled in the training program and supportive and synthesis research carried out as ongoing research in the project.

For more details on the project, see the brochure in English (PDF 204Kb) and in Chinese (PDF 1.4 Mb) and the project presentation (PDF 720 Kb) and Posters 1 (PDF 1 Mb) and 2 (PDF 1 Mb).

The project is funded by The Challenge Program on Water and Food and the International Water Management Institute.

First Cycle Training Program

Second Cycle Training Program

Books on Groundwater

Groundwater Governance in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins

Realities and Challenges

Edited by Aditi Mukherji, Karen G. Villholth, Bharat R. Sharma, Jinxia Wang

One of the key features of agricultural development in the last five decades has been intensive groundwater use in the Indo-Gangetic Basin (Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and in the Yellow River Basin (China). Groundwater irrigates almost 60% of the net irrigated area in South Asia and 70% in the north China plains. Groundwater use for agriculture is still increasing. Despite the growing significance of groundwater to agricultural growth, food security and rural livelihoods globally, and at the same time significant signs of limitations and constraints for further use, knowledge of the subject has remained limited. The subject includes the wider issues of socioeconomic impacts, political economy, groundwater institutions, access to other resources like energy and land, approaches to resource governance and management and specifically integrating evidence-based science into management decisions.

This book addresses these information shortfalls and provides a consolidated and cross-disciplinary source of information and documentation of realities and challenges of contemporary agricultural groundwater use and management in poverty-prone areas of Asia. It draws on primary data collected in the course of an innovative, cross-coordinated and inter-disciplinary fieldwork programme, covering those regions in Asia that significantly depend on groundwater for agricultural livelihoods. This work is essential reading for hydrogeologists, socio-economists, agro-economists and water managers working in poor countries. Donors and implementers, both government and NGO, will also learn from the experiences described in this book.

Order from Taylor & Francis Group

The Agricultural Groundwater Revolution: Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture

Edited by Mark Giordano and Karen G. Villholth, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka

While addressing the issues of using groundwater in agriculture for irrigation in the developing world, this book discusses the problems associated with the degradation and overexploitation of using it. It explores the practiced and potential methods for its management in the context of agricultural development.