Cross Cutting Research

Aims and objectives of CCR

The aim of the GGA project in general and the CCR in particular is to impart inter-disciplinary perspectives on groundwater governance in two regions of the world viz. the Indo-Gangetic Basin in South Asia and the Yellow River Basin in China that make very intensive use of the resource.

The primary objective of the CCR phase of the GGA project is to train, equip and enable the present and future groundwater managers in IGB and YRB to grasp the complex challenges facing groundwater governance through extensive inter-disciplinary field work activities in the region.

The secondary objective is to obtain knowledge on the role and options of groundwater in providing sustainable livelihoods for specific rural societies within the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins. Various issues will be investigated across the regions to identify similarities and differences in groundwater’s strategic role and what particular management issues are pertinent.

Broad research issues

During the 5-week long fieldwork phase of the CCR, participants covered a wide range of issues, which may be succinctly summed as physical resource perspective, socio-economic perspective and policy-institutional perspective. They used various research instruments. These instruments were finalized in consultation with the participants during a pre-CCR workshop that was held from 12th to 14th November 2007.

• The physical perspective

Within the physical resources perspective, the participants will endeavor to understand groundwater as a physical resource. This perspective may be further sub-divided into two sections, one that looks at groundwater resources inventory, another on technical options of demand and supply management for groundwater.

• The socio-economic perspective

Within this perspective, the participants will try to understand the socio-economic implication and importance of groundwater for livelihoods of those who dependant on it. This perspective has been further divided into three sub sections, one will look into agriculture and irrigation, another into economics of groundwater use and the third will investigate the externalities of groundwater use and abuse.

• Policy and institutional perspective

The third perspective will try to understand how groundwater policies affect groundwater use on the one hand and how policies themselves are shaped by popular discourses on groundwater. In this part of the study, the fellows will also try to understand the ‘official’ perspective on groundwater issues by interviewing some of the important groundwater officials in the basin countries. In addition, informal groundwater institutions such as water markets, cooperative management of wells will also be studied.

1st phase of CCR (November 2006 to March 2007)

The first batch of YPRF and MFs have successfully completed their fieldwork in eight different locations across the IGB and YRB basins and have submitted first drafts of their group reports and individual theme papers. These are now going through the review process after which these will be published in an edited book.  Table 1 shows the details of the study sites.  For more details see the CCR Planning Report, 2006-2007.

Writing and Summary Workshop   

A writing workshop was held from 19th to 26th March, 2007 at New Delhi.   The purpose of the writing workshop was to bring together all the YPRFs and MFs and facilitate the process of report writing. Lectures and presentations were delivered on various aspects of scientific writing, data analysis and presentation skills. At the end of the Writing Workshop, all the groups submitted the first drafts of their group reports, which were then sent for internal and external reviews. 

The first phase of the GGA Training and Research Program concluded with the Summary Workshop held from 27th to 30th March 2007 at New Delhi. At this workshop, all the participants presented their research findings and these were deliberated upon by experts in the field.  Table 2 shows the outputs/papers from the first phase of the CCR, 2006-2007.

Evalutation of the 1st phase of the GGA Project

All throughout the program, i.e. during both the training as well as the research phase, feedback were collected from the participants. The feedbacks so given were analyzed and are presented in the GGA Phase I Evaluation Report.