Publications des scientifiques de l'IRD

Closas A., Molle François, Hernandez-Mora N. (2017). Sticks and carrots to manage groundwater over-abstraction in La Mancha, Spain. Agricultural Water Management, 194, p. 113-124. ISSN 0378-3774.

Titre du document
Sticks and carrots to manage groundwater over-abstraction in La Mancha, Spain
Année de publication
2017
Type de document
Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000413380000011
Auteurs
Closas A., Molle François, Hernandez-Mora N.
Source
Agricultural Water Management, 2017, 194, p. 113-124 ISSN 0378-3774
Over recent decades, groundwater-fed irrigation has sustained the social and economic development of La Mancha, Spain. Without much initial regulation and control, groundwater resources and aquifer levels decreased dramatically, threatening agriculture and also highly valuable groundwater-dependant wetland ecosystems. This paper presents as a historical analysis of the different policy tools used to manage and regulate groundwater abstraction in the Western Mancha Aquifer after Spain approved its 1985 Water Law. It analyses the panoply of control and management instruments laid out by the state to counter the resource depletion trend, demonstrating the necessity by regulatory bodies to complement soft incentives (carrots) with the threat of sanctions and groundwater access limitations (sticks). As this case study shows however, each policy modality has its legal and practical loopholes which can be negotiated and exploited by groundwater users to their own advantage. Improvements in groundwater levels starting in 2010 seem to be linked to aquifer recharge following an unprecedented wet cycle rather than the effectiveness of the policy tools.
Plan de classement
Hydrologie [062] ; Economie et sociologie rurale [098]
Description Géographique
ESPAGNE
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010071286]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010071286
Contact