CRC Press Groundwater Governance in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins: Realities and Challenges (IAH - Selected Papers on Hydrogeology)

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. Review If the world's water crisis is "mainly a crisis of governance", groundwater represents the grimmest side of this crisis in Asia. - Tushaar Shah, International Water Management Institute, India About the Author Aditi Mukerji is a Researcher (Social Scientist) at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo. Aditi received her PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, UK, in 2007. She has more than 8 years experience and her area of expertise is institutions and policies of groundwater management in South Asia. In 2006, she co-edited a special issue of the Hydrogeology Journal focussing on social and economic aspects of groundwater governance. In 2008, she was awarded the Global Development Network Award for best paper under the category of Natural Resources Management. Her current research focuses on the impact of electricity reforms in India on the operation of groundwater markets. She has also worked on groundwater issues in Central Asia and on transboundary issues in the Nile Basin in Africa. Karen Villholth is Senior Researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). She has more than fifteen years experience in soils and groundwater research and water resources management. She has been assigned to several international projects concerning water resources management, with long term experience from Denmark (her home country), Sri Lanka, Bolivia and shorter term experience from Thailand, USA, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Karen assumes the role of Senior Research Advisor to the Danish Government. She is the author of more than 25 peer-reviewed journal papers, and is the co-author of the books ‘The Agricultural Groundwater Revolution: Opportunities and Threats to Development.’, and ‘Groundwater Research and Management: Integrating Science into Management Decisions’. Bharat Sharma is agricultural water management specialist and has over 30 years research experience in the developing countries. Presently he is Senior Researcher and Head of the New Delhi office of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). He has more than 200 scientific publications and a number of books/ proceedings to his credit. Jinxia Wang obtained her PhD degree in a