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A Framework for the Analysis of Governance Structures Applying to Groundwater Resources and the Requirements for the Sustainable Management of Associated Ecosystem Services

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Abstract

The competing demands placed on groundwater for socio-economic and for ecological benefits, and the resultant tradeoffs, represent a major challenge for the management arena. The governance of groundwater resources and the sustainable management of associated ecosystem services must take into consideration human and biophysical characteristics as intertwined systems. Frameworks and analytical tools are required to help understand complex governance regimes, and the linkages between management and the corresponding effects on ecosystem services. Presented in this paper is a framework for the analysis of groundwater governance based on the adaptive management approach and the ecosystem services concept. Governance can be analyzed on the basis of certain characteristics. One characteristic of a governance regime assumed to be crucial for adaptive and sustainable management is vertical integration, which refers to the connectedness of different administrative levels, including the involvement of non-governmental stakeholders in decision-making and planning processes. The framework was applied in the Upper Guadiana Basin in Spain, where the intensive use of groundwater has led to significant conflicts between farmers, authorities and environmental conservation groups. The analysis showed that conflicts arose from a lack of vertical integration; e.g., one-way communication between official authorities and the exclusion of local stakeholders during planning processes. The framework is deemed to be a strong analytical tool as it provides a basis for organized and context-specific case study assessment and renders complex groundwater management more transparent and comprehensible. The framework will be further applied and enhanced for application in international case studies.

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Notes

  1. A regime is here described as “the whole complex of technologies, institutions, environmental factors and paradigms that are highly connected and […] form the base for the functioning of the management system targeted to fulfill a societal function” (Pahl-Wostl 2009, pp. 354–365).

  2. Adaptive capacity is described as being the ability of a regime to change management goals and practices in order to be more flexible in dealing with uncertainties and unpredicted occurrences at diverse administrative levels and across different time-scales (Pahl-Wostl 2009).

  3. Plan Especial del Alto Guadiana

  4. New Approaches to Adaptive Water Management under Uncertainty, supported by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Programme, PRIORITY 6.3 ‘Global Change and Ecosystems’ 2005–09

  5. Asociación Agraria de Jóvenes Agricultores

  6. Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Carolin Butler Manning, David Butler Manning and Nicola Isendahl for reading early drafts of this manuscript and for providing very helpful and constructive inputs, and Christian Knieper and Georg Holtz for structural and technical support during the development of the framework. Special thanks to all of our interview partners for sharing their expertise and providing very important and helpful insights into the Upper Guadiana Basin.

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  1. University of Osnabrück, Institute of Environmental Systems Research, Barbarastr. 12, 49069, Osnabrück, Germany

    Kathrin Knüppe & Claudia Pahl-Wostl

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  1. Kathrin Knüppe
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Correspondence to Kathrin Knüppe.

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Knüppe, K., Pahl-Wostl, C. A Framework for the Analysis of Governance Structures Applying to Groundwater Resources and the Requirements for the Sustainable Management of Associated Ecosystem Services. Water Resour Manage 25, 3387–3411 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9861-7

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