Social choice and groundwater management: application of the uniform rule

In recent decades, the protection of groundwater resources has become a key element in environmental policies around the world as the control of groundwater extraction is necessary to avoid groundwater depletion. This paper proposes a system to improve the allocation of groundwater resources based on the theory of social choice. We propose the implementation of the uniform rule as a mechanism to achieve more efficient groundwater allocation. The uniform rule combines individual preferences to reach collective decisions and respects the anonymity between agents. Additionally, the rule is Pareto efficient and strategy-proof. The paper compares the results obtained under the uniform rule with results achieved under other allocation rules: the proportional rule and the market rule. A numerical application is developed for the Western La Mancha aquifer (Spain), where intensive irrigated agriculture in recent decades has created serious overexploitation problems. The results highlight how the uniform rule is able to substantially improve the efficiency of groundwater extraction. En las últimas décadas, la protección de los acuíferos se ha convertido en un aspecto clave en las políticas ambientales en todo el mundo. El control de las extracciones de agua subterránea es necesario para evitar el agotamiento de estos recursos. Este artículo propone un sistema para mejorar la asignación de los recursos subterráneos utilizando la teoría de la elección social. Se propone la introducción de la regla uniforme, que tiene en cuenta las preferencias de los usuarios para alcanzar decisiones colectivas, respecta el anonimato de los agentes y mantiene las propiedades de eficiencia de Pareto y no manipulación. El artículo compara los resultados obtenidos con esta regla uniforme con los de otras reglas de reparto del agua (regla proporcional y regla de mercado). La aplicación numérica se lleva a cabo en el acuífero de La Mancha Occidental (España) donde la agricultura intensiva en las últimas décadas ha provocado serios problemas de sobreexplotación. Los resultados muestran que la regla uniforme es capaz de mejorar sustancialmente la eficiencia en el uso de los recursos subterráneos

Social choice and groundwater management: application of the uniform rule

In recent decades, the protection of groundwater resources has become a key element in environmental policies around the world as the control of groundwater extraction is necessary to avoid groundwater depletion. This paper proposes a system to improve the allocation of groundwater resources based on the theory of social choice. We propose the implementation of the uniform rule as a mechanism to achieve more efficient groundwater allocation. The uniform rule combines individual preferences to reach collective decisions and respects the anonymity between agents. Additionally, the rule is Pareto efficient and strategy-proof. The paper compares the results obtained under the uniform rule with results achieved under other allocation rules: the proportional rule and the market rule. A numerical application is developed for the Western La Mancha aquifer (Spain), where intensive irrigated agriculture in recent decades has created serious overexploitation problems. The results highlight how the uniform rule is able to substantially improve the efficiency of groundwater extraction. En las últimas décadas, la protección de los acuíferos se ha convertido en un aspecto clave en las políticas ambientales en todo el mundo. El control de las extracciones de agua subterránea es necesario para evitar el agotamiento de estos recursos. Este artículo propone un sistema para mejorar la asignación de los recursos subterráneos utilizando la teoría de la elección social. Se propone la introducción de la regla uniforme, que tiene en cuenta las preferencias de los usuarios para alcanzar decisiones colectivas, respecta el anonimato de los agentes y mantiene las propiedades de eficiencia de Pareto y no manipulación. El artículo compara los resultados obtenidos con esta regla uniforme con los de otras reglas de reparto del agua (regla proporcional y regla de mercado). La aplicación numérica se lleva a cabo en el acuífero de La Mancha Occidental (España) donde la agricultura intensiva en las últimas décadas ha provocado serios problemas de sobreexplotación. Los resultados muestran que la regla uniforme es capaz de mejorar sustancialmente la eficiencia en el uso de los recursos subterráneos

Assessment of Nonpoint Pollution Instruments: The Case of Spanish Agriculture

Nonpoint pollution is characterized by imperfect knowledge of biophysical processes, stochastic components, and asymmetric information among agents. The design and implementation of measures to abate emissions is a difficult task because of this lack of biophysical information and the strategic behaviour of stakeholders. The development of input-intensive agriculture in Spain during the last century has created large discharges of nutrients and other harmful substances into water bodies, causing damage to aquatic ecosystems. In Spain and other European countries, the control of nonpoint pollution is a crucial step in achieving the “good” ecological status of water bodies sought by the European Water Framework Directive. The empirical findings challenge the current approach to pollution policies and call for policy efforts focused on nurturing stakeholders' collective action and on supporting the necessary institutional setting.Peer ReviewedPublishe

Groundwater and ecosystems damages: Questioning the Gisser–Sánchez effect

Gisser and Sánchez (1980a) state the conditions under which welfare gains from policy intervention are negligible in aquifer management, when compared with non-regulation or “free market” outcomes. This is the so-called Gisser–Sánchez effect (GSE), which has been supported by the ensuing literature during recent decades. The GSE requires a number of assumptions, among which is the disregard for aquatic ecosystems linked and dependent on aquifer systems. The depletion of aquifer systems in arid and semiarid regions worldwide is causing acute water scarcity and quality degradation, and leading to extensive ecosystem damages. This study shows that by including environmental damages into the analytical model, results can change substantially. The analysis highlights both theoretically and empirically the importance of policies in groundwater management, as well as the potential role for stakeholders' cooperation. The empirical application deals with two large aquifers in Spain, the Western La Mancha aquifer which is grossly mismanaged, and the Eastern La Mancha aquifer, which is moving towards sustainable management. Western and Eastern La Mancha aquifers illustrate that policies and institutions are essential to avoid the current global aquifer mismanagement.Peer Reviewedgroundwater resourcesGisser-Sánchez effectecosystem damagessustainabilityWestern La Mancha aquiferEastern La Mancha aquiferPublishe

The Control of Nonpoint Pollution when Damages are Heterogeneous

The expansion of intensive agriculture in Spain during recent decades has created substantial ambient pollution loads of nutrients and pesticides in streams and river courses. This pollution degrades water quality and damages aquatic ecosystems. Because the pollution emissions from agriculture are nonpoint, it is almost impossible (or very costly) to identify the responsible agent, the location of sources, and the amount of emissions. This paper analyzes the problem of saline percolation from farms into water bodies using an approach that takes into account the heterogeneity of biophysical processes and farm soils. A common assumption in the nonpoint pollution literature is that the function of marginal damages from pollution is unique across farms and soils. This implies a unique optimal tax rate (or a unique optimal pollution threshold) for all agents. The heterogeneity between farms implies that the pollution damage functions depend on biophysical characteristics, a very likely situation in nonpoint pollution where transport and fate processes are involved. Therefore, the implementation of a unique tax rate (or pollution threshold) for all agents generates significant welfare losses. This study highlights the importance of taking into consideration the heterogeneity among farms in order to design better pollution policies. Results show that no regulation could be a preferred option over regulation with a unique pollution tax (or threshold) when agents are heterogeneous

How Ecosystems\u27 Shifts Change the Optimal Groundwater Management Strategy

The increasing pressure and overexploitation of water bodies in the recent decades are negatively affecting the quality and quantity of aquifers. Its deterioration is also having many negative impacts on numerous ecosystems connected with these water bodies, as is the case of groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs). Therefore, the protection of groundwater resources and ecosystems are key elements in most of the international environmental policies. However, the absence of regulation in most of the aquifers worldwide, along with the non-inclusion of GDEs in groundwater management, is threatening the survival of numerous GDEs and the provision of the several goods and services that these ecosystems supplied to societies. The necessity of maintaining large water table levels and reductions in extractions was supported in a very recent study by Esteban and Dinar (2016). These authors showed the importance of considering GDEs in groundwater management using a linear and smooth ecosystem wealth function. This paper is a complementary analysis that considers the existence of abrupt shifts in ecosystems when general external conditions worsen. The aim is to assess how sudden shifts (with and without hysteresis) in GDEs could condition the optimal groundwater management strategy. The predictable water shortages and water deterioration due to climate change will required a better knowledge of the behavior of GDEs and its relationship with groundwater bodies

Chapter Il sogno della scuola umanistica di Claudio Magris

The current essay presents Claudio Magris’ key ideas on a pedagogical model for present-day society. Arguably, though perhaps inadvertently, Magris developed a particularly useful concept of humanist school for today’s society across his prolific career. His pedagogical ideas appear in his articles, essays and even his fiction, over the years. This article is focused on the main issues that make up Claudio Magris’ concept of humanist school

The Role of Policies in Managing Scarce Water Resources

Water scarcity and perverse policies may have severe effects on the environment, affecting society both directly and indirectly. A team from the Agrifood Research and Technology Center (CITA), the University of Zaragoza, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, and the University of California Riverside has carried out extensive research exploring the various components of the Jucar River Basin’s water ecosystem, as well as factors affecting its performance