Menu
MapConnectionsTopicsBulgariaThe Night (K-TRIO)Marie Skłodowska-CurieFor studentsFor teachersMethodologySurprise me
H2020Individual fellowship2018–2020

RURECO · Institutions for Resilient Groundwater Dependent Rural Economies

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2018-02-01 → 2020-01-31
EU contribution
€173,076
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Institutions for Resilient Groundwater Dependent Rural Economies

Groundwater plays a crucial for water and food security and the economic development of rural areas. It accounts for 33% of total water abstraction worldwide and half of the irrigation water used to grow the world’s food. Groundwater resources are being over-exploited, threatening the sustainability of rural economies – a situation that is expected to worsen under climate change. One of the main challenge is to integrate agricultural development with groundwater management in order to better align agricultural water demand with available water resources. The objective of the RURECO project was to advance current understanding of institutional arrangements aiming to tackle groundwater overexploitation by agriculture. Specific attention was given on how stakeholders craft collective allocation rules that resolve competing societal objectives while harnessing the spatial and temporal variability of groundwater resources. The RURECO project also examined how to initiate collective action amongst groundwater users, using participatory foresight methodologies.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Groundwater is a strategic resource for modern economies worldwide; yet it is over-exploited at an alarming rate. New forms of governance are sought, in particular in rural areas with intensive agricultural irrigation where authorities lack the means to regulate large numbers of dispersed users. During the Fellowship, I will develop new understanding of strategies and institutional arrangements for increasing the resilience of groundwater dependent rural economies, and develop and test a methodology that support local actors to design collective solutions. Overall, the Fellowship aims to: (1) carry out a global assessment of strategies and institutions currently used worldwide; (2) develop a participatory foresight methodology to support the design of innovative strategies and institutional arrangements in two case studies; and (3) promote academic exchange and disseminate research. The Fellowship will enable me to strengthen my empirical and theoretical knowledge of the design of institutions for common-pool resource management and natural resource management, and position me as a leading scholar in the competitive research community on environmental and institutional economics. A carefully crafted series of scientific exchanges and collaborations will expand my outreach to a global level, and open opportunities for new research collaborations. The French Geological Survey (BRGM), France, is the ideal host organisation to carry out this research because of its established expertise on groundwater management with an emphasis on inter-disciplinary research of high societal relevance, and its extensive global networks. I will contribute to BRGM’s current research agenda and strengthen its collaborations in and outside Europe. My research will contribute to Europe’s knowledge base economy by providing new insights to safeguard society against water-related vulnerabilities.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • BUREAU DE RECHERCHES GEOLOGIQUES ET MINIERES · OrleansCoordinatorFrance

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union