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Groundwater Governance in a Water‐Starved Country: Public Policy, Farmers' Perceptions, and Drivers of Tubewell Adoption in Balochistan, Pakistan
Author(s) -
Khair Syed Mohammad,
Mushtaq Shahbaz,
ReardonSmith Kathryn
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/gwat.12250
Subject(s) - groundwater , subsidy , corporate governance , business , natural resource economics , sustainability , environmental planning , water resource management , economics , environmental science , engineering , finance , ecology , geotechnical engineering , market economy , biology
Pakistan faces the challenge of developing sustainable groundwater policies with the main focus on groundwater management rather than groundwater development and with appropriate governance arrangement to ensure benefits continue into the future. This article investigates groundwater policy, farmers' perceptions, and drivers of tubewell (groundwater bore) adoption and proposes possible pathways for improved groundwater management for Balochistan, Pakistan. Historical groundwater policies were mainly aimed at increasing agricultural production and reducing poverty, without consideration of adverse impact on groundwater availability. These groundwater policies and governance arrangements have resulted in a massive decline in groundwater tables. Tubewell owners' rankings of the drivers of groundwater decline suggest that rapid and widespread installation of tubewells, together with uncontrolled extraction due to lack of property rights, electricity subsidy policies, and ineffective governance, are key causes of groundwater decline in Balochistan. An empirical “tubewell adoption” model confirmed that the electricity subsidy significantly influenced tubewell adoption decisions. The article proposes a more rational electricity subsidy policy for sustaining groundwater levels in the short‐run. However, in the long run a more comprehensive sustainable groundwater management policy, with strong institutional support and involvement of all stakeholders, is needed.