Adapting groundwater management towards climate change was at a project we are closing now. Next to lots of hydrological modelling and monitoring approaches, governance was a central issue in our about 18 pilots (most of them on sandy soils). We defined governance as "getting things done", i.e. making sure that promising measures are implemented. Leadership needed to be complemented with broader support. Stakeholders involved in groundwater management (including local / regional / national governments, NGOs, agriculture, water provision......) discussed different approaches around the North Sea Region (Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Belgium) and exchanged on how the different regions approached issue such as reducing salinization, improving groundwater buffering, managing groundwater flooding, and protecting groundwater quality. The close cooperation with land owners- and, depending on cultural / institutional context and issues, sometimes incentives, sometimes legal restrictions, sometimes adaptation of legal frameworks was central. My personal main lesson: governance improves a lot it if you take the time  to link science, stakeholders and groundwater management. Even in the relatively homogeneous contexts such as European Union and North Sea Region: getting things done needs a smaller scale approach. One needs to get specific. I assume that the instititional and ecological contexts  is completely different in your areas of the world. Still, maybe this  inspires you. I you are interested I can share the results with you.

Published January 17, 2022 09:32 by Ilke Borowski-Maaser, Dr.