Institutional Issues around Agricultural Land-Use Control for Groundwater Conservation-A Long-Term Perspective

Key aspects of policy development and implementation for the control of agricultural land use to conserve groundwater are overviewed. This is one of today's greatest environmental challenges and one on which only limited progress has been made internationally. For this purpose, the objectives of agricultural land-use control in defined areas are either to reduce diffuse pollution of groundwater and/or to regulate excessive abstraction for crop irrigation to sustain groundwater resources. Progress on both of these fronts has been assessed from the published work, and the lessons learnt are summarised for global application.

Automated summary

The paper provides an overview of policy development and implementation for controlling agricultural land use to conserve groundwater. Limited progress has been made internationally on this environmental challenge, and the lessons learned from assessing progress in this area are summarized for global application.