Suchergebnisse

Addressing a more sustainable management of water resources involves new policies that require improved knowledge on water allocations and benefits from the economic and environmental uses of water. However, environmental uses have been mostly disregarded in traditional water management, and just recently the maintenance of environmental water flows is being considered as a key issue in water policies. The aim of this study is to analyze the spatial and sectoral allocation of water resources in the Ebro Basin (Spain), in order to inform the debate on the environmental flow in the Ebro mouth. The study analyzes in detail the irrigation districts using most of the water resources, and the environmental flow proposals for the river mouth. A hydro-economic model is developed to analyze the effects of different water allocation mechanisms under combinations of water availability and environmental flow scenarios. This is an important tool to explore the tradeoffs and political economy aspects from water reallocation. Results show that the petition of raising the environmental flow at the Ebro mouth during droughts by the downstream state (Cataluña) would be very costly for all irrigation districts in the basin. One alternative for the downstream state to gain the support of the rest of states for raising the environmental flow would be to compensate the losses of irrigation districts in upstream states. ; Environmental flow ; Drought ; Water policy ; Hydro-economic modeling ; Ebro Basin ; Unpublished

Environmental water uses and their social values have been mostly overlooked in traditional water management over the last few decades, and recently, the maintenance of environmental flows has been considered a key issue in water policies. Addressing the more sustainable management of water resources involves introducing new water allocation policies. However, these policies are often associated with tradeoffs across sectors, stakeholders, and spatial locations. This study aims to evaluate the tradeoffs and political economy aspects of allocating water among economic water uses and environmental flows in water-scarce river basins. An empirical analysis has been conducted in the Ebro River basin (Spain) as a case study, where an intense debate on the environmental flow allocation of the Ebro mouth is taking place. The study uses a hydroeconomic model that includes the major water uses in the Ebro to analyze the effects of different water allocation policies under combinations of water availability and environmental flow scenarios. The results of this study highlight the importance of assessing the opportunity costs and political implications of reallocating water from economic activities to the environment under impending climate change impacts. Moreover, the results indicate that well-functioning water allocation policies should be not only economically efficient but also socially acceptable to reduce the likelihood of failure of water reallocation to the environment. ; Published

The mismanagement of water resources at global level calls for a reconsideration of the current water policies. The three approaches to water policy instruments are water pricing, water markets, and institutional instruments based on cooperation. The approach in Spain is institutional cooperation, whereas the European Union promotes water pricing to balance water supply and demand, and in Australia water markets have been implemented to confront water scarcity and droughts. This study compares these three types of policy instruments to address drought in the Jucar Basin. The analysis indicates that the institutional instrument based on cooperation and the water market instrument both achieve similar results, demonstrating that the current institutional approach is not inferior to water markets. Another important result is that the water pricing instrument entails very substantial losses to farmers, which implies that this alternative is politically unfeasible. This result questions seriously the reliance of the Water Framework Directive on the water pricing instrument in irrigation.

[EN] Water scarcity is a critical environmental issue worldwide, especially in arid and semiarid regions. In those regions, climate change projections suggest further reductions in freshwater supplies and increases of the recurrence, longevity and intensity of drought events. At present, one important question for policy debate is the identification of water policies that could address the mounting water scarcity problems. Suitable policies should improve economic efficiency, achieve environmental sustainability, and meet equity needs. This paper develops and applies an integrated hydro-economic model that links hydrological, economic and environmental elements to such issues. The model is used to conduct a direct comparison of water markets, water pricing and institutional cooperation, based on their economic, environmental and equity outcomes. The analysis is performed in the Jucar Basin of Spain, which is a good natural experiment for studying water scarcity and climate change policies. Results indicate that both institutional and water market policies are high performing instruments to limit the economic damage costs of droughts, achieving almost the same social benefits. However, the environmental effects of water markets are worrying. Another important finding is that water pricing is a poor policy option not only in terms of private and environmental benefits but also in terms of equity. Guardar / Salir Siguiente > ; This study was financed by project INIA RTA2010-00109-C04 and INIA RTA2014-00050-00-00 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness partially financed by ERDF funds, and project BIL/13/MA/072 from MAPFRE Foundation. The Ministry supported also a Ph.D scholarship of the first author. Among individuals, special assistance has been provided by Manuel Pulido-Velazquez (UPV), Alfonso Calera and David Sanz (IDR), and Maria Calera (UCL). ; Kahil, MT.; Albiac, J.; Dinar, A.; Calvo, E.; Esteban, E.; Avellá Reus, LF.; García Molla, M. (2016). Improving the Performance ofWater Policies: ...