Resilience of the groundwater economies in developing Countries

Intensive groundwater use (1000 km3/yr) has allowed the development of a ?vibrant wealth creating' agricultural groundwater economy. However, it also causes water table depletion, groundwater quality degradation, land subsidence, or ecological impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Depending on the size of the aquifer, and the intensity of groundwater use, this may cause drawdowns in the range of 0.5?5 m/year. More than 10% of the world's food production depends on aquifers that are overexploited and threatened. This special session will focus on the resilience of the ?groundwater economy', which represents a social?ecological system, where social and biophysical dynamics are closely linked and interdependent. The groundwater economy combines two extremely complex systems: 1) the aquifer system, where ?virgin' recharge and discharge mechanisms and groundwater abstraction through (tube)wells are intimately intertwined, 2) the ?people's irrigation economy in which the initiative, investment, and management have come primarily from farmers. Organization This special session will take place on May 7th (14:30-15:30) and (15:40-16:40). Empirical materials will be complemented by two movies on case studies in Morocco and Algeria. First time slot (60 minutes) The first time slot will be follow three steps : 1. Introduction to the topic of the special session (8 minutes); 2. Presentation of case studies in Algeria (8 minutes); Morocco (12 minutes), India (8 minutes) and Spain-India-South Africa (8 minutes); 3. Open discussion (16 minutes). Resilience of the groundwater economy in developing countries: state of the art and current issues ? Olivier Petit, Marcel Kuper, Caroline Lejars, Nicolas Faysse, (8 minutes) Three cases of groundwater economy: The case of a Saharan pioneer front in Algeria: Does the concept of resilience make sense in a context of rapidly expanding profitable agriculture? Ali Daoudi, Caroline Lejars (8 minutes) The rapid transformations of a long-standing agricultural area (case of the Saiss): 1) Vulnerabilities of farm holdings in a process of change ? Jean-Daniel Rinaudo, Nicolas Faysse, 2) Resilience of two contrasted agricultural sub-sectors dependant on groundwater: organization and relations between actors (Morocco) - Caroline Lejars, Solène Courilleau (Total = 12 minutes) The rapid transformations of India's groundwater economy (Aditi Mukherji) (8 minutes) Securing tenure in groundwater economies: a comparative approach (Elena Lopez-Gunn) (8 minutes) Open discussion (16 minutes) Second time slot (60 minutes) Presentation of selected sequences of documentary films directed by Hassane Kemmoun (Cap Rural, Meknès, Morocco) and Abderrahmane El Mostafa (Mostaganem, Algeria) on the management of groundwater resources and agriculture in Algeria and Morocco. (Total of the sequences ? 25 minutes including discussion). Roundtable discussion (35 minutes): how to promote the resilience of the groundwater economy? This roundtable will mobilize the speakers of the first time slot. (Texte integral)