Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture: Transitioning from Open to Regulated Access
The book brings together a range of leading scholars and practitioners to compile an international account of water allocation policies supporting a transition to sustainable water use in regions where agriculture is the dominant water use. In Section 1, the collection canvasses five key cross-cutting issues shaping the challenge of sustainable water allocation policy, such as legal and economic perspectives, the role of politics, the setting of environmental flows, and the importance of indigenous rights. Section 2 presents 13 national, state and transboundary case studies of water allocation policy, covering cases from Europe, the Americas, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific region. These case studies highlight novel and innovative elements of water allocation regimes, which respond to the cross-cutting issues addressed in Section 1, as well as local challenges and social and environmental imperatives. The book provides a comprehensive account of water allocation in a range of international settings and provides a reference point for practitioners and scholars worldwide wishing to draw on the latest advances on how to design and implement sustainable water allocation systems.
ISBN: 9781789062779 (print)
ISBN: 9781789062786 (eBook)
ISBN: 9781789062793 (ePUB)
Chapter 11: Water allocation in Aotearoa New Zealand: societal values and ecological bottom lines
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Published:August 2022
Edward Challies, Stephen Fragaszy, Josselin Rouillard, 2022. "Water allocation in Aotearoa New Zealand: societal values and ecological bottom lines", Water Resources Allocation and Agriculture: Transitioning from Open to Regulated Access, Josselin Rouillard, Christina Babbitt, Edward Challies, Jean-Daniel Rinaudo
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Abstract
Water allocation is an increasingly prominent policy issue in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), where regulation has largely failed to secure sustainable management of water resources over the past three decades. Although there is abundant water in NZ, the cumulative effects of abstractions and diversions, alongside diffuse pollution from agriculture and other urban and rural land uses, have led to highly degraded and depleted water resources in some locations. This has had significant social and ecological impacts. As a result, governmental planning and decision-making around water allocation (and land-use and development more widely) are increasingly driven by the imperatives to maintain ‘environmental flows’ and safeguard community values. In the NZ context, the Government has special obligations to partner with Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders) in all aspects of environmental management. This task must be informed by principles and values from Te Ao Māori (the Māori world), meaningfully involve Māori in governance and management, and recognise Māori rights and interests in water. Local government (regional councils), which are responsible for defining allocation rules, must ensure rules serve broader freshwater management objectives that are developed through engagement with Māori and wider communities, and which safeguard the health and wellbeing of waterbodies, associated ecosystems, and people.