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For many decades in India, natural resource management (NRM) programs were implemented by government bureaucracies in a centralized, top-down manner. The programs were unsustainable and suffered from resource use inefficiency and inequity. In the 1990s, under pressure from civil society organizations and multilateral agencies, the Government of India and many State Governments introduced policies that decentralized NRM programs and mandated active participation of users in the management of resources. When implementation responsibilities were transferred to resource user-groups many of the problems associated with centralization could be reduced significantly. However, despite their proven capacity of being better resource managers than government agencies, the user-groups encountered difficulties as self-governed people's organizations. Participation of users declined and problems of equity resurfaced in many user-groups. This dissertation describes the research that examines the causes of problems in the governance of user-groups in villages of Mehsana District in Gujarat. Using an eight-fold criteria of good governance, the study looks at eight Water Users Associations (WUAs) that took over irrigation management responsibilities from the Irrigation Department. This program of decentralization of irrigation is called Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The assessment of each WUA on each of the eight criteria reveals a close link between characteristics of good governance and the process of democratization. It can be seen that the WUAs that performed well on participation, equity, transparency, accountability, rule of law and consensus-orientation were less likely to face situations of dysfunction than the WUAs that performed poorly on these criteria. These criteria for good governance are also the core elements of democratic governance. At the same time, the case-studies reveal the tension between the democratization process that is attempted within the WUAs and the historical and cultural legacy of the feudal, autocratic and patriarchal society that rural India has been for many centuries. The thesis supports the argument, with empirical evidence, that the decentralization process can be sustainable only when user-groups institutionalize democratic processes and the early leaders behave in a democratic manner. It also suggests that the transition from an undemocratic institution to a democratic one can be enabled when external support agencies play an important catalytic role.

For many decades in India, natural resource management (NRM) programs were implemented by government bureaucracies in a centralized, top-down manner. The programs were unsustainable and suffered from resource use inefficiency and inequity. In the 1990s, under pressure from civil society organizations and multilateral agencies, the Government of India and many State Governments introduced policies that decentralized NRM programs and mandated active participation of users in the management of resources. When implementation responsibilities were transferred to resource user-groups many of the problems associated with centralization could be reduced significantly. However, despite their proven capacity of being better resource managers than government agencies, the user-groups encountered difficulties as self-governed people's organizations. Participation of users declined and problems of equity resurfaced in many user-groups. This dissertation describes the research that examines the causes of problems in the governance of user-groups in villages of Mehsana District in Gujarat. Using an eight-fold criteria of good governance, the study looks at eight Water Users Associations (WUAs) that took over irrigation management responsibilities from the Irrigation Department. This program of decentralization of irrigation is called Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The assessment of each WUA on each of the eight criteria reveals a close link between characteristics of good governance and the process of democratization. It can be seen that the WUAs that performed well on participation, equity, transparency, accountability, rule of law and consensus-orientation were less likely to face situations of dysfunction than the WUAs that performed poorly on these criteria. These criteria for good governance are also the core elements of democratic governance. At the same time, the case-studies reveal the tension between the democratization process that is attempted within the WUAs and the historical and cultural legacy of the feudal, autocratic and patriarchal society that rural India has been for many centuries. The thesis supports the argument, with empirical evidence, that the decentralization process can be sustainable only when user-groups institutionalize democratic processes and the early leaders behave in a democratic manner. It also suggests that the transition from an undemocratic institution to a democratic one can be enabled when external support agencies play an important catalytic role.

For many decades in India, natural resource management (NRM) programs were implemented by government bureaucracies in a centralized, top-down manner. The programs were unsustainable and suffered from resource use inefficiency and inequity. In the 1990s, under pressure from civil society organizations and multilateral agencies, the Government of India and many State Governments introduced policies that decentralized NRM programs and mandated active participation of users in the management of resources. When implementation responsibilities were transferred to resource user-groups many of the problems associated with centralization could be reduced significantly. However, despite their proven capacity of being better resource managers than government agencies, the user-groups encountered difficulties as self-governed people's organizations. Participation of users declined and problems of equity resurfaced in many user-groups. This dissertation describes the research that examines the causes of problems in the governance of user-groups in villages of Mehsana District in Gujarat. Using an eight-fold criteria of good governance, the study looks at eight Water Users Associations (WUAs) that took over irrigation management responsibilities from the Irrigation Department. This program of decentralization of irrigation is called Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM). The assessment of each WUA on each of the eight criteria reveals a close link between characteristics of good governance and the process of democratization. It can be seen that the WUAs that performed well on participation, equity, transparency, accountability, rule of law and consensus-orientation were less likely to face situations of dysfunction than the WUAs that performed poorly on these criteria. These criteria for good governance are also the core elements of democratic governance. At the same time, the case-studies reveal the tension between the democratization process that is attempted within the WUAs and the historical and cultural legacy of the feudal, autocratic and patriarchal society that rural India has been for many centuries. The thesis supports the argument, with empirical evidence, that the decentralization process can be sustainable only when user-groups institutionalize democratic processes and the early leaders behave in a democratic manner. It also suggests that the transition from an undemocratic institution to a democratic one can be enabled when external support agencies play an important catalytic role. / Science, Faculty of / Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), Institute for / Graduate

Yes / Measures to manage demand include implicit and explicit messages about domestic water-users which have important potential impacts on their perceptions and practices. Drawing on recent literature, this paper identifies three different ¿dimensions¿ along which demand management measures¿ constructions of the water-user may vary: these relate to whether the water user is passive or active, whether they are motivated by individual or common needs, and whether they perceive water as a right or a commodity. Demand management measures currently used in England and Wales are then discussed and analysed. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of communications associated with demand management, and in particular, notes the need to consider the cumulative impact of messages and their interactions with people¿s existing understandings.

The Wave Hub facility in Cornwall (South West UK) is a marine renewables test site, predominantly designed for the purpose of trialling wave energy converters prior to commercialisation. Beach water-users such as bathers and surfers are of economic importance to tourism in Cornwall, and during theWave Hub consultation there were concerns among stakeholders that wave energy extraction would reduce the height and quality of coastal waves for sur ng, as well as a ecting sediment transport and beach morphology. This thesis investigates the interaction between wave conditions, beach morphology, and beach water-users, and proposes how a wave climate altered by wave energy extraction is likely to alter these interactions. A multidisciplinary research approach is adopted, involving the collection of qualitative and quantitative social data, the collection of over 5 years of physical wave and beach morphology data, and predictive modelling of the e ects of an attenuated wave climate. Quantitative, structured interview data from 403 water-users, collected at two beaches (Perranporth and Porthtowan) in the lee of Wave Hub, indicate that the population of water-users in the area is predominantly made up of surfers (53%), but bodyboarding and swimming/bathing are also popular activities (29% and 11%, respectively). In-depth semi-structured interviews reveal that water-user perceptions of wave energy extraction and its potential coastal impacts are constructed using intuitive risk perceptions, rather than technical understanding. These risk perceptions are constructed through a weighing of their perception of wave energy devices ('technology') and their perception of the coastal environment ('nature'). To investigate how waves are perceived, nearshore wave buoy measurements collected in 14 m water depth and transformed to breaking height, are compared to concurrent visual observations of mean breaker height and period. On average water-users underestimated signi cant wave height and period by 48% and 17%, respectively. Accounting for variations in wave perception, the wave preferences of di erent water-user groups are determined. Water-users are found to share a common preference towards wave v periods of 9 - 20 s, but di erent water-user groups are found to have di erent ranges of preferred wave height, which is found to govern whether wave energy extraction will decrease or increase the occurrence of preferred waves. Previous research indicates that three-dimensional (3D) beach morphology with crescentic bar and rip features is the primary controller of surf-zone hazard, and also strongly in uences the quality of sur ng waves at the coast. A dataset of 5.5 years of quasi-weekly bar measurements, and quasi-monthly intertidal surveys from Perranporth beach is used to quantify seasonal to inter-annual changes in threedimensionality. Integrated, cumulative uctuations in wave steepness, wave power, and relative tide range that occur over seasonal time scales are shown to be well correlated to seasonal uctuations in beach three-dimensionality. 3D morphology is well related to a disequilibrium term that predicts increases or decreases in threedimensionality by examining the di erence between instantaneous wave conditions and a temporally varying equilibrium condition, based on a weighted average of antecedent waves. This indicates that periods of wave regime change between erosive winter conditions with high steepness waves and accretive summer conditions with low steepness waves are related to the growth of 3D features, and vice versa, while extended periods with similar wave conditions drive the beach towards equilibrium. Using a range of realistic and extreme coastal wave height attenuation scenarios determined from previous Wave Hub modelling studies, it is predicted that none of the scenarios will have a universally positive or negative e ect on the occurrence of wave conditions preferred by water-users. When used to predict beach threedimensionality at Perranporth beach, the attenuated wave climates are found to reduce the variability in three-dimensionality. Even an extreme and unrealistic level of wave energy extraction (100% energy capture) was shown to have an insigni cant e ect on the occurrence of preferred waves, and only under an extraction scenario where the impact was not varied with wave frequency did this level of attenuation have a signi cant e ect on the predicted beach three-dimensionality. The inshore wave attenuation from Wave Hub is therefore likely to have an insigni cant e ect on wave conditions and beach morphology of relevance to beach water-users. A number of observations and recommendations are discussed for the development of a sound and robust methodological approach, which can be used to investigate the e ects of wave energy extraction on beach water-users at future wave farm sites.

<p>India and many other developing countries confront serious problems of declining water tables. In India there is no real water shortage, but ineffective use of surface water leads to freshwater run-off. By building dams and irrigation water systems the Indian government has been trying to find a more effective use of surface water and thereby increase the agricultural productivity. But mismanagement of irrigation systems by local governments called for alternative management techniques, and during the last decades the central Indian government has been trying to decentralise management and governance of irrigation water to local water users. This Minor Field Study (MFS) focuses on a local implementation of Participatory Irrigation Management in the Indian state Madhya Pradesh. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the way the local government handles the decentralisation of irrigation water management, by identify and illuminate communication channels. The thesis is built on the basic idea that functioning environmental communication is the key to reach a functioning decentralised and sustainable water management. Interviews with local government officials, citizens of a local village, and staff from a locally involved NGO within a case study constitute most of the empirical data. Theories of decentralisation of natural resource management, community participation, communication, and NGO cooperation are presented. With starting point in the empirical material and the presented theories has way the local government handles the decentralisation process, and the role of the locally involved NGO, been analysed. The study shows shortcomings in: education of stakeholders, communication training among government officials, trust in the capability of local water users, and communication between stakeholders. The study also enlighten the government officials fear of losing political power, the NGOs role as communication channel, and the formation of locally rooted organisations.</p>

India and many other developing countries confront serious problems of declining water tables. In India there is no real water shortage, but ineffective use of surface water leads to freshwater run-off. By building dams and irrigation water systems the Indian government has been trying to find a more effective use of surface water and thereby increase the agricultural productivity. But mismanagement of irrigation systems by local governments called for alternative management techniques, and during the last decades the central Indian government has been trying to decentralise management and governance of irrigation water to local water users. This Minor Field Study (MFS) focuses on a local implementation of Participatory Irrigation Management in the Indian state Madhya Pradesh. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the way the local government handles the decentralisation of irrigation water management, by identify and illuminate communication channels. The thesis is built on the basic idea that functioning environmental communication is the key to reach a functioning decentralised and sustainable water management. Interviews with local government officials, citizens of a local village, and staff from a locally involved NGO within a case study constitute most of the empirical data. Theories of decentralisation of natural resource management, community participation, communication, and NGO cooperation are presented. With starting point in the empirical material and the presented theories has way the local government handles the decentralisation process, and the role of the locally involved NGO, been analysed. The study shows shortcomings in: education of stakeholders, communication training among government officials, trust in the capability of local water users, and communication between stakeholders. The study also enlighten the government officials fear of losing political power, the NGOs role as communication channel, and the formation of locally rooted organisations.

À la suite de l'effondrement de l'Union soviétique, les états nouvellement formés de l'Asie centrale ont entrepris, à différents niveaux, des réformes de leurs secteurs agraires. Du point de vue de l'utilisation de l'eau d'irrigation, les réformes consistent notamment en des changements aux régimes fonciers et dans la décentralisation de la gestion du système de drainage et d'irrigation. La plupart des institutions qui, durant l'époque soviétique, géraient le système d'irrigation et de drainage ont été abolies. Cela a créé un vide institutionnel et permis le développement d’institutions au niveau local qui puissent être participatives et appartenir aux utilisateurs. Pourtant, le contexte historique et contemporain de la région pose des défis particuliers pouvant nuire à un tel développement. Les associations d'utilisateurs d'eau ou le gouvernement local gèrent l'irrigation et les systèmes de drainage au niveau local. Ces associations représentent souvent des initiatives conduites par les donateurs internationaux. Parallèlement, les institutions informelles et les modes traditionnels de coopération qui ont survécu à l'ère soviétique deviennent importants et quelques institutions créées durant cette ère demeurent toujours pertinentes. Cette recherche consiste à évaluer le rôle d’action collective dans un système de gestion d’irrigation et de drainage dans le bassin versant de la rivière Syr-Darya dans un contexte changeant concernant les droits d’usage de l'eau et de la terre. L'étude cherche à (1) saisir l'importance de l'eau d’irrigation dans les moyens de subsistance des utilisateurs dans la région de recherche; (2) explorer certaines caractéristiques des institutions formelles et informelles à travers lesquelles les fermiers dirigent des systèmes de drainage et d’irrigation; et (3) identifier les institutions qui appuient l'action collective et celles qui entravant son développement. La méthodologie de recherche repose une revue bibliographique et sur un travail de terrain dans la vallée de Ferghana, au Kirghizistan, entre le 30 avril et le 31 juillet 2008. Les résultats de la recherche sont présentés comme une étude de cas. / Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent countries of Central Asia undertook reforms of their agrarian sectors with varying degrees of speed and depth. In general, the reforms consisted of changes in the nature of land tenure and in the decentralization of irrigation and drainage management. Through these reforms, former state management institutions were abolished leaving an institutional vacuum that presented an opportunity for the development of local-level management institutions. However, the historical context of the region poses particular challenges that may impede users to capitalize on such opportunities.     Water User’s Associations or the local administration manage irrigation and drainage systems at the local level. Water User Associations represent international donor-driven initiatives to introduce equitable, democratic and participative institutions for irrigation and drainage management. There are indications that those informal institutions and traditional modes of cooperation that survived the Soviet era are gaining importance. This study maps out the various institutions, defined as "rules in use", that farmers employ to manage the irrigation and drainage system in the Ferghana Valley within the context of changing land and water rights. The key objectives of the study are (1) to understand the importance of irrigated water for local livelihoods in the research area; (2) to explore certain characteristics of the formal and informal institutions through which farmers manage irrigation and drainage systems; and (3) to depict ways in which “collective action” in irrigation water management can be strengthened. The methodology consists of a synthesis of existing literature and fieldwork in the Ferghana Valley in Kyrgyzstan, from April 30 until 31 July, 2008. The results of the research are presented as a case study.

Cette thèse vise la continuité des questions d’échelle à travers la gouvernance de l’eau qui ne peut s’établir à un seul niveau mais doit au contraire envisager tous les niveaux à la fois. Cela constitue une difficulté méthodologique majeure que la gestion internationale ne parvient encore à résoudre. La subsidiarité en était un moyen avec l’inconvénient de séparer brutalement les niveaux d’échelle. Mais le bassin versant considéré comme un espace de projet délimité, dont la gestion ne vise pas seulement son administration mais la coordination de politiques, induit une gestion au-delà des découpages administratifs, avec un processus décisionnel continu et négocié entre acteurs aux pouvoirs de différents niveaux, aux intérêts et aux logiques divers, souvent contradictoires. S’il est partagé par nature, en faire un bien commun impose de franchir l’obstacle de « l’égoïsme » qui peut être attaché à la souveraineté de chaque État sur son territoire. La réalisation d’ouvrages majeurs se détache du principe de « chacun chez soi ». C’est justement ce principe souverainiste qui engendre des hydro-conflits transfrontaliers. Ainsi, s’interroger sur la signification concrète du concept de gouvernance par l’exemple des eaux partagées du fleuve Niger dans ses portions Bénin, Niger et Nigéria, c’est poser le principal problème qui permet de hiérarchiser les différentes pièces du calcul. À travers une démarche inclusive, il sera question d’établir un diagnostic de gouvernance du bassin versant du Niger, d’identifier les impacts d’une telle approche sur le développement des ressources en eau et d'appréhender les pratiques sociales des usagers de l'eau notamment ceux impliqués dans le développement de l’agriculture irriguée et ceux qui subissent les impacts environnementaux qu’engendrent les infrastructures hydrauliques d’envergure à l’instar de Kainji et de Jebba. / This thesis is the continuity of scale through the water governance that cannot be established at one level but must instead consider all levels at once. This was a major methodological difficulty that international management is still able to solve. Subsidiarity was a way with the disadvantage to brutally separate scale levels. But the watershed is considered as a project space delimited, whose management is not only the administration but the coordination of policies, induced a management beyond administrative cuts, with an ongoing decision-making process and negotiated between actors in the powers of different levels, interests and various, often contradictory logic. It is shared by nature, make a common good requires the hurdle of "selfishness" that can be attached to the sovereignty of each State over its territory. The realization of major works stands the principle of "everyone home." It is precisely this sovereigntist principle that generates cross-border hydro-conflits. So, wonder about the real meaning of the concept of governance by the example of the shared waters of the Niger River in Benin, Niger and Nigeria portions, this is the main problem that allows to prioritize the different parts of the calculation. Through an inclusive approach, it will issue a diagnosis of governance of the catchment area of Niger, to identify the impacts of such an approach on the development of water resources and to understand the social practices of users of water including those involved in the development of irrigated agriculture and those undergoing environmental impact generate the large-scale like Kainji and Jebba hydraulic infrastructure.