Participatory Water-Food-Energy Nexus Approach for Evaluation and Design of Groundwater Governance

Improving the groundwater governance structure can help reduce groundwater decline and improve the state of an aquifer. This study develops an approach to modify groundwater governance based on a participatory, water-food-energy (WFE) nexus. Given the need for the participation of actors in the decision-making for the WFE nexus, we identified and selected some powerful nexus actors. Using the actor’s viewpoints, factors that led to excessive withdrawal of groundwater resources in each sector were identified as governance challenges. Using the DPSIR (Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response) approach, the actors assessed the cause-and-effect relationships of the groundwater governance challenges and proposed modification in the groundwater governance. Thirteen groundwater governance scenarios were defined. Then, the impact of scenarios on WFE sectors was evaluated by the participation of nexus actors and the nexus assessment ranking of the scenarios. The results show that, out of the 13 groundwater governance scenarios, only seven scenarios had positive effects in all three sectors (WFE). The scenario of developing and enforcing region-specific cropping patterns and value-chain management has the highest rank. This paper highlights the need for the participation of actors in decision-making and the use of WFE nexus in modifying the groundwater governance system.