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International audience; Local development organisations are now widespread in rural regions of North Africa. In the past, these organisations were usually only involved in a few sector-specific activities. This study investigated the activities of 24 local development organisations in the Saharan regions of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The fields of action of these organisations have expanded in the past decade, thanks to their increased capacity to handle relations with other actors. They have become active in defining what development means at the local level, although public administrations do not yet acknowledge such a role.

International audience; Estuaries are cradles of life for the communities who live around and within them. They are valued in multiple ways for the services they provide to humans, including food production, recreation, water purification, navigation and amenity. Various groups of stakeholders all place different importance on these values, how their needs and practices interact, and what it means to effectively manage an estuary towards a range of desirable goals. This typically creates value conflicts over how estuaries should be managed. Navigating such conflicts requires governance arrangements and methods that allow multiple parties to find a common path forward. Using Evolutionary Governance Theory (EGT) and a hybrid analytic framework incorporating aspects of multi-level/multi-scalar governance, risk governance and territorial intelligence theory, this paper explores the (co-)evolution of governance processes by analysing lessons learnt from action in and observation of estuaries in Australia (Lower Hawkesbury), France (Thau) and New Caledonia (Thio). A multi-method research approach to data collection was used and comparative analysis across the three estuaries undertaken to understand the evolutions in each of their governance systems. From this analysis, several reflections and lessons for the governance of other land-sea systems emerge on: the importance of boundary organisations and boundary negotiations in re-defining integrated approaches to land-sea governance; how particular information systems or models, as well as discourses from other key actors shape co-evolutions of estuarine governance; and that risks or shocks still appear to be the catalysers of new forms of collective action and major reconfigurations and evolutions of estuarine governance.

Today, the use of sugarcane bagasse to produce electricity is widespread in the sugar industry. The use of a wholestalk harvester, in a dedicated industrial production unit, is new. This new industry and the cultivation of energy cane could provide economic benefits for producers and industry, as well as an environmental benefit for the community. It could also be an opportunity for territories that depend on imports to reduce their dependence on imported energy. ReefCane®, a simulation tool, was developed specifically to assess the financial feasibility and environmental benefits of different production and management scenarios for electricity production. The tool is made up of two parts: (a) the first assesses the price of cane and the price of electricity that would be financially feasible, and computes possible profits for growers and millers; (b) the second evaluates the environmental balance using life cycle assessment. This modelling approach was used tested one hypothesis in Reunion. Simulations highlighted the usefulness of the tool to assess the feasibility of this new industry. Simulations calculated for a 5 MWel power plant: (i) the price of electricity necessary to reach internal net returns around 8% depending on different yields; and (ii) the amount of CO2 equivalent emission avoided by the establishment of a cane energy sector compared to the current energy mix in Reunion. (Resume d'auteur)

International audience; The aim of this paper is to investigate the notion of collapse of agricultural groundwater economies using the adaptive-cycle analytical framework. This framework was applied to four case studies in southern Europe and North Africa to question and discuss the dynamics of agricultural groundwater economies. In two case studies (Saiss in Morocco and Clain basin in France), the imminent physical or socio-economic collapsewas amajor concern for stakeholders and the early signs of collapse led to re-organization of the groundwater economy. In the other two cases (Biskra in Algeria and Almeria in Spain), collapse was either not yet a concern or had been temporarily resolved through increased efficiency and access to additional water resources. This comparative analysis shows the importance of taking the early signs of collapse into account. These signs can be either related to resource depletion or to environmental and socio-economic impacts. Beyond these four case studies, the large number of groundwater economies under threat in (semi-)arid areas should present a warning regarding their possible collapse. Collapse can have severe and irreversible consequences in some cases, but it can also mean new opportunities and changes.; Le but de cet article est d’explorer la notion d’effondrement des économies agricoles reposant sur l’eau souterraine en utilisant le cadre d’analyse du cycle adaptatif. Ce cadre a été appliqué à quatre cas d’études en Europe du Sud et en Afrique du Nord pour questionner et discuter les dynamiques des économies agricoles reposant sur l’eau souterraine. Dans deux des études de cas (Le Saïss au Maroc et le bassin du Clain en France), l’effondrement imminent (qu’il soit physique ou socio-économique) était une préoccupation majeure pour les parties prenantes et les signes précoces d’effondrement ont conduit à la réorganisation de l’économie reposant sur l’eau souterraine. Dans les deux autres cas (Biskra en Algérie et Almeria en Espagne), l’effondrement n’était soit pas encore une préoccupation, soit il avait été résolu de manière temporaire grâce à une efficacité accrue ou grâce à un accès à des ressources en eau supplémentaires. Cette analyse comparative montre l’importance de la prise en compte des signes précoces d’effondrement. Ces signes peuvent être reliés à un épuisement de la ressource ou aux impacts socio-économiques. Au-delà de ces quatre études de cas, le grande nombre d’économies basées sur l’eau souterraine menacées dans les zones (semi-) arides pourrait constituer un avertissement quant à leur possible effondrement. Cet effondrement peut avoir des conséquences graves et irréversibles dans certains cas, mais il peut aussi représenter de nouvelles opportunités et changements.

In North Africa, the development of groundwater-based irrigation enabled agricultural intensification and market-oriented production. Groundwater use was also often said to alleviate smallholder poverty. However, there is growing evidence linking the expansion of groundwater-based agriculture with increasing socioeconomic inequalities in a context of declining water tables and rapid agrarian change. This paper analyzes the contrasted fortunes of different categories of farmers participating in the groundwater economy, depending on access to other resources including land, capital and labor. The study was conducted in a 3910 ha area in the Saiss plain (Morocco), where rapid agrarian transformations took place with the arrival of investors attracted by state subsidies and the possibility to carry out intensive groundwater-based agriculture. The study began with interviews with key informants to determine the role of groundwater use in farm trajectories. Then, an inventory was undertaken of all farms and of all wells and tube-wells in the study area. Next, the groundwater use per farm type was determined on a sample of 24 farms. Finally, the socioeconomic differentiation of farms was determined, based on the inequalities in access to groundwater, land, labor and financial capital. The results revealed contrasted fortunes of farmers involved in the groundwater economy. The boom in the groundwater economy benefitted entrepreneurial and well-endowed farmers who made intensive use of groundwater, while the effects of their overexploitation of groundwater fed the marginalization of family farmers. The results show that capital has replaced landownership as the dominant production factor, thereby re-qualifying what is a ‘small’ farmer. Capital is not only required to obtain access to groundwater, but also to deal with the more risky agriculture frequently conducted in the groundwater economy. This leads to the exclusion of small family farmers who may quit the groundwater economy poorer than they entered it. The urgent need to control access to and use of groundwater in the face of declining water tables has little chance of producing results if socioeconomic inequalities remain unaddressed.

Water‐efficient agriculture has implied a large increase in energy consumption for irrigation in recent decades. In many irrigation systems, energy costs are now threatening their sustainability. However, new opportunities have arisen for the use of renewable energies in the irrigation sector. These are some of the aspects of the multifaceted multiple‐actor ‘water–food–energy' nexus. Technical, economic and environmental issues are linked in many ways, involving farmers, water users' associations, energy suppliers, engineers and other stakeholders. The ICID session ‘Irrigation and energy' triggered discussions on these multiple dimensions. This paper presents a synthesis of the presentations, discussions and conclusions. Four main questions are addressed: How do irrigation productivity and sustainability of water resources exploitation change when farmers have access to energy? What do we know about energy efficiency in irrigation systems, at farm and collective network levels? How can this efficiency be optimized by using advanced technologies, modelling tools, improved management? Is energy production an opportunity for irrigation systems? These questions have been posed based on multiple case studies from different parts of the world. The BRL network, in southern France, illustrates advanced strategies and opportunities to reduce energy consumption and develop energy production at a network level. General conclusions are drawn from this synthesis, illustrating trade‐offs and synergies that can be identified in the irrigation sector at different scales, while opportunities for future research are proposed. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Increased competition between agri-food supply chains has strained relationships between farmers and processing factories while reducing individual profit margins. Decisions at different levels of the supply chain can no longer be considered independently, since they may influence profitability throughout the supply chain. This paper presents a decision support approach based on the MAGI^(R) simulation tool, which aims to facilitate discussion and negotiation between stakeholders while collectively exploring satisfactory solutions. The simulation tool helps sugarcane growers and millers in designing and assessing new ways of organizing cane supply management within a mill area. It addresses key issues such as restructuring mill areas or changing cane delivery allocation rules in order to increase total sugar production and total net revenue at the mill area level. This approach has been implemented for two mills in Reunion and one mill in South Africa. Simulations showed that sugar gains may be obtained by rearranging supply scheduling according to quality-based zoning within a mill area. Discussions led to further studies regarding the practicality of the best scenarios. MAGI^(R) is now available as freeware for testing in different settings.