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International audience; ""This article covers all types of participation in water policy processes in the city of Duque de Caxias in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Even though open opposition to the government is legally permitted since Brazil's democratization process, barriers remain for activist leaders to formulate and signify their preferences toward the government. The current literature on direct participation practices in policy processes tends to leave out political regime variables. This case study aims to show that, in fact, political regime variables are crucial. The article reintroduces participation practices in power dynamics in local water policymaking, building a model based on competitive oligarchy, multilevel policy coalitions, and political capacity literature. It argues that the political regime matters in understanding participation practices and that, despite legal democratization that opened rights to organize opposition and participation in Brazil in 2007, local activist leaders are restrained by a particular kind of oligarchy—an oligarchic technical–political–productivist policy coalition that “owns” policy through direct participation in the political process. This case study shows that four decades after the policy shift in the 1980s, in some territories and sectors Brazilian democracy may be on the pathway of competitive oligarchy—very open to opposition rights, but still closed to the participation of this opposition in policy and decision-making processes."

The governance of several cross-cutting challenges, such as food security, climate change, and sustainable development, calls for integrative policy approaches. However, efforts to better theorize the drivers of integration beyond listing explanatory factors remain weak. Viewing integration as a process of policy change for dealing with complex problems, this study argues that policy integration analysis can benefit from an advocacy coalition approach (ACF) to address this theoretical gap. It illustrates the analytical framework by empirically investigating the drivers of policy (dis)integration in Brazil's subnational water policy introduced in the 2010s. The level of conflict between coalitions, adjustment of policy beliefs, coordination within and across coalitions, and existence of venues for interaction and policy-oriented learning were presented as factors that can foster or hinder the integration of public policies. Moreover, the study discusses the potential to acknowledge in ACF the mechanisms for coordinating policy actors and instruments, which would facilitate the analysis of the policy processes of cooperation. It also demonstrates that recent droughts in Northeast Brazil have been increasingly related to the local impacts of climate change, contributing to reframing water management as a cross-sectoral climate and water governance issue. The analysis was based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis.

International audience; This article examines the role that the production of knowledge on the ecological state of aquatic ecosystems plays in the implementation of policies for protecting these environments, used for water supply. Based on interdisciplinary research carried out in two sub-Saharan countries (Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal) by a team of sociologists and ecologists, the article shows how expert knowledge of environmental quality assessment interacts with the local actors, existing management structures and with local representations of these environments. Through this interdisciplinary approach, we question the difficulties of integrating a diversity of points of view on water resources. We highlight the obstacles, uncertainties and controversies linked with the production of expertise and its integration into existing management systems. More specifically, we describe the main challenges for institutionalizing long-term monitoring of the water resources (Aquatic Ecosystems Observatories). We also discuss the possibilities and the interest for integrating expert and local knowledge for co-constructing a shared diagnosis.; Cet article questionne le rôle de la production des savoirs sur l’état écologique des milieux dans la gestion et la mise en oeuvre de politiques de surveillance et de protection des ressources en eau utilisées pour la production d’eau potable en Afrique subsaharienne. Sur la base d’une recherche interdisciplinaire réalisée en Côte d’Ivoire et au Sénégal par une équipe comprenant des sociologues et des écologues, l’article montre comment des savoirs experts d’évaluation de la qualité des milieux interagissent avec les jeux d’acteurs, les structures de gestion existantes et les représentations locales de ces mêmes milieux. Nous interrogeons à travers cette approche interdisciplinaire les difficultés d’articulation de la diversité de points de vue sur les ressources en eau, ainsi que les freins, les incertitudes et controverses autour de la production de savoirs et de leur intégration dans des dispositifs de gestion. Nous analysons plus particulièrement les principaux défis pour la mise en place des suivis de l’état écologique des milieux aquatiques, ainsi que les possibles contributions des savoirs experts et locaux à la co-construction d’un diagnostic partagé.

L’autosuffisance en riz poursuivie par l’État du Sénégal depuis l’Indépendance a motivé des investissements colossaux dans le Delta du fleuve Sénégal, au nord du pays. Cet article évalue la contribution du Projet de promotion du partenariat rizicole dans le Delta (3PRD) aux dynamiques organisationnelles et techniques. L’importance de ce projet repose sur le partenariat public-privé, un paradigme récent dans le monde du développement de l’agriculture irriguée. Notre démarche est basée sur un travail de synthèse bibliographique, des visites de terrain, des entretiens avec les responsables du projet et des enquêtes auprès des agriculteurs. Les résultats suggèrent deux progrès majeurs réalisés par le 3PRD : l’autonomisation des producteurs privés dans un grand aménagement collectif impliquant la participation de la société de développement SAED et l’introduction d’un nouveau matériel pour l’irrigation, l’électropompe. Ils montrent aussi que des efforts restent à réaliser en matière d’intensité culturale et de rendement agricole pour permettre aux producteurs de mieux rentabiliser les investissements qu’ils ont réalisés dans leurs périmètres.

Groundwater resources are being increasingly exploited around the world and patterns of overexploitation are widely observed. Long seen as the remit of hydrologists, groundwater is now understood as a key and politically disputed resource that supports domestic use, livelihoods, and high‐value commercial farming, as well as many wetlands and other groundwater‐dependant ecosystems. The governance of groundwater is complex due to its invisible and elusive nature, its fluctuating exchanges with surface water bodies, the diffuse nature of abstraction points, and the lack of state control over the individual initiatives that often arise in response to water shortages. Governance based on community-, state-, or market-centered arrangements has tended to perform poorly. Comanagement shows some potential but is so far limited to specific physical‐cum‐political environments.

Le gouvernement de Nouvelle-Calédonie a approuvé en mars 2019 le schéma d'orientation de la première politique de l'eau du Pays. Cette politique, appelée " Politique de l'eau partagée " (PEP), est le fruit d'une large concertation ayant impliquée environ un Calédonien sur six cents. Cet article présente une rétrospective du dispositif de concertation mis en place pour le montage de cette politique. Il se focalise particulièrement sur le déroulement du processus et sur les outils d'appui à la planification qui ont été utilisés, en partie inspiré du dispositif de co-planification, appelé COOPLAN (Co-construction et co-planification de plan d'action pour la gestion de l'eau).

Depuis plus de trois décennies, le modèle de gestion participative de l’irrigation promu par gouvernements et bailleurs de fond rencontre de nombreuses difficultés. Partant du constat que la gestion de l’irrigation présente des dimensions tant techniques que sociales, nous mobilisons les champs de lapolitical ecologyet des études des sciences et techniques et montrons qu’une politique publique prend de multiples facettes à l’aune des conditions matérielles qu’elle rencontre. Une comparaison de quatre périmètres irrigués au Cambodge illustre le fait que l’émergence d’associations d’usagers de l’eau comme acteurs de la gestion des périmètres irrigués dépend de l’existence de « points d’ancrage », c’est-à-dire d’éléments d’infrastructures de distribution et de partage de l’eau sur lesquels ces associations peuvent exercer leur contrôle et ainsi « s’inscrire » dans le paysage sociotechnique de l’irrigation.

Given the existence of a thriving epistemic community on water sciences, the high politicization of environmental issues in the country as well as the active mobilization of a grassroot movement inspired by environmental justice, South Africa appears to be an ideal case to study the development of a political ecology (PE) approach. Moreover, since the apartheid regime, water issues have long represented a marker of extreme inequality.This paper aims at drawing a panorama of the PE of water in South Africa, its main topics and approaches. In our definition, the PE of water is concerned with human–environment relations, with explicit considerations for power relations. In the first section, we identified texts that, according to this definition, constitute the core of the PE of water in South Africa, going beyond a mere “politics of water.” In the second section and in the discussion, we undertook an in‐depth analysis of the main topics addressed by authors, such as environmental flows, “free basic water policy,” prepaid water meters. PE of water is strongly connected to international debates about the link between water and power, but also capable of addressing in a critical way the specificities of the South African waterscape. It stems from this review that critical PE in urban settings in particular dominates the discipline. We could also note that the PE of water in rural areas tends to put a bigger emphasis on the “politics of ecology” whereas urban PE tends to focus more on the “ecology in politics,” although both thrive to examine the human–environment relations in an integrated manner.

Morocco has well developed irrigation facilities that range from small scale communal systems based on springs, qanats or river diversions to groundwater-based individual initiatives and large scale public schemes. Water demand policies – e.g. water pricing, shift to drip irrigation, 'aquifer contracts' and other forms of participatory management – have shown little potential in curbing overexploitation of resources in many basins. Expansion of irrigated areas and the priority given to productivity have taken their toll on the environment, favored commercial agriculture, and contributed to a net depletion of groundwater estimated at 1 billion m3/year. There is a need to better align agricultural development, water conservation, and environmental objectives. After a short historical perspective, this chapter first reviews a number of trends in the irrigation sector (modernization, development of groundwater resources, wastewater reuse and desalination), before turning to regulatory and institutional issues, including participatory management, economic tools, privatization and an examination of the Plan Maroc Vert. The threats posed by climate change, water scarcity, and environmental degradation are then discussed.

GEMAPI : vers une gestion plus intégrée de l'eau et des territoires - Avant-propos

Avec la création de la compétence GEMAPI et son attribution aux établissements publics de coopération intercommunale à fiscalité propre, l’État français a totalement redéfini la gouvernance des milieux aquatiques. Cette étude a pour but de proposer une analyse des évolutions amenées par la GEMAPI sur les acteurs impliqués dans la gestion et la préservation des milieux aquatiques, sur un territoire d’étude défini qu’est le bassin Seine-Normandie.

Le Cerema et Irstea lançaient en 2016 un appel à partenaires destiné à accompagner les collectivités territoriales dans la mise en œuvre de la nouvelle compétence en matière de gestion des milieux aquatiques et de prévention des inondations. Depuis, une dizaine de projets ont été retenus sur des territoires aux enjeux variés. L’objectif est désormais de s’appuyer sur les enseignements issus de ces partenariats et de les valoriser à l’échelle nationale.

The objective of this study was to assess the consumption and the multiplier effect of the use of energy and irrigation water for rainfed and irrigated agriculture at the national level in Morocco. Using a social accounting matrix, the direct and indirect economic effects of subsidizing energy used by agriculture were identified. The results show that irrigation water policy in Morocco, which targets 'water-saving' techniques, has increased the use of subsidized energy and that indirect effects, through energy subsidies, exceed the direct effects of agricultural subsidies. A social accounting matrix can help decision makers make the necessary trade-offs between irrigated and rainfed agriculture.

This paper uses the water-reallocation scheme created within the National Water Act (1998) to analyze the impacts of water policy on farm livelihoods in South Africa. Based on one of the most water stressed catchments in the country, the Olifants river basin, we provide an integrated modeling approach combining water and agricultural modules to investigate the impacts of compulsory licensing and water market on crop production and investment made to improve water use efficiency. The model maximizes net farm profits and takes into account the characteristics of the agricultural sector in the region in classifying farmers between large-scale (LSFs) and emerging (EFs) groups, according to their land acreage, irrigation efficiency and historical heritage. Compulsory licensing is analyzed through curtailment of water-use rights from large-scale to emerging farmers. The water market is investigated to provide conditions under which farms trade water to complete their irrigation schedules. Our results show that, though compulsory licensing might promote a rise in emerging farmers and a re-balance of past riparian-based water allocation schemes, care should be given to the level of that curtailment rate in order to balance equity measures with efficiency objectives. Indeed, we found that the losses associated with water curtailment for LSFs are not entirely captured by the EFs. Therefore, beyond water policy, there are other factors, which also influence farms’ profits and water use efficiency. The results also demonstrate that a water market provides a good opportunity to increase water use efficiency. The introduction of water market induces LSFs with good water storage facilities a possibility to trade their remaining water-use rights. It also offers EFs an alternative to diversify their water supply sources when they encounter shortfalls in amount of water allocated.

On entend souvent dire que les montagnes sont les châteaux d'eau de la planete. C'est globalement vrai, etant donne que les regions montagneuses sont en general les mieux arrosees et que c'est la que prennent naissance la plupart des grands cours d'eau. Le role reel ou percu des montagnes dans l'espace ainsi que dans l'amenagement de l'espace, est tres different d'une region du globe a l'autre. la montagne peut etre repulsive dans les regions froides, ou seche dans les regions sous le vent (versant oriental des Rocheuses canadiennes et americaines; plateau tibetain au-dela de la barriere himalayenne) ; ou au contraire etre des plus recherchees dans les regions chaudes du fait d'un climat plus agreable ou d'une meilleure pluviometrie (plateau ethiopien, par exemple) ; dans le cas de chaines volcaniques recentes, les montagnes peuvent de surcroit offrir l'avantage de meilleurs sols

Two contrasting views prevail on groundwater use in situations of predominantly state-led irrigation development. The first considers "groundwater as liberation", i.e., how, by capturing the irrigation initiative, farmers liberated themselves from "state" water, enabling more intensive and productive agriculture. The second view – "groundwater as anarchy" – considers groundwater as a declining resource, overexploited by millions of individualistic farmers in the absence of effective groundwater governance with mounting inequalities in groundwater use. We analyse the Janus nature of groundwater in the expanding groundwater economy in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Groundwater has redesigned irrigation frontiers, and caters to over 60 % of the total irrigated area, supplying more than 500,000 farms with irrigation water. However, more than half of the aquifers are overexploited, and typically only 40–50 % of farmers in a given area access groundwater. We conclude that groundwater use in North Africa cannot be qualified as anarchy, but rather as a negotiated disorder where the interests of farmers, the private sector, and the state, are continuously realigned. Groundwater "liberated" farmers only partially from "state" water, as the state has remained present in groundwater economies. Moreover, groundwater concerned a minority of farmers, who are often keen to get state support when facing resource depletion or harsh agricultural markets. Breaking the current conundrum will require creating space for change, by making visible the current and future effects of groundwater dynamics to local actors, and supporting the building of coalitions of actors towards a sustainable agricultural use of groundwater.

Livelihoods in the Niger River basin rely mainly on rainfed agriculture, except in the dry extreme north. Low yields and water productivity result from low inputs, short growing seasons, dry spells, and excessive water. The overlap of traditional and modern rules impedes secure access to water and investments in agriculture by generating uncertain land tenure. Improved agriculture and water management require technical, sociological, and regulatory changes to address the wider causes of poverty. Illiteracy and poor water quality, both correlated with high infant mortality, are pressing problems. Rapidly increasing population, climatic changes and dam construction contribute to rural vulnerability.

Comme dans la plupart des régions, les zones arides ont bénéficié de plusieurs vagues d'aménagements hydroagricoles durant la seconde moitié du XX e siècle pour ralentir, stocker et rendre accessibles des écoulements sporadiques et violents peu utilisables par des ouvrages au fil de l'eau. Cette succession d'aménagements superposés est souvent mal valorisée comme le montrent divers bilans réalisés dans des bassins du Centre tunisien et du Nord Mexique où les retenues collinaires favorisent, avant tout, les pertes évaporatoires. Sur la base de ces constats, les gouvernements ont cherché à améliorer la gestion technique des ouvrages en favorisant les transferts d'eau vers les réservoirs souterrains et cherchent à mobiliser les ressources en eau non conventionnelles avec quelques succès, mais seulement dans des situations spécifiques en raison de leurs coûts élevés (désalinisation), d'une difficile acceptation (réutilisation des eaux usées) ou de leur volume peu important (eau atmosphérique). Toutes ces initiatives n'ont pas arrêté la surexploitation des nappes phréatiques, et peu à peu se mettent en place plusieurs initiatives pour diminuer la demande en eau tout en augmentant la production alimentaire. Cette nouvelle politique finance l'installation des techniques d'irrigation économes (aspersion, goutte-à-goutte, polymères gonflants, conduites verticales, etc.) pour remplacer l'irrigation gravitaire majoritairement utilisée. Après quelques années, il faut bien reconnaître que l'impact de ces nouvelles techniques est moins important que prévu soit à cause d'une utilisation inadéquate, soit par le fait de nouveaux comportements qu'elles ont suscités. Actuellement, les pouvoirs publics testent des outils complémentaires économiques et réglementaires pour rendre plus efficaces ces changements techniques.

L'Agence de l'Eau Seine Normandie a conduit entre 1987-1991 une politique de lutte contre les points noirs, c'est-à-dire qu'elle a intensifié la connaissance des dégradations et bonifié les aides concernant des portions de rivières et de nappes particulièrement dégradées et menaçant des usages. Nous avons conduit une évaluation ex-post de cette politique à partir des données disponibles dans les conventions d'aides et les tableaux de suivi des points noirs. Une part importante de notre travail a été de référencer les milieux concernés géographiquement afin d'en suivre l'évolution qualitative avant et après intervention de l'agence. Nous proposons des indicateurs permettant de qualifier l'efficacité de la politique. Nous montrons que d'une façon générale la qualité de l'eau s'est dégradée pendant cette période sur l'ensemble du bassin selon les paramètres suivis à l'époque alors que la qualité des points noirs s'est améliorée. Nous testons plusieurs variables explicatives pour la variabilité des résultats obtenus. Le faible débit naturel explique une grande part des points qui restent dégradés. Mais on observe aussi un effet délégation régionale. Cette étude par site permet d'illustrer comment différentes causes d'impact se combinent au niveau local. L'explicitation de toutes les variables influençant la qualité, contrôlées ou non par l'Agence, permet de comparer des sites sur des critères pertinents et de mieux comprendre leur évolution. Cette étude met également en évidence l'importance du suivi régulier et cohérent de la qualité pour pouvoir évaluer les politiques de restauration / Most cost-effective options: what lessons can be learned from the black spots strategy of Agence de l'Eau Seine-Normandie in 1987-1991? During the period 1987-1991, the French Water Agency of Seine-Normandy basin experimented with a black spots strategy in order to restore aquatic sites of very poor quality and of great interest for usages. The Agency assessed the required investments, increased subsidies and communication efforts there. We tried to draw lessons from this policy with an ex-post appraisal of its results. Data collection was an important part of our work given the absence of a Geographical Information System in the Agency. We built a database of 58 black spots which can be considered as well informed case studies with comprehensive financial data and water quality monitoring. We propose indicators to assess the black-spots strategy. We show that, given the general basin-wide quality getting worse, the strategy was effective and efficient. Without any data concerning usage recovery, the weight of the different criteria such as length of restored river or number of restored spots remains subjective. Different variables likely to explain success and failure are tested. Variability of discharges explains partly differences of results. We also enlighten a regional office effect. Such a site-oriented approach illustrates how different causes combine with each other to impact the environment. To assess consistency and effectiveness of any strategy, one should previously list all possible causes of degradation and possible remediation site by site to make them comparable and to understand properly their evolution. Moreover monitoring options may deeply affect scoring results

Dans une region aride telle que la Jeffara (Sud-est tunisien), les activites agropastorales structurent l'espace et les possibilites de diversification des revenus sont relativement restreintes. Suite aux profondes mutations qu’a connues la region, quelles sont aujourd’hui les conditions d’acces a l’eau potable des populations rurales ? Quelles sont leurs capacites a affronter les risques lies a la marchandisation de cette ressource ? Le passage d’une politique de l’offre a une politique de la demande en eau souleve egalement la question du devenir des conditions de vie d'une part importante de la population rurale et celle de la mise en place de veritables modes de coordination entre acteurs de l'eau.

El 25 de enero de 2008, un deslizamiento de terreno dañó una canalización de transporte de agua cruda entre la represa Hampaturi y la planta de tratamiento de Pampahasi. Durante diecinueve días, el tiempo de realizar trabajos de reparación de emergencia, más de un tercio de los habitantes de La Paz se quedaron sin abastecimiento de agua potable por la red de distribución. De igual estrago padecieron las empresas, los establecimientos de salud, las escuelas, etc. Este evento provocó unos disfuncionamientos muy importantes que llegaron a generar una crisis en parte de la ciudad. (résumé d'auteur)

In Molle, Francois; Berkoff, J. (Eds.). Irrigation water pricing: the gap between theory and practice. Wallingford, UK: CABIComprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture Series 4

National audience

Economic instruments for environmental policy and polluter's technical choice. Wastewater abatement in the wine industry Winery wastewater pollution can be reduced by a Water Agency through economic instruments such as taxes and subsidies. According to the «efficiency without optimally» approach, which aims at reaching a sub-optimal environmental objective at the lowest cost to Society, these instruments should act as an incentive for firms to adopt the best available pollution control technology. As there exists little knowledge of pollution damage functions, the computation of the water agencies' pollution charges is based on pollution abatement costs instead. In order to determine the level of charges, the Water Agency first computes the necessary expenses in terms of investment subsidies (for public and industrial treatment plants) and then determines the costs required to balance its budget. In defining its policy objectives, the Water Agency acts under conditions of information asymmetry. For instance, the Agency does not really know the pollution abatement cost at the sector level or for different kinds of technology. As a result, its policy, although effective because pushing the producers to invest, is inefficient : the cost to Society is higher than the lowest possible cost, and there is a poor redistribution of subsidies among the polluters. In order to reduce this asymmetry of information of the Water Agency (regarding pollution costs), we propose a sector-based approach. This paper studies the wine producers' response — his choice of a wastewater abatement technology — to the use of economic instruments defined by the Water Agency in the south of France. It is assumed that the producers/polluters behave rationally and minimise their pollution control costs. In the second part of the paper, we will look at the individual firm, underlying the importance of fixed costs for the choice of a wastewater control strategy. Consequently we will propose a modified model of polluter's behaviour in which fixed costs are considered and the underlying cost function follows the law of diminishing returns. The analysis of the individual choice between bearing pollution abatement costs (technical investment) and paying pollution costs (taxes) allows us to examine, in addition, the possibility of a partial treatment of wastewater., Cet article étudie le rôle de la structure des coûts dans les choix de dépollution d'une entreprise soumise aux incitations d'une agence publique en charge de préserver l'environnement. Les instruments économiques que cette dernière utilise sont les redevances ou les subventions aux investissements de dépollution. L'approche est appliquée au secteur vinicole du Languedoc-Roussillon. La prise en compte des coûts fixes oblige à s'écarter des modèles standard que propose l'économie de l'environnement et l'arbitrage entre coûts de dépollution et coûts de pollution permet d'expliciter la possibilité de choix de dépollution partielle., Farolfi Stefano, Tidball Mabel. Instruments économiques de politique environnementale et choix technique du pollueur. Le traitement des eaux résiduaires dans l'industrie de vinification. In: Cahiers d'Economie et sociologie rurales, N°64, 3e trimestre 2002. pp. 83-109.

Establishing water rights is an appealing measure, which conveys a sense of orderliness and rationality that contrasts with a situation of assumed wastage, environmental degradation and con.icts. Transferable entitlements increase economic efficiency, while providing a compensation mechanism. The paper distinguishes between formal rights de.ned through a bureaucratic process and flexible allocation rules designed through a gradual and continuous process of negotiation. It investigates the prerequisites, advantages and drawbacks of these two kinds of water rights, and examines how they apply to the specific natural and historical conditions of Sri Lanka. It concludes by showing that policy models must be tailored to the local situation and be based on what is feasible rather than on what is considered desirable.

International audience

International audience; La nécessité d'une gestion durable des ressources en eau s'impose de plus en plus largement à l'échelle nationale comme européenne. La complexité des situations à réguler reste cependant un problème central des politiques concernées, face à la multiplicité des interdépendances et des liens de causalité à prendre en compte. Un modèle est proposé pour analyser comment l'action publique traite concrètement cette complexité. En l'appliquant à la mise en oeuvre des instruments de gestion durable de l'eau, en France et au Royaume-Uni, on constate que, sous une apparente convergence, les politiques menées suivent des trajectoires d'apprentissages distinctes, qui les conduisent à construire et à objectiver différemment l'eau comme "patrimoine commun"

Analysis of water policy shows the importance of cognitive and ideological dimensions in the formulation of policy discourses. Ideas are never neutral and reflect the particular societal settings in which they emerge, the worldviews and interests of those who have the power to set the terms of the debate, to legitimate particular options and discard others, and to include or exclude particular social groups. This article focuses on three types of conceptual objects which permeate policy debates: nirvana concepts, which underpin overarching frameworks of analysis, narratives – i.e. causal and explanatory beliefs – and models of policies or development interventions. It successively reviews how these three types of concepts populate the water sector, investigates how they spread, and then examines the implications of this analysis for applied research on policy making and practice.

"Water???s critical life-sustaining role in ecological functioning, food production, economic activities, health and recreation, and its importance as spiritual value, makes it a resource that traverses both nature and society. Judging from the multiplication of global forums and initiatives, the numerous ongoing water policy reforms, and the spate of related literature, water is high on many countries' policy agendas. That is likely to remain so as diversions of water from streams and extraction of water from groundwater aquifers rise and the disruptions brought by climate change become increasingly manifest."

In the wake of a growing concern about both the unchecked rise of poverty and the local and global consequences of water scarcity, the relationships between water and poverty are the object of a sprawling literature. Indicators are presented as indispensable tools for informing and orienting policy-making, comparing situations and measuring performance. This paper first reviews different conceptions of water scarcity and shows the variety of associated causes. A brief look at the virtues and shortcomings of some of the indicators used in the development sector then serves to introduce a review of the major water-scarcity/poverty indicators found in the literature. The reasons for their popularity and vitality are critically examined, and the links between indicators and policy-making are discussed.

"In recent years, large-scale agricultural investment projects have increased in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the growing appetites of local and international investors for land resources. Research has so far mainly focused on land issues, but the water implications of these land deals are starting to surface. Taking the Office du Niger (ON), in Mali, as a case study, we show that while around 100,000 ha is currently being cultivated, mostly by smallholders, a total of 600,000 ha of land has been allocated in the past ten years to investors in large-scale farming. This process has largely bypassed the official procedure established by the ON at regional level. The allocation of new lands has shifted to the national level, with an attempt to recentralize the management of land deals and associated benefits at the highest level, despite contrary efforts by foreign donors to strengthen the ON. This article describes the complex allocation process based on 'behind-closed-doors' negotiations. It then analyses the implications of the land deals on water issues by focusing on the strategies of actors to limit the risk of future water shortages, the current and expected difficulties in water management and allocation, and the emerging spatial and social redistribution of benefits and risk that signals a process of water grabbing."