The Economic and Environmental Benefits of Partial Leasing of Agricultural Water Rights

Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource worldwide, suggesting that water rationing methods should be revised to improve water allocation efficiency, especially during cyclical scarcity events (droughts). The proportional rule is the most widely used rationing method to allocate water in cases of water scarcity. However, this method fails to achieve Pareto-efficient allocation arrangements. Economic theory and international experience demonstrate that implementing security-differentiated water rights could improve allocative efficiency during cyclical scarcity periods. Moreover, it has been proven that this kind of priority rights regime is an efficient instrument to share risks related to water supply reliability, and can thus be considered as an adaptation measure to climate change. This evidence has enabled the development of an operational proposal for the implementation of security-differentiated water rights in the irrigation sector in Spain, as an alternative to the current rights based on the proportional rule. This proposal draws on the Australian case study, which is the most successful experience worldwide. Nevertheless, the insights obtained from the analysis performed and the proposal for reforming the water rights regime are applicable to any country with a mature water economy.

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An Improved Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process for the Allocation of Water Rights to Industries in Northeast China

Water ◽

10.3390/w12061719 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 1719 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Juanjuan Gao ◽

Huaxiang He ◽

Qiang An ◽

Jiqiang Xie ◽

Yingjie Cui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Analytic Hierarchy Process ◽

Northeast China ◽

Water Rights ◽

Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process ◽

Agricultural Water ◽

Analytic Hierarchy ◽

Initial Water ◽

Analytic Hierarchy Process Method ◽

Hierarchy Process ◽

Process Method

To facilitate water management and efficient utilization of water resources, the allocation of water rights to individual industries must be underpinned by a rational and defensible process. This study aimed to develop an improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method of allocating water rights to different industries and focused on Qing’an County, northeast China as a case study. An evaluation index system for allocation of initial water rights was established, and incorporated physiographic, societal, economic, and ecological criteria. The system classifies four categories of second-level indices, 14 third-level indices, and 30 fourth-level indices. The order of priority of the evaluation index was determined and the total weight of initial water rights for different industries was calculated using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method. Results showed that the indices for the allocation of initial water rights ranked in descending order of their total weights coefficient were: (1) agricultural water rights: 0.9508; (2) residential water rights: 0.0240; (3) water rights for non-agricultural production: 0.0173; (4) environmental water rights: 0.0078. Agricultural water consumption accounted for the largest proportion of total water because the study area is a major grain production area. The study provides a theoretical basis for the allocation of water rights and water rights trading in northeast China.

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Assessing cost-effectiveness when environmental benefits are bundled: agricultural water management in Great Barrier Reef catchments

Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics ◽

10.1111/1467-8489.12259 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 373-393 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

John Rolfe ◽

Jill Windle ◽

Kevin McCosker ◽

Adam Northey

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Cost Effectiveness ◽

Great Barrier Reef ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Barrier Reef ◽

Agricultural Water ◽

Agricultural Water Management

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Too Hot to Handle: Climate Change and Agricultural Water Use

International Journal of Rural Law and Policy ◽

10.5130/ijrlp.i1.2011.2602 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Denise Fort

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Rights ◽

Status Quo ◽

Western United States ◽

Irrigated Agriculture ◽

Agricultural Water ◽

Agricultural Water Use ◽

The Status ◽

Water Uses

The world faces enormous challenges in responding to looming crises in food and water. Responding to this challenge will require flexibility; such flexibility may be impeded by legal institutions. This paper looks at the western United States and discusses the role of irrigated agriculture in that region. Because of climate change, a growing population, declining groundwater, the need to protect ecosystems and other conflicts, the author suggests that all water uses, including long-standing agricultural water rights, need to be examined in light of these changes. Legal systems have tended to serve the status quo, but perhaps the law can help facilitate this re-examination.

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Assessing the Agricultural Water Savings–Economy–Ecological Environment System in an Arid Area of Northwest China Using a Water Rights Transaction Model

Water ◽

10.3390/w13091233 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 1233

Author(s):

Tianming He ◽

Chunxia Wang ◽

Zonglan Wang ◽

Xinlin He ◽

Hongguang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Water Rights ◽

Northwest China ◽

Irrigation District ◽

Ecological Environment ◽

Agricultural Water ◽

Water Savings ◽

Transaction Model ◽

Trading Model

As water trading has become increasingly used to optimize the allocation of water resources, it has become necessary to transfer agricultural water allocations for economic development and ecological environmental uses by way of water rights trading. In this paper, we constructed an example water rights trading model in the arid oasis area of Shihezi Irrigation District (located in Northwest China), using the field investigation method and governmental water management decisions based on the systems theory of the agricultural water savings–economy–ecological environment. Furthermore, focusing on the added industrial value produced by trading water, the value of the ecological services provided by fresh water, the negative value of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and the negative ecological value of reduced fertilizer application, a quantitative analysis was carried out using the Shihezi Irrigation District as an example. The results showed that under the most stringent water resource management plan and with the objective of returning land and reducing water, the irrigation area can save 52,504,500 m3 of surplus water from the agricultural sector, of which 49,879,300 m3 can be reallocated to the industrial sector and 2,625,200 m3 can be reallocated to the ecological sector. Using the water rights transaction method, this regional agricultural water saving could generate an industrial benefit equal to 35,024,300 yuan, an ecosystem service equal to 19,482,200 yuan, and an overall benefit equal to 54,420,500 yuan. The water rights trading model proposed in this paper for an arid oasis areas can provide a reference for other arid areas, helping to achieve the sustainable economic development of the economic and ecological environments in arid oasis areas through water rights trading.

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Institutional Path Dependence in Climate Adaptation: Coman's “Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation”

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.101.1.64 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 101 (1) ◽

pp. 64-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Gary D Libecap

Keyword(s):

American West ◽

Path Dependence ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Water Rights ◽

American Economic Review ◽

Water Delivery ◽

Agricultural Water ◽

Ex Post ◽

Flexible Response ◽

The Face

Katharine Coman's “Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation,” published in March 1911 in the first issue of the American Economic Review, addressed issues of water supply, rights, and organization. These same issues have relevance today, in the face of growing concern about the availability of fresh water worldwide. The central point of this article is that appropriative water rights and irrigation districts that emerged in the American West in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in response to aridity to facilitate agricultural water delivery, use, and trade raise the transaction costs today of water markets. These markets are vital for smooth reallocation of water to higher-valued uses elsewhere in the economy and for flexible response to greater hydrological uncertainty. This institutional path dependence illustrates how past arrangements to meet conditions of the time constrain contemporary economic opportunities. They cannot be easily significantly modified or replaced ex post. (JEL N51, Q15, Q25, Q54)

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