IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v28y2010i3p528-551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Beneath the Surface: Intranational Institutions and Management of the United States — Mexico Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer

Author

Listed:
  • Anita Milman

    (Energy and Resources Group, University of California — Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3050, USA)

  • Christopher A Scott

    (School of Geography and Development and Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona, 803 E 1st Street, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA)

Abstract

As reliance on groundwater increases, the impact of groundwater-intensive use in internationally shared aquifers threatens not only to create negative environmental and economic externalities, but also to generate tensions between neighboring nations. Through an investigation of the shared Santa Cruz aquifer, located along the United States—Mexico border, we aim to understand factors leading to effective management of transboundary groundwaters. Specifically, we find that purely state-centric approaches provide limited explanatory value, and instead examine how national (domestic) arrangements for water management condition a country's position vis-à -vis its shared groundwaters. Polycentricism in national and subnational institutional regimes leads to gaps and overlaps in authority, limiting binational groundwater management. Concurrently, evolving institutional arrangements lead to ambiguity in decision making, yet crucially also provide opportunities for innovation in binational agenda setting and data sharing, which in turn aid in the alignment of both countries' priorities for the transboundary Santa Cruz aquifer.

Suggested Citation

  • Anita Milman & Christopher A Scott, 2010. "Beneath the Surface: Intranational Institutions and Management of the United States — Mexico Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(3), pages 528-551, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:28:y:2010:i:3:p:528-551
    DOI: 10.1068/c0991
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c0991
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c0991?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frisvold, George B. & Caswell, Margriet F., 2000. "Transboundary water management: Game-theoretic lessons for projects on the US-Mexico border," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 101-111, December.
    2. Krister Andersson & Elinor Ostrom, 2008. "Analyzing decentralized resource regimes from a polycentric perspective," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 41(1), pages 71-93, March.
    3. Philippus Wester & Jaime Hoogesteger & Linden Vincent, 2009. "Local IWRM organizations for groundwater regulation: The experiences of the Aquifer Management Councils (COTAS) in Guanajuato, Mexico," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(1), pages 29-38, February.
    4. Ines Dombrowsky, 2007. "Conflict, Cooperation and Institutions in International Water Management," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12751.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bitoiu Teodora & Radulescu Crina, 2015. "Craving For Balanced Public Decision-Making On Market Failure Pertaining To The Interventionist Economic Policies Strainer," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 157-164, July.
    2. Rana, Pushpendra & Chhatre, Ashwini, 2017. "Beyond committees: Hybrid forest governance for equity and sustainability," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 40-50.
    3. Sheila M. Olmstead & Hilary Sigman, 2015. "Damming the Commons: An Empirical Analysis of International Cooperation and Conflict in Dam Location," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 497-526.
    4. Marianna Khachaturyan & Karina Schoengold, 2019. "Applying Interconnected Game Theory to Analyze Transboundary Waters: A Case Study of the Kura–Araks Basin," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 1-32, January.
    5. Barbara Quimby & Arielle Levine, 2018. "Participation, Power, and Equity: Examining Three Key Social Dimensions of Fisheries Comanagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Andersson, Krister, 2013. "Local Governance of Forests and the Role of External Organizations: Some Ties Matter More Than Others," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 226-237.
    7. Biehl, J. & Köppel, J. & Grimm, M., 2021. "Creating space for wind energy in a polycentric governance setting," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    8. Duncan, Nicolette & de Silva, Sanjiv & Conallin, John & Freed, Sarah & Akester, Michael & Baumgartner, Lee & McCartney, Matthew & Dubois, Mark & Senaratna Sellamuttu, Sonali, 2021. "Fish for whom?: Integrating the management of social complexities into technical investments for inclusive, multi-functional irrigation," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    9. Michelle Lim, 2016. "Governance criteria for effective transboundary biodiversity conservation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 797-813, December.
    10. van Noordwijk, Meine, 2019. "Integrated natural resource management as pathway to poverty reduction: Innovating practices, institutions and policies," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 60-71.
    11. Grimley, Matthew & Chan, Gabriel, 2023. "“Cooperative is an oxymoron!”: A polycentric energy transition perspective on distributed energy deployment in the Upper Midwestern United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Hartwell, Christopher A. & Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2021. "Waxing power, waning pollution: The effect of COVID-19 on Russian environmental policymaking," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    13. Hansjürgens, Bernd, 2008. "Internationale Klimapolitik nach Kyoto: Architekturen und Institutionen," UFZ Discussion Papers 10/2008, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    14. Pant, Laxmi Prasad, 2016. "Paradox of mainstreaming agroecology for regional and rural food security in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 305-316.
    15. Gao, Hongchao & Wei, Tong & Lou, Inchio & Yang, Zhifeng & Shen, Zhenyao & Li, Yingxia, 2014. "Water saving effect on integrated water resource management," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 50-58.
    16. Dombrowsky, Ines & Hägele, Ramona & Behrenbeck, Lukas & Bollwein, Thomas & Köder, Mirjana & Oberhauser, Daniel & Schamberger, Ronja & Al-Naber, Majd & Al-Raggad, Marwan & Salameh, Elias, 2022. "Natural resource governance in light of the 2030 Agenda: The case of competition for groundwater in Azraq, Jordan," IDOS Studies, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), volume 106, number 106, July.
    17. Libman, A., 2020. "Decentralization of crisis, weakness and responsibility," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 181-187.
    18. Patricio Valdivieso & Krister P. Andersson, 2018. "What Motivates Local Governments to Invest in Critical Infrastructure? Lessons from Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-27, October.
    19. George Frisvold & Charles Sanchez & Noel Gollehon & Sharon B. Megdal & Paul Brown, 2018. "Evaluating Gravity-Flow Irrigation with Lessons from Yuma, Arizona, USA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-27, May.
    20. Melissa Marschke & Ouk Lykhim & Nong Kim, 2014. "Can Local Institutions Help Sustain Livelihoods in an Era of Fish Declines and Persistent Environmental Change? A Cambodian Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-16, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:28:y:2010:i:3:p:528-551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.