IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fem/femwpa/2015.08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Simple Myths and Basic Maths about Greening Irrigation

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos M. Gómez

    (University of Alcalá (UAH) and Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Water Technologies (IMDEA-Water), Madrid (Spain))

  • C. Dionisio Pérez-Blanco

    (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC), Venice (Italy))

Abstract

Greening the economy is mostly about improving water governance and not only about putting the existing resource saving technical alternatives into practice. Focusing on the second and forgetting the first risks finishing with a highly efficient use of water services at the level of each individual user but with an unsustainable amount of water use for the entire economy. This might be happening already in many places with the modernization of irrigated agriculture, the world’s largest water user and the one offering the most promising water saving opportunities. In spite of high expectations, modern irrigation techniques seem not to be contributing to reduce water scarcity and increase drought resiliency. In fact, according to the little evidence available, in some areas they are resulting in higher water use. Building on basic economic principles this study aims to show the conditions under which this apparently paradoxical outcome, known as the Jevons’ Paradox, might appear. This basic model is expected to serve as guidance for assessing the actual outcomes of increasing irrigation efficiency and to discuss the changes in water governance that would be required for this to make a real contribution to sustainable water management.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos M. Gómez & C. Dionisio Pérez-Blanco, 2015. "Simple Myths and Basic Maths about Greening Irrigation," Working Papers 2015.08, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2015.08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/NDL2015-008.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brookes, Len, 1990. "The greenhouse effect: the fallacies in the energy efficiency solution," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 199-201, March.
    2. David L. Greene & James R. Kahn & Robert C. Gibson, 1999. "Fuel Economy Rebound Effect for U.S. Household Vehicles," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 1-31.
    3. Pfeiffer, Lisa & Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2014. "Does efficient irrigation technology lead to reduced groundwater extraction? Empirical evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 189-208.
    4. Soto-García, M. & Martínez-Alvarez, V. & García-Bastida, P.A. & Alcon, F. & Martin-Gorriz, B., 2013. "Effect of water scarcity and modernisation on the performance of irrigation districts in south-eastern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 11-19.
    5. Randall, Alan, 1981. "Property Entitlements And Pricing Policies For A Maturing Water Economy," Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 25(3), pages 1-26, December.
    6. Wenyong Wu & Suchuang Di & Qianheng Chen & Shengli Yang & Xingyao Pan & Honglu Liu, 2013. "The Compensation Mechanism and Water Quality Impacts of Agriculture-Urban Water Transfers: A Case Study in China’s Chaobai Watershed," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 187-197, January.
    7. Nicholas Rivers & Steven Groves, 2013. "The Welfare Impact of Self-supplied Water Pricing in Canada: A Computable General Equilibrium Assessment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 419-445, July.
    8. Baris Yilmaz & Mehmet Yurdusev & Nilgun Harmancioglu, 2009. "The Assessment of Irrigation Efficiency in Buyuk Menderes Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(6), pages 1081-1095, April.
    9. Ding, Ya & Peterson, Jeffrey M., 2006. "Comparing the Cost Effectiveness of Several Policy Tools at Conserving Groundwater in the Kansas High Plains," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21088, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Vringer, Kees & Aalbers, Theo & Blok, Kornelis, 2007. "Household energy requirement and value patterns," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 553-566, January.
    11. Pfeiffer, Lisa & Lin, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2012. "Groundwater pumping and spatial externalities in agriculture," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 16-30.
    12. Alan Randall, 1981. "Property Entitlements And Pricing Policies For A Maturing Water Economy," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 25(3), pages 195-220, December.
    13. J. Daniel Khazzoom, 1989. "Energy Savings from More Efficient Appliances: A Rejoinder," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 157-166.
    14. Tom Dolan & David Parsons & Peter Howsam & Mick Whelan & Liz Varga, 2014. "Identifying Adaptation Options and Constraints: The Role of Agronomist Knowledge in Catchment Management Strategy," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(2), pages 511-526, January.
    15. Kampas, Athanasios & Petsakos, Athanasios & Rozakis, Stelios, 2012. "Price induced irrigation water saving: Unraveling conflicts and synergies between European agricultural and water policies for a Greek Water District," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 28-38.
    16. Lecina, S. & Isidoro, D. & Playán, E. & Aragüés, R., 2010. "Irrigation modernization and water conservation in Spain: The case of Riegos del Alto Aragón," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(10), pages 1663-1675, October.
    17. Aurélien Dumont & Beatriz Mayor & Elena López-Gunn, 2013. "Is the rebound effect or Jevons paradox a useful concept for better management of water resources? Insights from the Irrigation Modernisation Process in Spain," Post-Print halshs-00991778, HAL.
    18. Gómez Gómez, Carlos Mario & Pérez Blanco, Carlos Dionisio, 2012. "Do drought management plans reduce drought risk? A risk assessment model for a Mediterranean river basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 42-48.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhai, Yijie & Zhang, Tianzuo & Ma, Xiaotian & Shen, Xiaoxu & Ji, Changxing & Bai, Yueyang & Hong, Jinglan, 2021. "Life cycle water footprint analysis of crop production in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    2. Song, Jianfeng & Guo, Yanan & Wu, Pute & Sun, SHikun, 2018. "The Agricultural Water Rebound Effect in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 497-506.

    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. Carlos Mario Gómez Gómez & C. D. Pérez-Blanco & David Adamson & Adam Loch, 2018. "Managing Water Scarcity at a River Basin Scale with Economic Instruments," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(01), pages 1-31, January.
    2. Julio Berbel & Carlos Gutiérrez-Martín & Juan Rodríguez-Díaz & Emilio Camacho & Pilar Montesinos, 2015. "Literature Review on Rebound Effect of Water Saving Measures and Analysis of a Spanish Case Study," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(3), pages 663-678, February.
    3. David Font Vivanco & Jaume Freire‐González & Ray Galvin & Tilman Santarius & Hans Jakob Walnum & Tamar Makov & Serenella Sala, 2022. "Rebound effect and sustainability science: A review," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1543-1563, August.
    4. Song, Jianfeng & Guo, Yanan & Wu, Pute & Sun, SHikun, 2018. "The Agricultural Water Rebound Effect in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 497-506.
    5. Qian Chen & Jaume Freire González & Donglan Zha, 2023. "The Gap between Expectations and Reality: Assessing the Water Rebound Effect in Chinese Agriculture," Working Papers 1415, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Stela Rubínová, 2011. "Reakce poptávky domácností po energii na zvyšování energetické účinnosti: teorie a její důsledky pro konstrukci empiricky ověřitelných modelů [Reaction of Household Energy Demand to Improvements in," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2011(3), pages 359-378.
    7. 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.
    8. Pérez-Blanco, C.D. & Gutiérrez-Martín, C., 2017. "Buy me a river: Use of multi-attribute non-linear utility functions to address overcompensation in agricultural water buyback," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 6-20.
    9. Alcott, Blake, 2005. "Jevons' paradox," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 9-21, July.
    10. Wang, Yanyun & Long, Aihua & Xiang, Liyun & Deng, Xiaoya & Zhang, Pei & Hai, Yang & Wang, Jie & Li, Yang, 2020. "The verification of Jevons’ paradox of agricultural Water conservation in Tianshan District of China based on Water footprint," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    11. Julio Berbel & Alfonso Expósito & Carlos Gutiérrez-Martín & Luciano Mateos, 2019. "Effects of the Irrigation Modernization in Spain 2002–2015," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(5), pages 1835-1849, March.
    12. Gomez Gomez, Carlos Mario & Perez Blanco, Carlos Dionisio, 2013. "Myths and Maths of Water Efficiency: An Analytical Framework to Assess the Real Outcome of Water Saving Technologies in Irrigation," 87th Annual Conference, April 8-10, 2013, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 158690, Agricultural Economics Society.
    13. Zhang, Ling & Ma, Qimin & Zhao, Yanbo & Wu, Xiaobo & Yu, Wenjun, 2019. "Determining the influence of irrigation efficiency improvement on water use and consumption by conceptually considering hydrological pathways," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 674-681.
    14. Bolinches, Antonio & Blanco-Gutiérrez, Irene & Zubelzu, Sergio & Esteve, Paloma & Gómez-Ramos, Almudena, 2022. "A method for the prioritization of water reuse projects in agriculture irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    15. Alcott, Blake, 2008. "The sufficiency strategy: Would rich-world frugality lower environmental impact," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 770-786, February.
    16. Louis Sears & Joseph Caparelli & Clouse Lee & Devon Pan & Gillian Strandberg & Linh Vuu & C. -Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell, 2018. "Jevons’ Paradox and Efficient Irrigation Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-12, May.
    17. repec:hal:gemwpa:hal-00991732 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Ansink, Erik & Weikard, Hans-Peter, 2009. "Contested water rights," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 247-260, June.
    19. Suarez, Federico & Fulginiti, Lilyan & Perrin, Richard, 2015. "The Value of Water in Agriculture: The U.S. High Plains Aquifer," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211644, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Ancev, Tiho, 2015. "The role of the commonwealth environmental water holder in annual water allocation markets," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(1), January.
    21. Quiggin, John & Adamson, David & Chambers, Sarah & Schrobback, Peggy, 2009. "Climate change, mitigation and adaptation: the case of the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia," Risk and Sustainable Management Group Working Papers 149878, University of Queensland, School of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Jevons' Paradox; Rebound Effect; Agricultural Economics; Water Economics; Irrigation Efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fem:femwpa:2015.08. 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: Alberto Prina Cerai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    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.