EAGER: Comparative Analysis of Institutions to Govern the Groundwater Commons

地下水是一种典型的公共资源，是全球数十亿人和许多生态系统赖以生存的重要资源。在地表水有限的干旱时期，这是至关重要的。然而，在区域和国家范围内，不可持续的地下水枯竭现在已经有了充分的记录，预计在气候变化的影响下，地下水透支将会增加。虽然地下水一直是关于管理共同资源的体制安排的理论化主题，但如果我们要防止这一重要的自然资源枯竭，就必须进一步开展工作。研究的一个关键领域是地下水制度如何随着时间的推移而演变，以及这一动态过程如何激励可持续的资源利用和更具包容性的管理。在地下水是一种不可缺少的资源和存在不可持续的需求水平的多种情况下，比较各种办法对于设计管理系统是很有价值的。通过对研究生的培训和指导，以及利用演讲和出版物，它将促进研究与教学的结合，并使研究成果得以广泛传播。研究将在加州进行，那里的地下水是人类消费、农业和许多生态系统的主要供水来源。该州地理、自然和社会的多样性与其他依赖地下水的地区管理机构的多样性相辅相成。研究人员将采用一种新的动态和比较方法，将资源制度的演变与资源成果联系起来。这将通过对两种不同模式的探索来实现：法院裁决-法院定义和分配地下水的私人权利；并在立法上设立了特别法案区（Special Act Districts， SAD），其任务是加强当地对地下水的公共管理。裁定的流域和SADs都嵌入在多中心系统中，与州、联邦和地方机构相互作用，虽然两者都被认为是实现可持续地下水管理的潜在方法，但没有研究明确地检验过这种情况是否会长期存在。研究将分析它们的不同基础和任务，并密切观察它们随时间的动态发展。目标是了解它们如何激励不同的管理方法，发展水平和垂直相互依赖的特定模式，以及这些相互作用如何随着时间的推移产生特定的资源结果。调查结果将有助于拟订建议和准则，以便今后可持续地管理一般的共同池资源，特别是地下水。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Groundwater, a classic common pool resource, is a vital and life-sustaining resource for billions of people worldwide and for many ecosystems. It is crucial during drought when surface water is limited. Yet unsustainable depletion of groundwater is now well documented on regional and national scales, and overdraft is projected to increase under climate change. Although groundwater has been the subject of theorizing about institutional arrangements to govern the management of common pool resources, further work is essential if we are to prevent depletion of this vital natural resource. A critical area of study is how groundwater institutions evolve over time and how this dynamic process can incentivize sustainable resource use and more inclusive management. A comparison of alternative approaches will be valuable in devising management systems in multiple settings where groundwater is an indispensable resource and where there are unsustainable levels of demand. Through the training and mentoring of graduate students, and the use of presentations and publications, it will both advance the integration of research and teaching and enable the broad dissemination of research findings. Research will be conducted in California where groundwater is a major water supply source for human consumption, agriculture and many ecosystems. The state's geographic, physical and social diversity complements the diversity of management institutions in other groundwater-reliant regions. The investigators will employ a new dynamic and comparative approach that links the evolution of resource institutions to resource outcomes. This will be accomplished utilizing an exploration over time of two very different models: Court Adjudication - where the court defines and assigns private rights to groundwater; and legislatively created Special Act Districts (SAD)-with a mandate to provide enhanced local public regulation of groundwater. Both adjudicated basins and SADs are embedded within polycentric systems, interacting with state, federal and local institutions, and while both have been noted as potential approaches to achieve sustainable groundwater management, no research has explicitly examined whether this is the case over time. Research will analyze their different foundations and mandates and closely observe their dynamic development over time. The goals are to understand how they incentivize different management approaches, evolve specific patterns of horizontal and vertical interdependence, and how these interactions over time produce specific resource outcomes. Findings will help to formulate recommendations and guidelines for the future sustainable management of common pool resources in general, and groundwater in particular.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.