Browsing by Author "Groenfeldt, David"

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A Comparative Look at Farmer Participation in Agency-Managed Irrigation Systems
(1986) Groenfeldt, David
"The purpose of this paper is to draw together some of the experience in participatory management which may have relevance for Sri Lanka and to identify areas of research where priority should be given. An underlying assumption is that an informed selection of management alternatives is more likely to yield the desired results than an uninformed selection. There have been many claims made for what participatory management can do, but there has been very little documentation of precisely what participatory management has consisted of in specific cases. In the first section of this paper the management role of farmers is described in seven irrigation systems in seven countries. The second section analyzes these cases, and the third section compares them with the situation in Sri Lanka. The concluding section discusses the kinds of information that are needed for a better understanding of participatory management."
Ethics and Water Governance
(2013) Groenfeldt, David; Schmidt, Jeremy J.
"Ethics and values are important dimensions of water governance. We show how a 'values approach' contributes to an understanding of global water governance, and how it complements other perspectives on governance, namely management, institutional capacity, and social-ecological systems. We connect these other approaches to their own value systems and the ethical attitudes they engender. We then offer a way to explicitly incorporate, and where necessary adjudicate, competing value systems through a values-based approach to governance. A case of the Santa Fe River in New Mexico, USA illustrates how value systems are reflected in water policies and how these values affect governance priorities, such as in environmental flows. The values-based approach clarifies tacit values and creates space to align local values with those needed for effective water governance at the global level."
Guidelines for Rapid Assessment of Minor Irrigation Systems in Sri Lanka
(1989) Groenfeldt, David
"This paper presents a set of guidelines for rapid evaluation of an irrigation system, developed by IIMI staff in cooperation with staff from the Regional Development Division and Badulla District office of the Integrated Development Projects. A one-day workshop on rapid assessment methodologies suitable for minor (small-scale) irrigation systems in Sri Lanka was held at IIMI Headquarters in August 1988. Representatives who participated in ongoing projects to improve minor irrigation systems were from the three Sri Lankan agencies, the Irrigation Department, the Department of Agrarian Services, and the Regional Development Division of the Ministry of Plan Implementation, which oversees the district-level Integrated Rural Development Projects."
Looking Beyond (and Below) Institutions: The Role of Cultural Values in Sustaining Water Resources
(2011) Groenfeldt, David
"Conceptual approaches to understanding water resources management include an emphasis on management, institutions, and environment. Each of these has proven important in stimulating reforms and building capacity for more effective and sustainable water management. A values approach offers a similarly novel way of understanding, and improving, water policies and management practices. The approach applies concepts from environmental ethics and cultural studies to focus on the often hidden values which motivate water behavior. The example of the Santa Fe River (New Mexico, USA) illustrates how deeply held utilitarian values about nature are reflected in policies which are regarded as unsustainable from a scientific perspective. Strong institutions enforce and reward private water rights and exacerbate the unsustainable water practices. Analysis of the Santa Fe case suggests the need for an environmentally-oriented water ethic, but changing values is a complicated process. While there are many potential and complementary ways to influence water values, the most promising avenue is governance arrangements that include a broad range of stakeholders, including environmental voices. By acknowledging values and ethics as an explicit dimension of water management, institutions can function more flexibly and water use might become more sustainable."
The Next Nexus? Environmental Ethics, Water Policies, and Climate Change
(2010) Groenfeldt, David
"Water policies are based on ethical assumptions, and efforts to promote more sustainable policies need to address those underlying values. The history of water policies from 'command-and-control' to more ecological approaches reveals an ethical evolution, but adaptation to climate change will require further ethical shifts. The case of the Santa Fe river in New Mexico (USA) illustrates how values that go unrecognised interfere with sustainable management. Exploring the underlying value dynamics is an essential step in the policy reform process and takes on added urgency in the face of climate change and the need to formulate adaptive water strategies. Bringing the topic of values and ethics into the water policy discourse can help clarify management goals and promote more sustainable practices."
Organizational Aspects of Improved Irrigation Management: An Experiment in Dewahuwa Tank, Sri Lanka
(1990) Ekanayake, R.; Groenfeldt, David
"This report is one of several IIMI publications addressing the issue of irrigation management to promote diversified crops during the dry season. As Sri Lanka approaches self-sufficiency in rice production, a target already achieved by some other countries in the region, there is little logic in growing rice using land and water resources which could support higher- value non-rice crops, using less water. Thus, one of the incentives in improving irrigation management is to find ways of stretching water further during the dry season in water-deficit systems, when rice is relatively more expensive to grow than during the wet season, and when other crops which can be grown only during the dry season (when there is less danger of water-logging) offer the farmer and the country a comparative advantage."
Organizational Aspects of Improved Irrigation Management: Kalankuttiya Block, Mahaweli System H, Sri Lanka
(1990) Moragoda, Ranjanie; Groenfeldt, David
"This report documents part of an operational experiment in Kalankuttiya Block of Mahaweli System H during the 1987 yala (dry season). The experiment or 'action research' was conducted by the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) in cooperation with the Mahaweli Economic Agency of the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka. The experiment was the outgrowth of studies which focused on constraints to non-rice crops during the dry season. Careful monitoring of irrigation and cropping patterns in selected areas of the system, conducted from yala 1985, had documented three important constraints to di versified crops: 1) inadequate water control at the secondary and tertiary levels of the system, 2) lack of organization for water sharing from the secondary level downward, and 3) poor communication between farmers and agency staff regarding water delivery schedules."
Organizational Aspects of Irrigation Management in Kalankuttiya Block, Mahaweli System H, Sri Lanka during the 1986 Dry Season
(1989) Moragoda, Ranjanie; Groenfeldt, David
"Field research on water flows and agricultural production in the Kalankuttiya Block of Mahaweli System H was initiated by IIMI staff in mid-1985 during Yala (dry season). The primary focus was to understand the effects of irrigation management practices on crop diversification from rice to 'other food crops' (OFCs) such as chili, lentil, soybean, and onion. Faced with immanent self-sufficiency in rice production, but continuing large-scale imports of non-rice food crops, the government is trying to promote the cultivation of OFCs, which require intermittent irrigation, in schemes designed primarily for rice cultivation and more or less continuous water flows."
Strategies for Improving Minor Irrigation Systems in Sri Lanka
(1988) Groenfeldt, David; Alwis, Joe; Perera, J.
"The great extent of minor irrigation in Sri Lanka (roughly 40% of the total irrigated area) and the ongoing efforts to performance of this sector through major assistance programs, point to the need for a thorough understanding of the dynamics of minor irrigation, and the identification of strategies by which instance to this sector has been, or can be most effective. In spite of massive investments in programs such as the Village Irrigation Rehabilitation Program (VIRP), the Anuradhapura Dry Zone Agricultural Project (ADZAP), various district-level Integrated Rural Developnent Projects (IRDP), and the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (FFHC), very little information is available about the results and impact of these programs, and little experimentation is taking place to improve the process of assisting the minor irrigation sector. In an effort to produce the kinds of information useful to the agencies that are implementing Minor Irrigation System (MIS) assistance programs (notably the Department of Agrarian Services and the Irrigation Department), and to the formulation of policies for better supporting the routine needs of the MIS sector, AWI and IIMI have embarked upon a set of collaborative research activities over the next three years. The workshop on Strategies for Improving Minor Irrigation Systems was jointly sponsored by AFiTI and IIMI, as the first step in this process. The workshop had three broad objectives: (1) to review past lessons and experience in MIS assistance programs; (2) to identify gaps in knowledge and research priorities; and (3) to create an informal working group of professionals working on MIS assistance, including representatives of implementing agencies, research institutes, and universities."