Many countries around the world have begun to rethink how best to manage their scarce natural resources, especially water. Concern over water-management practices is especially critical in arid regions, where population growth, industrial development, and urbanization compete with agricultural food security programs for the limited supply of water resources. Mexico is a prototypical case: nearly 75 percent of the Mexican landscape is arid or semiarid; about 50 percent of the country’s agricultural production value depends on irrigation; and the demand for water from other stakeholders is increasing, especially in the expanding municipal and industrial sectors.
In most countries, including Mexico, the state’s role in irrigation has shifted from large-scale water development projects, financed and operated by national agencies, to one of conservation and management by local water user associations. Aptly, this anthology focuses on the need for government agencies to consider the social organization of irrigation alongside the technical and...
