What do studies on consensus-building imply for groundwater governance?

Abstract

In recent years,increasing attention has been paid to the involvement of various stakeholders in groundwater conservation. Because of the importance of this trend,this paper aims to clarify what existing consensus-building studies imply for groundwater governance. First,we reviewed consensusbuilding studies,assessing the main concerns and the relationship to groundwater governance studies. Then,factors which promote consensus-building were investigated through case studies in the fields of social dilemma,project-management and commons studies. The comparative study showed that the following factors played important roles in consensus-building; framing,policy combination, and providing for multiple goals for stakeholders with plural values. Finally,we considered how these factors could be applied to groundwater governance.