Views on Irrigation Policy Development - 2007 NPSI/IAL Travel Fellowship, Kimberley Graham

Summary

As water security threatens to be one of the greatest challenges facing mankind and as irrigation continues to use the largest share of water globally, attempting to devise solutions for this inherently complex issue drives my current honours research. My honours project focuses on understanding perceptions of proposed irrigation policy in Australia (of irrigation farmers, water distributors and government representatives) and the potential for perceptions to be incorporated into policy processes in Australia and China. By not assuming what the deemed issues surrounding water scarcity actually are: I am asking the relevant stakeholders to define the issue, therefore prompting innovation by opening up the issue and providing an understanding of how proposed policy might be realised.

I used the NPSI/IAL fellowship to travel to China and Brazil and examine the policy development processes of two unique and divergent countries: the ‘open participatory democracy system’ policy process found only in Brazil, and to contrast this, the policy processes in China. These countries are not only unique in the way in which they approach and implement irrigation policy, but are also two countries that are rapidly developing and therefore face heightened resource allocation issues and
strains. This insight would provide valuable policy process considerations that would benefit Australia immensely.

Publications and Resources