Abstract

CORDOVA BOJORQUEZ, Gustavo. Institutional and Social Asymmetries in Groundwater Management for Agriculture on the United States-Mexico Border. Región y sociedad [online]. 2021, vol.33, e1421.  Epub Sep 20, 2021. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys2020/33/1421.

Objective: to present an approach to the prevailing institutional and social asymmetries in the management of groundwater of a transboundary aquifer and to explore the alternatives to not depend on the use of surface and treated wastewater from urban centers for local agriculture. Methodology: an approach and documentary study was carried out with actors from different social sectors. Results: social, economic and productive organization asymmetries complicate the establishment of a transboundary groundwater management model. Limitations: the limited availability of information on the aquifer and the productive system on both sides made it necessary to depend on the opinions of the interviewed stakeholders. Value: the comparison exercise as a method is very relevant for cross-border contexts. Conclusions: the community’s social actors do not know about; neither have interest in changing their traditional production system for a more sophisticated one that would give them the opportunity to get rid of the backwardness in which they are. The strategies and regulations are not firmly grasped on each side of the border, much less on a binational strategy despite the scarcity of the resource.

Keywords : institutional asymmetry; transboundary aquifer; drought; protected agriculture.

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