Social justice and groundwater allocation in agriculture: A French case study

This chapter focuses on the design of rules for apportioning limited groundwater resources among agricultural users. It shows that different (often antagonist) conceptions of desirable water allocation rules co-exist within the agricultural community, reflecting farmers’ differences in terms of economic self-interests, historical background and ethical values. Based on an empirical case study conducted in France, we disentangle the factors which determine the acceptability of alternative groundwater allocation rules by farmers, paying specific attention to the perception of their legitimacy, feasibility and social justice. We show that social justice plays a very significant role in the construction of the acceptability judgment, as already highlighted by a series of Australian studies.