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With the promulgation of the EC Water Framework Directive (WFD), stakeholders’ involvement in water management planning and public consultation has become mandatory for member states. This paper investigates the case of France, where water management has been based on a distinctive form of “participatory democracy” for over 40 years. It first analyses how public participation and expert opinion fit into the water-management planning procedure and compares this to what occurs elsewhere in Europe and the United States. It then proposes an operational method for initiating the participatory process with an analysis of the stakeholders' viewpoint at the watershed level. The method, which relies on interviews, is applied to two watersheds located in southern France. The results of the two case studies illustrate how the stakeholders' viewpoint analysis can give access to practical knowledge and experience and to a wider range of perspectives and options. The case studies highlight the idea that the mobilisation of non-scientific (or lay) knowledge, values and preferences can improve the quality of the identification of the issues at stake, the formulation of a generally complex and unstructured problem and the identification of a large panel of alternative solutions. The paper then proposes some recommendations for implementing the provisions of the WFD.

There is an increasing call for local measures to adapt to climate change, based on foresight analyses in collaboration with actors. However, such analyses involve many challenges, particularly because the actors concerned may not consider climate change to be an urgent concern. This paper examines the methodological choices made by three research teams in the design and implementation of participatory foresight analyses to explore agricultural and water management options for adaptation to climate change. Case studies were conducted in coastal areas of France, Morocco and Portugal where the groundwater is intensively used for irrigation, the aquifers are at risk or are currently overexploited, and a serious agricultural crisis is underway. When designing the participatory processes, the researchers had to address four main issues: whether to avoid or prepare dialogue between actors whose relations may be limited or tense; how to select participants and get them involved; how to facilitate discussion of issues that the actors may not initially consider to be of great concern; and finally, how to design and use scenarios. In each case, most of the invited actors responded and met to discuss and evaluate a series of scenarios. Strategies were discussed at different levels, from farming practices to aquifer management. It was shown that such participatory analyses can be implemented in situations which may initially appear to be unfavourable. This was made possible by the flexibility in the methodological choices, in particular the possibility of framing the climate change issue in a broader agenda for discussion with the actors.

International audienceThe purpose of the 1992 French Water Act is to encourage negotiation and dialogue among local stakeholderswithin a framework which is very similar to a patrimonial approach. Potential use of models in such post-normalapproaches is analyzed. Two kinds of models are compared: one is agent-based, the other follows a more classicalapproach. They are compared according to their contributions as negotiation support tools. This comparisonis based on a specific collective decision process dealing with water allocation at the sub-basin scale, in whichauthors are involved. Both are used to support collective decision processes through simulation of resource usedynamics. Agent-Based Models entail the broadening of spatial information of actors in the process, revealinginter-connected topics not taken into consideration earlier. This makes it possible to remain relevant, despite thesometimes rapidly evolving stakes. The central point of this paper is the implementation, within a practical application,of theories advocating the use of ABM as a collective decision support system. This application promotesa better understanding of the kind of support ABM provides and the way it does so. This is broughtabout more by re-framing the discussion and modifying the representation of the system on the part of thestakeholders than by providing specific agreements

Moroccan agriculture is currently undergoing major political, socioeconomic, and environmental transitions. Smallholder farmers involved in large-scale irrigation schemes need to modernize their systems to face these challenges. In this study, a participatory process incorporating different simulation and gaming tools was designed and applied to accompany farmer groups in designing joint irrigation projects, generally drip irrigation systems. A role-playing game was used in the first phase of the process to raise awareness among farmers about the scope and contents of a joint irrigation project and list the different knowledge gaps. During the second phase, a policy simulation exercise based on the actual field situation enabled farmer groups to design their own joint drip irrigation project. As a result, several farmer groups produced a feasibility study for their joint drip irrigation system. Our experience highlighted the complementarity of these tools in a process of change. The abstract role-playing game provided valid learning experience while the realistic simulation supported concrete decision making.

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We designed and implemented an action-research programme in large-scale irrigation schemes in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, aiming to develop a regional network of competences by conducting research, training and development activities, and involving local actors. We worked on three issues: (i) the sustainability of North Africa's growing groundwater economy, (ii) the integration of environmental constraints in the management of irrigated agriculture, and(iii) the analysis of new coordination modes of agricultural production and rural development in traditionally centrally managed irrigation schemes. Based on 11 empirical studies, we contributed to operationalizing a new praxis in irrigation management; this learning-oriented and network-based approach enables mobilization of the knowledge of a wide range of actors, as well as linking local knowledge systems to more universal ones. This approach is necessary to support family-based agriculture to continue to face recurrent droughts, feed the urban and rural populations, develop rural territories and integrate the rural youth.

When large‐scale irrigation schemes were created, establishing viable, and closely supervised, medium‐sized family farms was considered essential to reap the benefits of state investments. This centralized development model was progressively dismantled, especially as farmers installed private tubewells relying less on surface water. Our aim is to analyse development pathways of family farms in the Tadla irrigation scheme (Morocco). Results showed that pathways were linked to groundwater access, but also to (informal) land markets, and off‐farm revenues. Groundwater enabled farmers to overcome reductions in surface water, and diversify crops. This concerned mainly the 36% large and medium‐sized farms. Such farmers also managed to increase their cropped area through land markets, as renting in land, and producing market crops, require capital. Groundwater showed limited redistributive capacities, as only 20% of small‐scale farmers obtained direct access. Farmers' off‐farm revenues sustained livelihoods, especially in dry years, but were generally not reinvested in agriculture. Over the past 40 years, groundwater has been mainly mobilized from phreatic aquifers, recharged by rainfall and surface irrigation. Their use seems sustainable, but farmers are exploring deeper aquifers while the administration encourages conversion to micro‐irrigation, thus reducing aquifer recharge and complicating the future of the groundwater economy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.