Fairness Principles In Allocating Water: Integrating Views Of Different Agents

The allocation, or re-allocation, of water to achieve environmental sustainability in farming communities can be a source of considerable conflict. “What’s fair” when sharing water between different agents and the environment becomes paramount in people’s decision making. Issues such as self interest; efficient uses of water; business investments; viable communities and prior rights to water all play a part in the ways people view the fairness of the allocation decision. The different agents will form their fairness rules in different ways. For example, the small family farmer will not want to be disadvantaged by the greater economic capacity of the corporate farmer. Those who have not used their allocations in the past may not consider it fair if they stand to lose their allocations, in the interests of achieving environmental sustainability, to those who have previously used their allocations and been a part of the over-allocation problem. What role can economic instruments play in achieving fair water allocation? When does the environment have greater rights over individual and societal needs? This paper draws on a number of case studies in rural Australia to see if allocation rules can be framed for the different community groups in deciding what’s fair in water allocation. More importantly, we explore whether investigation of these rules can contribute to gaining community consensus and suggest that Agent Based Modelling may be a useful tool for assisting in this.