Groundwater management in rice terraces: a case study of a lakeside community in Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the process of norm formation to reach consensus on groundwater management among farmers in rice terraces in Japan. The modernisation and globalisation of water management have led to the disorganisation and reorganisation of local resource management systems and local knowledge. Field research was conducted in a lakeside community in Shiga Prefecture. Most of this area is covered with steep ranges of forests and rice paddies. The farmers in the area who had no water rights invented a device to share groundwater. The resulting new norms concerning groundwater management help to avoid conflicts among water users. The individual interests of farmers in disadvantaged areas have been adjusted to form unique communal norms, equalising individual differences, as well as to give birth to an alternative water management system based on consensus among users.