Groundwater is essential for the economic development and water security of many emerging G20 countries in the Global South. It supports about 40% of crop production and sustains the growth of cities in South Asia and North Africa by acting as a source for more than 80% of water intake points. It also supports ecosystems such as wetlands that are critical for livelihoods, poverty reduction and food security.

Many challenges adversely impact the quantity and quality of groundwater and thus impede water security in such countries. Key challenges include climate change-induced alterations to the global hydrological cycle, the mismatch between demand for and the availability of groundwater (as in Saudi Arabia), a lack of properly defined groundwater rights (as in India) or its poor enforcement (as in Brazil), and inadequate groundwater governance and pricing across most of South Asia.

With 75% of Africa’s drinking water coming from groundwater, and the substantial economic impact of water scarcity (a 6% reduction in sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product by 2050), South Africa’s G20 presidency has stressed the need for a paradigm shift to accelerate progress toward the attainment of the 2030 SDGs,  including SDG6 on water, sanitation and hygiene.

Important lessons from India’s participatory groundwater management (PGWM) programme can provide pointers to other G20 countries on how to better govern this valuable resource. The Indian government has been implementing the PGWM scheme Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) since 2020 in over 20 000 villages in seven states to reverse declining groundwater levels. While challenges such as changes in hydrological cycles, lack of groundwater rights and energy subsidies for irrigation continue in India, about 21% of the implementation units under ABY showed an improvement in groundwater levels. The programme has shown the potential to attain 30 targets under 13 SDGs that go beyond SDG6.

Lessons from India’s experience can be contextualised by other developing G20 economies

Institutionalise community-led water security planning: A core element of India’s strategy has been to institutionalise the rural community’s role in leading the formulation and regular updating of water security plans (WSPs) for their village(s). The country’s constitutional provisions enable this process by making water the subject of local self-governance.

The scientific capacity of a rural community to measure and understand various components of the local hydrological cycle is built incrementally through implementation partners, and this knowledge is used to inform local WSPs. These hyper-local plans generated via the citizen–science approach can plug data gaps for effective decision-making on achieving water security, which is identified as a major challenge towards attaining SDG6 in Africa. The mission of the SADC Groundwater Management Institute – a dedicated centre of excellence for equitable and sustainable groundwater management – aligns well with this approach.

Set incentives and structures for enabling effective community participation: The scheme provides financial incentives for local implementation partners to enable capacity building, in order to address systemic barriers to effective community participation. Further, convergence with civil society organisations and various ministries whose functions have a bearing on groundwater is incorporated into the programme. Achieving water security requires a joint effort from the ministries of water resources, agriculture, horticulture, power, forests, health, education, rural development and local self-governance. This is achieved by having joint committees at national, state and local levels that bring together various stakeholders. The relevant policies of the ministries are financially supplemented by ABY to incentivise their support in the preparation of robust and holistic WSPs. Such an approach also reflects the spirit of Ubuntu (“coming together is important for thriving”), which South Africa – this year’s G20 president – has endorsed.

Outcome-based release of financial incentives: Although the need for evidence-based policymaking has been acknowledged globally, it has been difficult to incorporate into mainstream policymaking. ABY has successfully been steering the path for this.

Indicators for measuring community participation and convergence are developed, deployed and verified using a third-party verification agency. Both output indicators, such as community attendance, and outcome indicators, such as the impact on groundwater levels, are measured. The central government releases funds to states in accordance with the results of their performance evaluation. While a certain share of funds is earmarked for each participating state, the transfer is prioritised to better-performing states, encouraging a spirit of competition in meeting the scheme’s intended objectives.

There is significant potential for G20 member countries to learn from each other on PGWM. The existing G20 water platform offers a valuable channel to share best practices and collaborate in this area. This can pave the way for faster progress towards achieving SDG6 and related targets while establishing a foundation for future G20 presidencies to build upon.