Different farmers require different compensation payments to be incentivized to participate in water quality improvement-related agri-environmental schemes (AESs) and payment for ecosystem services (PESs). This is because they differ in their farm management practices, cost structures and attitudinal characteristics. However, these differences are rarely characterized in the design and implementation of AESs and PESs in the Global South. Using a discrete choice experiment, we investigate farmers' willingness to accept compensation to control agricultural nonpoint source pollution in the Limpopo River Basin of South Africa to observe whether these differences matter. Conditional, random parameter and latent class logit models are estimated. Our latent class logit model identified one random choice class (farmers making random responses) and three preference classes of farmers (low-, moderate- and high-resistance) with dissimilar compensation requirements to alter their status quo farm management practices to improve water quality. Gender, age, education, farming experience and secure tenure rights are key drivers of preference heterogeneity.

Effective wastewater management in agriculture is critical for protecting water resources, ensuring food security, and maintaining ecosystem health. However, many countries face persistent challenges in meeting wastewater policy goals due to institutional, regulatory, and technological limitations. This study aims to examine how different governance and infrastructure contexts shape the implementation of agricultural wastewater management strategies. Using the New Institutional Economics (NIE) framework and a comparative case study approach, we analyze Japan and South Africa—two countries that experience significant agricultural wastewater challenges but differ substantially in water availability, agrochemical use, infrastructure capacity, and socio-economic development. These differences provide a valuable basis for exploring context-sensitive governance responses across diverse settings. Our findings show that Japan’s structured coordination and sustained investment in technology support large-scale, sustainable wastewater management. In contrast, South Africa’s infrastructure constraints and resource disparities have encouraged low-cost, community-driven innovations that demonstrate adaptability under resource-scarce conditions. The study concludes that strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration, clarifying institutional roles, and tailoring governance mechanisms to local capacities are critical for improving wastewater policy outcomes. Cross-country learning offers further promise: South Africa’s grassroots innovations illustrate the potential of decentralized, low-cost approaches, while Japan’s institutional coherence provides transferable insights for systemic reform. Together, the findings make the case that collaborative and decentralized governance—anchored in local realities and informed by mutual learning across contexts—offers a cost-effective pathway to sustainable agricultural wastewater management.

This paper investigates the effect of mining activities on health care, income and water deprivations in Africa. By combining household data with mining locations, we conducted an econometric analysis to assess the impact of mining on self‐reported water security, health, and economic opportunities for 142,838 households. Our study utilizes the presence of active and inactive mines to measure the effects of household exposure to mining activities. We observe that proximity to active mining sites is associated with self‐reported improved water security, access to health, and economic opportunities. Instrumental variable estimates support a causal interpretation of our results. Specifically, households located within a 50 km radius of active mines reported a 4% lower probability of lacking clean water. Our findings also reveal that robust local institutions not only enhance water security but also mitigate the negative health impacts associated with mine closures. These results suggest that strengthening local governance can amplify the potential benefits of mining operations. Therefore, we recommend the strengthening of local government institutions to foster the resilience of vulnerable mining communities.

Trade in agricultural products will be a crucial component of adaptive responses to global food insecurity and ensuring its sustainability is thus crucial. This is particularly important for resource scarce countries because agricultural trade allows for the virtual transfer of the resources required for production. This is important because agricultural production has significant resource requirements as well as substantial environmental, climatic and economic impacts. Assessing the sustainability of agricultural trade has proven to be a complex challenge due to a lack of frameworks available to comprehensively assess it and the ‘silo approach’ to resource management. To combat these problems new frameworks and analysis techniques which account for numerous sectors and impacts need to be developed. The objective of this paper was to provide and utilise such a framework to assess the sustainability of agricultural trade. To do this, the Water-Energy-Food Land-Economy-Climate framework was proposed. The framework was used in combination with a lifecycle analysis approach to assess the sustainability of agricultural trade in South Africa. Despite exporting 25% more agricultural products than they imported, the results showed that the production of South Africa’s agricultural imports required 65% more water, 3% more energy, and 44% more land than exports. Further, imports generated 98% more CO₂ and 103% more PO4 emissions than exports. Finally, South Africa was shown to generate 64% more economic value from their agricultural exports than their imports cost. Overall, the results show that according to the Water-Energy-Food Land-Economy-Climate framework used, and accounting for the South African resource context, the country had a sustainable agricultural trade mix.

The world faces multiple water crises, including overextraction, flooding, ecosystem degradation and inequitable safe water access. Insufficient funding and ineffective implementation impede progress in water access, while, in part, a misdiagnosis of the causes has prioritized some responses over others (for example, hard over soft infrastructure). We reframe the responses to mitigating the world’s water crises using a ‘beyond growth’ framing and compare it to mainstream thinking. Beyond growth is systems thinking that prioritizes the most disadvantaged. It seeks to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation by overcoming policy capture and inertia and by fostering place-based and justice-principled institutional changes. Efforts to address the water challenges that societies face are hindered by a lack of funding and ineffective implementation, as well as poor understanding of the causes. Adopting a beyond growth framing, this Perspective reflects on the responses needed to mitigate water crises around the world.

The paper addresses the often-neglected economic impacts associated with the supply of hydraulic infrastructure in rural and under-serviced communities in developing countries. We rely on a rich panel dataset including 1319 Senegalese rural households collected in 2016 and 2020, during the deployment of the first phase of the Emergency Program for Community Development (PUDC). By combining propensity score matching (PSM), inverse probability weighting, difference-in-differences, and quantile regression, we find that access to piped water improves employment in the agricultural sector but has no significant impact on household expenditures. After controlling for attrition, through PSM, we find that the employment effect operates through access to a greater quantity of water and a reduction in the time women devote to water fetching chores. Moreover, when bundled with complementary infrastructure interventions such as the construction of rural roads, we find that access to water services generates an even higher impact. The quantile analysis shows that non-poor households seem to benefit more from the provided water supply infrastructure compared to poor households. Finally, when comparing the welfare effect of government-led PUDC water supply with that of community-led initiatives, our findings advocate for the widespread implementation of the former for reasons of cost-effectiveness.

Fresh surface water is increasingly becoming scarcer worldwide, leading to significant groundwater over-extraction. However, groundwater over-extraction could result in many environmental externalities including various land subsidence (LS) effects. LS causes the gradual reduction of the voids and the subsequent ground surface sinking. The loss of aquifer system storage capacity, owing to LS, is one such negative externality that is seldom discussed in the economic literature. In this paper, we investigate the indirect loss of the aquifer system storage capacity due to LS along with other direct LS negative externalities. We develop a dynamic economic optimization model for groundwater utilization and evaluate various policy instruments (quota systems, taxes on land sinking and aquifer storage loss, and packaging and sequencing of taxes and quotas) to prevent overexploitation externalities. The model is calibrated to South African data. We found that taxes on land sinking and aquifer system storage capacity reduction have a significant effect on withdrawals and water table levels. Taxes provide larger social welfare. In addition, under certain circumstances, quotas are preferable when it comes to supporting groundwater conservation practices. Packaging and sequencing provide the second largest social benefits.

Crop farmers in arid and semi-arid regions face a covariate risk that is of paramount importance, namely, the threat of catastrophic crop loss triggered by natural disasters and climate hazards. Such an occurrence not only jeopardizes the livelihoods of these farmers but may also lead to persistent poverty. Promoting sustainable development requires control over climate-related shocks, which negatively affect the most vulnerable population in the developing world. This study investigates the option of choosing crop area-yield index insurance to mitigate the adverse effects associated with climate stress. In addition, we assessed the amount farmers are willing to pay for an insurance product that insures yields below 70% of the local average in the study area. Our results show that access to extension services and economic association membership offers farmers social capital and encourages their decision to purchase index insurance. We also find that the long-run welfare impact of index insurance policy on vulnerable households could be significant as an alternative insurance mechanism to traditional insurance. This study contributes to filling the gaps on the uptake of index insurance and provide guidance to policymakers in their approach to mitigating the effects of climate change on crop production in Nigeria.

This study investigates the option of choosing index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) to mitigate the adverse effects associated with climate change in Kwara State, Nigeria. Previous studies indicate that the failure to include farmers during the early stage of pilot programme design is a major factor in Africa's poor participation rate in index insurance. We conducted a survey with 392 farming households across eight of the state's 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs). This survey employed a contingent valuation method (CVM) to assess the value respondents are willing to pay for such insurance and add to the growing literature on IBLI uptake. We discuss important issues ranging from the cost of the IBLI premium to the impact of social capital and access to alternative sources of income on adoption. Our findings show that farmers are willing to pay a 1.3% premium for IBLI, which is lower than the current premium charged for traditional agricultural insurance in Nigeria which typically ranges from 2% to 5%. The results also highlight the need to consider insurance uptake and access to credit as complementary measures, rather than substitute strategies for managing the risks posed by severe climate shocks and extremes.

This paper uses meta-regression analysis to investigate the empirical literature on the performance of water institutions. This pioneering study synthesizes and quantifies the overall water institution-performance effect using data extracted from 23 original studies. A bivariate meta-regression and funnel asymmetric test are estimated and conducted, respectively, and for our multivariate meta-regressions (MMRs), four different fixed and random effects weighted least square models are estimated. Both bivariate and MMRs confirm the presence of a publication selection bias that favors the positive impact of water institutions on performance. Once this bias is corrected, evidence of a genuine empirical effect of water institutions on the performance is evident. Also, the variations in this literature are attributable to differences in the way these studies capture water institutions, the variables used to capture performance, and the estimation strategies, among others. Primary studies that use the water law, water policy, and/or some aspects of these to capture performance tend to report a greater impact of water institutions on performance. This paper contributes not only to improving the quality of research, reporting, review, and publication in the water space but also provides further insights for additional development, facilitation, and strengthening of water laws, policies, and administration to lower transaction costs in the water space.

Despite using a common database for a sample of 46 developing countries to evaluate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on domestic investment (DI), two recent articles on the subject (Morrissey and Udomkerdmongkol in World Dev 40(3):437–445. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.07.004, 2012 and Farla et al. in World Dev 88:1–9, 2016. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.04.008), produced conflicting results. The current paper contributes to the debate by using a larger panel database of 105 developing countries from 2002 to 2018 while controlling for financial development. We make use of the system generalized method of moments (S-GMM). Our findings do not support a crowding-in effect of FDI; instead, we found that FDI crowded out domestic investment. The findings underscore that institutions played no role in the FDI–DI nexus. Furthermore, there is no strong evidence that good institutions promoted investment in developing countries from 2002 to 2018.

Cooking with relatively clean fuel has numerous benefits, including reducing pollution and improving health and socioeconomic outcomes. Hence, some developing countries have implemented policies to promote LPG use. However, risks of accidents and explosions may prevent risk-averse households from adopting LPG. This study examines the causal effect of risk aversion on the adoption and expenditure of LPG using the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Measurement Survey and a double hurdle approach. We find that risk-averse households are four per cent less likely to adopt LPG and, if adopted, spend significantly less on LPG. The result holds even after endogeneity has been addressed with diverse econometric strategies. However, the effect disappears in households where the primary decision-makers have no formal education, while it is systematically stronger when they are educated. The results imply measures that reduce the actual and perceived dangers of LPG usage could effectively increase adoption rates.

How does the receipt of a cash transfer impact consumption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in households? To answer this question, we use a randomized controlled trial dataset from Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP) with 9,246 households spread across the four districts (Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir, and Mandera) of Kenya. In the experiment, HSNP treated households received a bi-monthly cash transfer of about United States of America Dollar (USD) 20 relative to households in control sub-locations. Using difference in-difference specification, we find that HSNP poor beneficiary households in treated households increased (by approximately 96%, 50%, and 61%) the consumption of vitamins A, C, and beta carotene, respectively compared to those in control sub-locations. Moreover, HSNP non-poor, non-beneficiary households residing in treated sub-locations increased (by about 70% and 46%) the consumption of vitamin A and Beta carotene, respectively compared to those in control sub-locations. In addition, HSNP-poor beneficiary households in treated sub-locations sourced most of their nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from the market. We rule out alternative pathways that could potentially increase consumption and conclude that a rise in consumption amongst HSNP non-poor, non-beneficiary households is due to sharing of HSNP transfer amongst social network members.

A good understanding of the factors that influence household water demand is required to assist policymakers in implementing appropriate policy instruments that lead to sustainable municipal water use and ensure water security. This paper analyzes the factors affecting household water demand in South Africa to develop a better understanding of residential water demand in developing country contexts. The predominant focus in both the developed and developing country literature has been on determining the water price elasticity of household water demand. In terms of the price impacts on water demand in developing countries, and for poor households elsewhere, it is not only the impact of water price which affects household water demand. Given the low average incomes of these households, they usually spend most of their income on basic needs such as water, energy, and food. A water-energy-food price and consumption nexus thus exists for these households. In this paper, we examine this nexus by determining how changes in the prices of water, energy, and food affect household water consumption. Using three months of data from 527 households in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, we estimate household water demand using ordinary least squares regression and two-stage least squares regression techniques with the use of instrumental variables. The results reveal that water, food, and energy prices have a significant negative effect on household water consumption. The tap water, food, and energy price elasticities ranged from -0.543 to -0.935, -0.174 to -0.403, and -0.072 to -0.163, respectively. This shows that policies aiming to alter water demand and improve water security for low-income households should not only focus on water prices but also the price of food and energy.

One of sustainable development’s key objectives is to ensure global food security. Trade in agri-food products will be a crucial component of adaptive responses to future global food insecurity. Trade in agri-food products, however, has significant environmental, economic, and climatic consequences. Ensuring the sustainability of agri-food trade is thus crucial. Assessing the sustainability of agri-food trade has proven to be a complex challenge due to numerous factors. Two key problems are a lack of frameworks available to quantitatively assess it and the ‘silo approach’ to resource management. The objective of this paper is to provide and utilise a comprehensive framework to assess the sustainability of agri-food trade. We hence propose Water-Energy-Food Land-Economy-Climate framework and use it to assess the sustainability of agri-food trade in South Africa. Despite exporting 25% more agri-food products than they imported, the results show that the production of agri-food imports required 65% more water, 3% more energy, and 44% more land than exports. Further, imports generated 98% more CO₂ and 103% more PO4 emissions than exports. South Africa also generated 64% more economic value from their agri-food exports than their imports cost. Overall, the results show that South Africa has a truly sustainable agri-food trade mix.

In rural areas of developing countries, private transfers are shared for altruistic reasons, to mitigate negative shocks (insurance motive) and in exchange for services. However, when public and private transfers provide similar benefits, an overlap exists, potentially crowding-out informal mechanisms. In this paper, we test whether an exogenous increase in household income, due to transfers by the Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP) to pastoralist households in Northern Kenya, reinforces or dampens the redistributive dynamics associated with private transfers. We exploit the experimental implementation of HSNP to control for endogeneity with the randomly provided unconditional cash transfer. We show that an HSNP-induced rise in household income by 2,000 Kenyan Shillings is associated with a non-negligible decline in the total value of private transfers equivalent to 12% of the income increase. For transfers given, we show that the HSNP transfer leads to increased sharing equivalent to 11% of the income increase. Testing for non-linearities, we identify a significant reduction in the value of private transfers received at low levels of the income distribution. Concomitantly, we identify a positive relationship between income and transfers given that is most pronounced among poorer households. We further show that we possibly observe altruistic, insurance and exchange related sharing motives coexisting among Northern Kenyan pastoralists. The identified crowding-in and -out effects have implications for the design and efficacy of social programs beyond Kenya, demonstrating that traditional transfer dynamics are altered due to public programs.

Cet article évalue l’effet d’éviction des investissements directs étrangers (IDE) sur l’investissement privé et analyse le rôle joué par les institutions dans la relation IDE-investissement privé à partir d’un échantillon de 124 pays en développement (PED) de 2002 à 2018. Les résultats montrent que les institutions n’affectent pas l’effet marginal des IDE sur l’investissement dans les PED. Il n’existe pas non plus de preuves suffisantes pour conclure à l’effet d’éviction. Codes JEL : F21, O17.

Drought severity is expected to increase in South Africa in the coming years, given the deteriorating effects of climate change on rainfall patterns, global temperature, and evaporation. A common mitigation strategy adopted by households is to promote water demand management initiatives to reduce water consumption volume and complement existing water supply management approaches implemented by suppliers. This study contributes to the discussion on adaptation strategies by investigating household preference heterogeneity for water-saving technologies through empirical evidence from urban Cape Town, South Africa. Using a choice modelling framework, we collected primary survey data from 512 urban households in five of the city's major suburbs and investigated heterogeneity among the households based on their preferences for characteristics embedded in four water-saving technologies. Four preference classes were identified by accounting for taste heterogeneity. Overall, respondents had the highest marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for the greywater technology alternative at 17,025 ZAR (US$ 1142) while rainwater technology has the least willingness to pay value at 5206 ZAR (US$ 349). In addition, the results show that respondents in classes 1 and 2 have a high interest in technologies that save a large quantity of water, whereas members of classes 3 and 4 rely on inexpensive conservation and behavioral habits as climate adaptation measures. This study has important policy implications for many water-stressed and arid cities within and outside South Africa since like Cape Town, many large cities require long-lasting measures that help reduce the pressure on their strained water systems.

This paper investigates the factors that drive farmers' simultaneous adoption of six water conservation practices (WCPs) and the intensity of their adoption. We estimate farmers' adoption of these WCPs with a multivariate probit model, and for the intensity of their adoption, an ordered probit model is estimated. Our results show that gender, age, education, and farm size (among other factors) influence the probability and extent of adoption of WCPs. Furthermore, combinations like drip and/or sprinkler irrigations and cover cropping, drip and/or sprinkler irrigations and intercropping (among others) are complements, suggesting the bundling of these WCPs.

The choice of water for use by residential households is usually limited to the centralized and more regulated piped water or the decentralized and less regulated groundwater sources. Many households secure access to water through self-supply from groundwater sources, consequently putting the resource at risk. Our analysis shows empirical evidence on the determinants of households' choice of water-supply sources and suggests a high substitution threshold for piped water and self-supplied groundwater in South Africa. Furthermore, we provide insights into the potential welfare impact of a stylized piped water tariff change that reduces prices and leads to increased piped water choices.