A multi-agent system to the common management of a renewable resource: application to water sharing

Water sharing has become an important problem in France. A lot of negotiations are taking place at a local level between farmers, water suppliers, public services and environmentalists to allocate water resources between users. The problem is to share water with respect to different criteria like economic (global output) ethical (disparities between actors) environmental (water savings). Different approaches have been already taken using linear programming or game theory, but they are always based on the hypothesis that decision-makers are completely rational, take into account few players and are often monoperiodic. We suggest that Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) built with a multi-agent approach could help negotiations between different players by showing the consequences of water allocation rules and taking into consideration the players´ respective attitudes and their ability to change their behaviour. The authors present the model structure with the different types of agents modelled, how the model runs over a number of years and the first results of simulations