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With the increasing competition for fresh water, there is a growing reliance on the abstraction of groundwater for irrigated agriculture. Groundwater irrigation demand has been growing steadily over the past decades, for many reasons including the unreliability of the traditional large canal schemes, and the increasing need of farmers to manage their own irrigation applications. In addition, unpredictability in climate has forced some farmers, particularly in semi-arid areas, to exploit groundwater, in order to combat drought. The increasing overexploitation of important aquifers around the world, as well as groundwater contamination must be of concern to water resource planners and managers. Groundwater is a finite resource, and little is being done to accurately map, assess, monitor and regulate groundwater development for agriculture. Unconstrained and unregulated groundwater development is already impacting negatively on agricultural growth in over 111 million ha of irrigated lands, and innumerable livelihoods that rely on groundwater. Any attenuation of growth will make it more difficult to feed 9 billion people by 2050. A more proactive and integrated approach to groundwater governance, management and protection, built upon sound technical, institutional, legal, socio-economic and environmental principles is required. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.