Search

This article discusses how coherent policy supports ongoing engagement and enables improvements in water governance over time. Our analysis departs from the conclusions and recommendations of a previous published work, OECD Principles on Water Governance in Practice – An Assessment of Existing Frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and South America. We reference this analysis against three cases and policy practices in Southern Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. We use the regional differences and similarities to discuss how the dimension of 'trust and engagement' can explain the major impediments or achievements towards more effective implementation of 'good' water governance in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the lens of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance, this article examines six water resources and water services frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America to understand enhancing and constraining contextual factors. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze each framework against four criteria: alignment; implementation; on-ground results; and policy impact. Four main target areas are identified for improving water governance: policy coherence; financing; managing trade-offs; and ensuring integrity and transparency by all decision makers and stakeholders. Suggestions are presented to support practical implementation of the principles through better government action and stakeholder involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As water management issues have grown and become more connected, the need to engage civil society and incorporate a wider range of community knowledge in decision-making is increasingly recognised. This paper discusses experiences of three river basins that are part of the UNESCO-IHP Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy programme. In each, water management issues cross different kinds of ‘boundaries’. At the Ord River, north-western Australia, investment in irrigation expansion and social infrastructure is driving the need for more comprehensive water planning and management incorporating a new set of economic, social and ecological values, new knowledge sources, and more collaboration with the neighbouring jurisdiction. In the lower Burdekin, north-eastern Australia, sugar cane irrigators need to reduce their impact on local groundwater, wetlands and adjacent Great Barrier Reef. And at the Motueka River, on New Zealand’s South Island, an 11-year Integrated Catchment Management programme sought solutions to the impacts of upstream land use on downstream water quality. While none of the basins physically crosses an international or national boundary, they can all be considered transboundary waters. These examples show that many of the challenges experienced in relation to international transboundary resources are replicated at other scales and in other ways: across internal borders, through institutional confines, across environmental interfaces, between economic sectors and around a range of social norms. Understanding the various boundaries can help identify a more comprehensive and inclusive suite of stakeholders, enabling their interests and knowledge to be incorporated into decision-making. Sharing knowledge across these boundaries is critical to developing the mutual understanding necessary to support better water management and more equitable benefit-sharing from available water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]