Global Governance of Water: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Abstract

The wide-ranging contents of this special issue on of water have stimulated a number of thoughts on my part as a former practitioner in this area. My views are grouped below around seven topics: concept of water itself; levels at which can be handled; Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as a leading paradigm of governance; water rights; accountability and voice; transparency and corruption; and options of financing at national and scales. I conclude by anticipating some themes from forthcoming third edition of World Water Development Report (WWDR-3). (1) Sound management of water is a function of a complex interaction of numerous factors, including demographics, economic development and trade, social and cultural processes, consumption patterns, technology, and climate. Moreover, many of these factors are changing rapidly, adding further complexity. This situation rules out any possibility for universal templates or one-size-fits-all solutions to water management. That said, when properly planned and implemented, instruments can affect water's drivers and uses to improve efficiency, equity, and sustainability. Unfortunately, however, most important decisions impacting water today are often being made in domains outside that of water, without water being considered as a priority topic. For example, decisions about health, food, and energy on a sector basis or about poverty reduction and sustainable development in broader frameworks can have a major impact on water resources. The Concept of Governance: Is Elastic Stretched Too Far? In area of water more specifically, has been defined as the range of political, social, economic and administrative systems that are in place to develop and manage water resources, and delivery of water services, at different levels of society. (2) In this vein, Global Water Partnership (GWP) ToolBox on Integrated Water Resource Management contains almost fifty components. More concisely, Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Joyeeta Gupta, and Daniel Petry have described in this special issue as how water resources can be managed best. Global adds an extra layer to a matrix that is already quite complex. Is there a risk that governance is becoming such a broad concept, covering anything that isn't pipes and pumps, that it may lose its resonance? Should we first unpack still rather inchoate concept of at other levels before promoting it in arena? In any case, it is important to distinguish aspects of that are truly global from those that are actually international or merely widespread. Many water issues arise between specific countries in a trans-boundary or regional context. This makes water different from truly issues such as climate change or biodiversity issues, in which carbon emissions and species losses affect whole of humanity. We need to be clear which water issues are veritably global. Two issues of water clearly must be handled at a level. The first is process to make more rational system that allocates water management responsibilities among institutions (see Pahl-Wostl, Gupta, and Petry, this issue). Until recently, two dozen agencies and programs of United Nations claimed responsibility for various aspects of water. Now UN Water exists as a central coordinating body, providing an opportunity to acquire critical mass on water issues while preserving concerns of other agencies. A second aspect of water requiring attention is of trade through World Trade Organization (WTO). The concepts of virtual water and water footprints are starting to have traction for both national and policymakers. An article in this issue (see Liao, de Fraiture, and Giordano) demonstrates that expansion of China's exports following its entry into WTO may aggravate its already serious water constraints. …