Abstract
Estuaries are one of the most productive and complex types of ecosystems supporting a wide range of economic activities. Departing from a set of governance problems and emergent goals, such as sustainability or climate change adaptation faced by an estuarine case study area, Ria de Aveiro, in Portugal, this article assesses the adequacy of alternative governance models under the existing water resources legal framework and traditional political culture. It shows that apart from the centrally-based compliance model, all other alternatives require high degrees of institutional reforms. Moreover, although the model based on a dedicated new agency, long preferred by many users of Ria de Aveiro, is the most understandable and focused, it does not assure the pursuance of adaptability or collaboration, which are considered essential for estuary governance. As it relies on collective action and multi-level and multi-agent contexts, estuarine governance may require a new institutional design. Where one begins a process of institutional change, however, is not a simple issue to address and demands a deeper analysis, particularly on the types of required institutional changes, as well as on their impacts on policy and decision-making outcomes over estuarine environments and associated socio-ecological networks.
Highlights
Estuaries are one of the most productive and complex types of ecosystems where coastal and fluvial waters converge
Introduction to the main setting features of the case study area based on published literature and legislation on water resources governance in place; Identification of the main weaknesses of the current governance approach based on the legislation and focus group context; Identification and broad description of the alternative governance models based on the literature mentioned in Section 3 and on the analysis of the Portuguese legislation; and Assessment of the models, first, by identifying their major pros and cons, and second, by classifying them according to a set of governance factors obtained from the literature review [62], namely: i
Ria de Aveiro is a coastal lagoon and estuarine area located in the northwest coast of Portugal where the sea and four rivers (Vouga, Antuã, Boco, and Caster) meet
Summary
Estuaries are one of the most productive and complex types of ecosystems where coastal and fluvial waters converge. This article further extends the policy paper elaborated by a group of researchers affiliated with the University of Aveiro to assess the governance of Ria de Aveiro [33] It focuses on the existing water resources legal regime, which foresees different governance approaches, namely the centralized plan and the delegation of powers to municipalities or to the associations of water users. After outlining the main features and the current governance problems of Ria de Aveiro, Section 5 exposes the results of the assessment exercise, displaying the prospects offered by each government model. The paper is concluded with the discussion (Section 6) of the results and with final notes and recommendations for further research (Section 7)
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