The 12 OECD principles on water governance – When science meets policy

Abstract

On the 4th of June 2015 the OECD Ministerial Council welcomed the “OECD Principles on Water Governance”. This is one of the most visible and high-level results of two years of activity of the Water Governance Initiative (WGI), a multi-stakeholder platform of more than 100 delegates from public, private and non-profit sectors and gathering twice a year in a policy forum since March 2013. This new guidance for policymakers is rooted in six years of work on multi-level governance of water policy at the OECD, and more recently in the areas of stakeholder engagement, governance and performance of water services, basin governance, and integrity and transparency. The Principles were developed in a bottom-up fashion and led to extensive consultation of multiple and diversified interested parties in the early stages of their preparation. They are clustered around three main driving goals of water governance, namely its effectiveness, its efficiency, and its ability to generate trust and engagement, and are meant to inspire actions leading to better water governance at all levels of government and across the range of stakeholders involved in water policy design and implementation. Based on the authors’ advisory, policymaking and academic experience, the paper will seek to discuss the rationale of the 12 principles and scope the needed conditions for their effective implementation by governments and stakeholders.