Freshwater Governance Research Articles

Hydro-Authoritarianism: Mega-Engineering the (Semi-)Arid Regions of Central Eurasia and China

This article analyses how authoritarian governments respond to freshwater scarcity. It explores the link between mega-hydroengineering works and authoritarian governance structures, introducing the concept of hydro-authoritarianism based on four recurring patterns: centralisation of decision-making and securitisation of freshwater governance; institutional bias towards mega-engineering projects; repression of critical environmental and academic voices; and largely unconstrained (mostly domestic) finance. We conclude that the near-exclusive focus on transferring water across vast distances limits attention to the demand-driven causes of water stress. Although the article focuses on central Eurasia and China, patterns of hydro-authoritarianism have appeared wherever checks on power are undermined or absent.

Polycentric Groundwater Governance: Insights from the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area

This paper analyses groundwater governance within a transfrontier conservation landscape. Given the current heightened interest in groundwater development, it is imperative that more thought be given to how groundwater resources can best be managed in different contexts for multiple uses and users. Transfrontier conservation areas are areas of vast biological diversity whose functioning and ecosystem integrity depends on the availability of water to sustain ecosystems and subsequently derive economic benefit. Further, climate vulnerable rural communities depend on and form an important part of this landscape. The work highlighted in this paper is based on a study conducted in parts of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), the largest TFCA in the world. Climate induced challenges such as droughts and general poor land use planning have resulted in threats to long term sustainability of freshwater ecosystems and increased incidences of human-wildlife conflicts over limited water resources. Effective groundwater governance can potentially provide pathways for alleviating these challenges. Building on the theoretical fundamentals of polycentric governance, this paper analyses the case of the KAZA TFCA in which multiple levels of governance exist. The paper discusses how to achieve coordination and accountability within a shared landscape to foster sustainable use and management of groundwater. Groundwater within a TFCA context has the potential to alleviate human-wildlife conflict over freshwater, support groundwater dependant ecosystems and sustain smallholder agriculture for the rural communities. Understanding this role of groundwater adds to the framing of freshwater governance and conservation efforts within a TFCA and the identification and development of platforms for the integrated management of groundwater. Bringing together freshwater and conservation institutions in a multi-country context towards integrated water resource management is an initial and novel attempt which forms the foundation for achieving optimal governance approaches in the commons.

Towards an Inclusive Development Framework for Governing Freshwater Resources

There is considerable literature on governing freshwater resources, where one group of water scholars employs power theory to improve freshwater governance while another group focuses on an institutional approach to enhance the governance of freshwater resources. Among these scholars, few take an explicit inclusive development approach to consider the importance of ecosystem services for effective freshwater governance and human wellbeing. Hence, the purpose of this research is to investigate how inclusive development techniques might enhance freshwater resource governance. Building on a literature review of the concept of inclusive development, this conceptual paper builds a framework for assessing freshwater governance by investigating the socio-ecological roots of inclusive development in the post-2015 sustainable development goals. The paper concludes by identifying different instruments of inclusive development in order to enhance the governance of freshwater resources.

How does collaborative freshwater governance affect legitimacy? Comparative analysis of 14 cases of collaboration in Aotearoa New Zealand between 2009 and 2017

ABSTRACT Collaborative governance is frequently thought to improve legitimacy and environmental outcomes. However, there remain gaps in our knowledge of whether and how collaborative governance influences legitimacy. Drawing on political systems theory and using a comparative case survey method, we explore legitimacy dimensions at the input, throughput, output, and outcome stages in 14 collaborative decision-making process in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009-2017. Our qualitative inquiry utilizes coding categories that intertwine legitimacy with collaborative governance indicators. The analysis of these freshwater cases highlights the importance of input legitimacy within and across cases, emphasizing the critical nature of defining roles, responsibilities, authority, and mandate before collaboration. We delve into the implications of these findings for collaborative efforts in Aotearoa New Zealand and on an international scale.

Stop drinking the waipiro! A critique of the government's ‘why’ behind Te Mana o te Wai

Stop drinking the waipiro! A critique of the government's ‘why’ behind Te Mana o te Wai

The role of international law in promoting transboundary freshwater governance: The UN Watercourses Convention and the Revised SADC Water Protocol

ABSTRACT This article examines the implications of developments in international law for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In setting the general context, the main theories of water rights regulating the utilisation of international watercourse systems and the constitutive foundations of a legal regime encapsulated in the UN Watercourses Convention are discussed. The Revised SADC Water Protocol’s substantial contribution towards strengthening the rule of law in the protection and preservation of international watercourses is assessed. In exploring the challenges of the Water Protocol’s implementation, emphasis is placed on the urgent need to execute complementary supporting measures in order to enhance sustainable legal intervention in shared river basins in Southern Africa. It concludes that various instruments like the UN Watercourses Convention and the SADC Water Protocol demonstrate clear evidence of the recognition by the international community of the importance of legal norms in enhancing cooperation and managing conflict in international watercourses.

Watershed or bank-to-bank? Scales of governance and the geographic definition of Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

Much recent scholarship has addressed the rise of the watershed as the preferred scale for the governance of water quality. Although the watershed remains widely perceived as an ideal, “natural” scale of freshwater governance, arguments for the merits of alternative scales and multi-scalar approaches are gaining prominence. The Great Lakes Areas of Concern program, managed jointly by the United States and Canada, represents an important case in which the watershed has not prevailed as the default local scale of governance, at least in the 31 Areas of Concern located in the United States or straddling the international border. Based on a review of documents and analysis of a survey and interviews with key actors from local Areas of Concern, we find considerable variation among U.S. states in the designation of Areas of Concern as watersheds and partial watersheds, bank-to-bank watercourse segments, or hybrids of both. This variation depends not only on the differing biophysical conditions at Areas of Concern but also on differences in the latitude that state agencies gave to local stakeholder groups when the geographical extent of each Areas of Concern was designated and negotiated. In several cases, questions about the appropriate scale of the Areas of Concern led to controversy, with implications for subsequent remediation. We contend that understanding the uneven embrace of the watershed as a scale of water governance requires attending not only to specific governance objectives but also to variations in the relationships between local and subnational scales in governance programs.

Ngā Puna Aroha: towards an indigenous-centred freshwater allocation framework for Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental policy and legislation recognises Māori Indigenous principles and values, and gives prominence to Te Mana o te Wai (the authority of water itself). However, current policy, legislation, and practice are inadequate for enabling Māori rights and interests in water takes and instream flows and levels, in terms of both involvement and specific allocation mechanisms supporting Māori values. We argue that a policy and implementation space needs to be created that ensures indigenous Māori engagement and outcomes in freshwater governance, planning, and management. This space should provide for an integrated, precautionary, and bicultural ‘First Principles’ approach, ensuring that Māori rights and interests consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) are enabled, including the exercise of mātauranga Māori (knowledge informed by Māori worldviews), tikanga (Māori customs and lore), and kaitiakitanga (guardianship). We outline a potential water allocation framework, Ngā Puna Aroha, that could provide direction and give confidence and certainty to the implementers of national water policy. Such an approach would need to be supported by a broader bicultural policy and we suggest an overarching philosophy Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho, which would encompass all natural ‘resource’ management, providing a korowai (cloak) for the management of each particular ‘resource’ or taonga (treasure) including freshwater. This type of bicultural proposal could inform freshwater and wider natural ‘resource’ management policymaking, regulatory frameworks, and implementation nationally and internationally.

Fishing for conservation of freshwater tropical fishes in the Anthropocene

Abstract The ecosystem services provided by freshwater biodiversity are threatened by development and environmental and climate change in the Anthropocene. Here, case studies are described to show that a focus on the shared dependence on freshwater ecosystem functioning can mutually benefit fisheries and conservation agendas in the Anthropocene. Meeting the threat to fish biodiversity and fisher livelihood is pertinent in developing regions where there is often a convergence between high biodiversity, high dependency on aquatic biota and rapid economic development (see Kafue River, Logone floodplain, Tonle Sap, and Rio Negro case studies). These case studies serve as evidence that biodiversity conservation goals can be achieved by emphasizing a sustainable fisheries agenda with partnerships, shared knowledge and innovation in fisheries management (see Kafue River and Kenai River case studies). In all case studies, aquatic biodiversity conservation and fisheries agendas are better served if efforts focused on creating synergies between fishing activities with ecosystem functioning yield long‐term livelihood and food security narratives. A unified voice from conservation and fisheries communities has more socio‐economic and political capital to advocate for biodiversity and social interests in freshwater governance decisions.

Developing algorithm for estimating chlorophyll-a concentration in the Thac Ba Reservoir surface water using Landsat 8 Imagery

Developing algorithm for estimating chlorophyll-a concentration in the Thac Ba Reservoir surface water using Landsat 8 Imagery

Freshwater Governance on Limboto Lake in Gorontalo Province of Indonesia

This study investigates the nature of governance system around Limboto Lake and its impact on the conservation of the freshwater resources. It also seeks to understand the structural process and contribution of local knowledge in freshwater conservation, which is a gap identified in freshwater governance. Data was based on residents’ impact and institutions involved in collation, formulation and implementation of freshwater policy. Based on the findings there is a unanimous indication that, locals are not part of freshwater governance at Limboto Lake and this finding has nothing to do with their educational background. This renders the system of governance as a top-bottom approach. Indications are that this system does not support the conservation of the Lake considering the apathy in adhering to rules and regulation by the locals. The locals believe that their contributions and participation would help strengthen capacities of knowledge and practices in freshwater governance to reduce degradation.

Knowledge Relationships in Freshwater Governance

Freshwater governance (policy formulation and implementation) are usually undertaken with little consideration to the thought process of the owners of the resources and resource environment. Even though considerable efforts have been made to the social change theory by incorporating stakeholder’s views, the individual-level or local-level insights as well as constructs and environmental connections (cognitive view) in freshwater challenges are usually left out. Using the case study research design, with emphasis on the descriptive design helped to access local knowledge in freshwater governance. The mixed method approach, helped to put together information based on behavioural concerns, the spirituality of the people, and the resource environmental issues required for the analysis and discussion of the data, while drawing meaningful conclusion from data. The results provide a framework, which will help to address interventions that simultaneously address both development and behavioural determinants of freshwater degradation, toward social change conservation policy in reducing crisis in freshwater governance.

La gouvernance des rivières en Nouvelle-Zélande : une solution élégante ?

This chapter is grounded in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand while drawing on larger references, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, the Rio+ 20 Declaration and constitutional provisions for Rights of Nature. The chapter analyses a proposed new model for the contentious issue of freshwater governance in New Zealand based on responsible use which also addresses the complex world of state-Māori relations.

Challenges to Water Security along the “Emerald Coast”: A Political Ecology of Local Water Governance in Nicaragua

Despite being a water-rich country, Nicaragua struggles to secure clean water access for many of its residents. In addition to distributional and water quality issues, a prolonged drought affecting all regions of the country has compounded preexisting governance challenges to ensuring rural water needs. This article focuses on a rural community along the southwest Pacific Coast of Tola, Nicaragua, where tourism development and drought converge to produce and exacerbate water insecurity. This article examines this water insecurity in the context of two recent national water laws in Nicaragua (passed in 2007 and 2010 respectively) that sought to provide a more comprehensive legal framework for freshwater water governance. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews and groundwater and meteorological data, we contend that water laws have not effectively mediated the hydrological effects of prolonged drought and tourism development, resulting in pronounced water insecurity for local populations in Tola. We cast the findings of this research as relevant to other water insecure areas in Latin America where industry development and weak policy implementation impact the creation and resolution of local water security—including insecurity compounded by increased climatic variability.

Reframing water governance praxis: Does reflection on metaphors have a role?

Action for adaptation is needed in the face of anthropogenic climate change. The record of adaptation in the field of freshwater governance is poor to date, as it is apparently constrained by operational frameworks. Analyses based on the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor can reveal underlying, often institutionally reified, operational frameworks. We present a desktop metaphor mapping study of one UK and one Australian water management planning document. This mapping demonstrates the potential of metaphor analysis, with further methodological and praxis development, to support the new ways of thinking and acting that are needed to challenge deeply held social and cultural norms of linear, rather than systemic, causality. We suggest that metaphor has the potential to help practitioners expose and examine reified operational frameworks and practices, and to change those that hinder adaptive and systemic praxis.

Edith Brown Weiss. International Law for a Water-Scarce World * Laurence Boisson De Chazournes. Fresh Water in International Law * Pierre Thielborger. The Right(s) to Water. The Multi-Level Governance of a Unique Human Right

Water has been a challenging issue over centuries. From questions of national boundaries and navigation, quite common in past, to development of a human right to water, this essential element for human life has always spurred debate among international lawyers, economists, political scientists, geographers, and anthropologists. The reason may be found in scarcity of water, a phenomenon which affects both developed and developing countries. Much has been written on topic, but three books under review significantly contribute to a critical analysis of some pertinent legal issues related to water. The title of each monograph reflects purpose of respective study. Hence, International Law for a Water-Scarce World by Brown Weiss starts from acknowledgement that the fresh water crisis is new environmental crisis of 21st century (at 1) and provides an integrated analysis of water law, which considers climate implications, river basins, and availability and quality of fresh water. Boisson De Chazournes' Fresh Water in International Law investigates status of fresh water in international law. The choice of titles of chapters is particularly evocative. Thus, after a chapter on regulation of fresh water use, book continues with chapters on Economization of law applicable to fresh water, its Environmentalization, followed by its Humanization, and Institutionalization Trends in Fresh Water Governance, before focusing on dispute settlement mechanisms. The use of ending -zation gives immediate impression of evolution of law on fresh water resources, which now includes several separate but clearly interrelated aspects. The title of third book, written by Thielborger, deserves attention for two elements, first being letter s inside parentheses and second being adjective unique used for identifying human right to water.

Who's in and who's out? Inclusion and exclusion in Canterbury's freshwater governance

AbstractThe question of who is included, or who is excluded, from environmental governance arrangements is at the heart of debates of institutional legitimacy. The recent redefinition of representation as a claim to ‘speak for’ another provides an opportunity to re‐examine the inclusiveness of environmental governance arrangements. This article builds on these developments by empirically evaluating the inclusiveness of three representative claims embedded in freshwater governance in Canterbury since 2002. The contribution argues that accounts of environmental governance must consider implicit forms of representation that can exclude or marginalise and raises some caveats relating to expansion of network governance.

Measure, model, optimise: Understanding reductionist concepts of value in freshwater governance

Approaches to freshwater governance frequently focus on the identification, elicitation and measurement of diverse and competing stakeholder ‘values‘ relating to water resources. The categorisation of ‘values’ has politics – it defines the stakeholders involved, legitimises particular ‘ways of knowing’ and empowers certain developmental trajectories over others. This paper examines the emergence of a reductionist freshwater knowledge-governance methodology in New Zealand, and situates it across its epistemic, institutional and political trajectories. The River Values Assessment System (RiVAS) was conceived as a scalar tool to help local authorities assess and rank rivers according to their ability to provide for a given ‘value’ such as swimming, birdlife or irrigation. Its structural foundations emerged from (1) the rise of conservation science methodologies which attempt to create commensurate values for water bodies, (2) the transfer of these methodologies to the realm of social ‘values’ of river systems, and (3) regional authorities’ need for an ‘objective’ metric to defend water allocation decisions in a decentralising regulatory environment. A reductionist framework of value carries implications for governance, including issues around representation (whose values matter?), and risks excluding emergent concepts of place in both biophysical and sociocultural dimensions. To engage with these emerging logics of governance, geographers need to understand their underlying epistemological, institutional and political underpinnings, as well as the management challenges facing agencies. Through understanding the multiple practices that shape knowledge and governance trajectories, we can begin to think about how to practise values governance differently.

Modeling Soft Institutional Change and the Improvement of Freshwater Governance in the Coastal Zone

Mongruel, R., J. Prou, J. Ballé-Béganton, M. Lample, A. Vanhoutte-Brunier, H. Réthoret, J. Pérez Agúndez, F. Vernier, P. Bordenave, and C. Bacher. 2011. Modeling soft institutional change and the improvement of freshwater governance in the coastal zone. Ecology and Society 16(4): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04294-160415