Water Governance Issues Research Articles

Examination of regional water governance and water insecurity issues in Central Asia

Examination of regional water governance and water insecurity issues in Central Asia

Is there public desire for a federal takeover of water resource management in Australia?

Multi-jurisdictional water governance issues remain an ongoing challenge in transboundary and other water resource areas. Achieving coordinated and effective governance at the local, state, federal and international levels remains critical for good water governance. Under Australia's 1901 Constitution, states have the power to allocate water resources. To date, water resources in numerous areas have been overallocated to consumptive use, causing increasing environmental sustainability challenges. This is particularly prevalent in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), which spans four states and one territory, posing significant governance challenges. Due to the difficulties of changing and coordinating water management across multiple states, a growing number of Australians are calling for a complete Federal takeover of water resources through constitutional amendment. To change the Constitution, a double majority vote would be required, namely from both the Australian public nationally and from a majority of voters in a majority of the states. This study investigates the Australian public's desire for a Commonwealth takeover of water resources, focussing specifically on the MDB. It finds only lukewarm support for a Commonwealth takeover of water resources, with less than four in ten participants supporting the proposal. Overall, the ACT and South Australia are the only areas with a slight majority in favour of the takeover. One of the strongest predictors of support was location (such as living in a MDB state, and especially South Australia), but other significant factors included age, education, children, home ownership and trust in the Federal government and university researchers. We conclude that a complete water resource takeover by Federal government is highly unlikely to occur, but offer insights into other areas where increasing Federal intervention is warranted.

Sharing water in the international Tagus River basin: a geopolitical approach to explaining water governance issues in Spain

This paper provides an overview of different policies, political strategies and spatial conflicts on water issues in 21st century Spain, with an illustrating example about the management of the Tagus River. This international river basin, which is shared between Spain and Portugal, must meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, as all the river basins in the European Union do. The power granted to Spanish regions, their asymmetric economic development patterns, and the worsening droughts associated with climate change have created a water conflict. This paper shows, through the French geopolitical approach, how water policy in Spain has evolved these last decades and how water scarcity has become a geopolitical representation in certain territories. This study focuses on the territorial observation of power rivalries at different scales, providing new and complementary elements that can help understand water governance challenges in Spain in the years to come.

Mapping Environmental/Sustainable Governance Research in Chile: A Bibliometric and Network Analysis

In light of increasing concerns about the efficacy of environmental governance (EG) to address the global sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene era, more integrative, transversal, and far-reaching approaches, referred to here as sustainability governance (SG), are gaining ground both in governance praxis and in research. Empirical and methodological challenges emerge from this conceptual analytical cleavage between EG and SG. Through a combination of bibliometric and network analysis, the objective of this article is to explore the structure and trends in the field of EG/SG research in Chile, internationally regarded as the posterchild of Latin-American EG/SG, and derive empirical insights to feed the analytical distinction between EG and SG that informs global debates about ways forward towards an effective governance in the Anthropocene. Our results show that scientific research on EG/SG has experienced a significant increase since the 1990s. We find that while the topical range of the field is broad, including water governance, biodiversity conservation, environmental institutions, climate change and energy issues, and environmental conflicts and justice, key cross-cutting socio-economic and cultural dynamics underpinning the prevalent, yet fundamentally unsustainable, ways of life and economic model are virtually absent from the field, against their growing presence in diagnoses of “sustained unsustainability”.

Governance Mechanisms and Barriers for Achieving Water Quality Improvements in Galapagos

Human activities contribute to the degradation of water quality on the Galapagos Islands, affecting human health and Galapagos’ fragile ecosystem. Despite the numerous resources vested in water management, programs have yet to achieve measurable improvements in water quality. To identify the governance mechanisms and barriers to improving water quality, we applied a two-pronged strategy: a collaborative, bottom-up compilation and prioritization of technical specialists and stakeholders’ concerns, and an evaluation of top-down government plans. The comparison of priorities and programs shows four major themes that require attention: barriers to better governance, community involvement, research, and policy. The islands lack a transparent method for accountability of the funds designated for water management, the efficacy of implementation, and results and progress beyond government periods. Government projects have included limited public participation, resulting in projects that do not meet stakeholder’s needs and concerns. Furthermore, the majority of the programs have not been completed within the timeline or budgets allocated. We recommend implementing a participatory governance mechanism that responds to each island’s context, balances socioecological and policy priorities and evaluates past projects to have adequate benchmarking, mitigating a planning fallacy. All programs should be accompanied by a transparent monitoring system that ensures accountability and evaluates water quality programs’ efficiency and effectiveness, according to goals and indicators developed collaboratively. This research may aid practitioners in small island developing states (SIDS) around the globe that are struggling with similar water management and governance issues and who may benefit from taking a bottom-up and top-down approach to assessing technical specialists’ and local stakeholders’ concerns in relation to past, present and future government programs.

Rethinking Stormwater: Analysis Using the Hydrosocial Cycle

Water management and governance continues to rely on the scientific and engineering principles of the hydrologic cycle for decision-making on policies and infrastructure choices. This over-reliance on hydrologic-based, technocratic, command-and-control management and governance tends to discount and overlook the political, social, cultural, and economic factors that shape water-society relationships. This paper utilizes an alternative framework, the hydrosocial cycle, to analyze how water and society shape each other over time. In this paper, the hydrosocial framework is applied to stormwater management in the United States. Two hydrosocial case studies centered on rain and stormwater are investigated to highlight how stormwater management can benefit from a hydrosocial approach. The insights and implications from these case studies are then applied to stormwater management by formulating key questions that arise under the hydrosocial framework. These key questions are significant to progressing stormwater management to more sustainable, resilient, and equitable outcomes for environmental and public safety and health. This paper frames a conversation for incorporating the hydrosocial framework into stormwater management and demonstrates the need for an interdisciplinary approach to water management and governance issues.

Water Security and Social Inclusion: Local Governance within the Newly Established Rural Municipalities in Nepal

In the Himalayan foothills of Nepal, water demand is increasing while many water sources are depleting. Local levels of government may play a role in tackling local water problems in a fair manner, or in failing to adapt to changing conditions. Nepal has recently undergone rapid changes in its institutional governance setting. Rural Municipalities (RMs) were established in mid-2017 as new, democratic, local tiers of governance. Their responsibilities include ensuring equitable access to water for all citizens, in line with the new Constitution. RMs must tackle decreasing water availability, increasing demands for domestic, agricultural and commercial uses, impacts of climate change, and the challenges of ensuring inclusive and participatory decision-making. At the same time, they are newly appointed finding their position and responsibilities after years of management by line ministries in Kathmandu. The study analyzes the current status of rural municipalities in remote areas of Sudurpashchim and Karnali Provinces in terms of their institutional capacity to implement inclusive water governance and water security in collaboration with a large donor project. It uses the OECD Principles on Water Governance (OECD 2011, 2015) as a framework. This research asks what the current water governance issues are in this setting of collaboration. The opportunities identified include the potential for more accountable policy formulation at a closer level to the community, by leaders who are more representative and accountable to their citizens and are aware of specific local water issues. On the other hand, there is a risk that policy formulation and accountability of governance could go astray. We conclude that this is a key moment to support the fledgling rural municipalities and demonstrate ways to build their capacities to secure safe water for all.

A portfolio of China’s urban water governance sector: administrative system, coordination problems and policy evolution

ABSTRACTUrban water governance in China has received increasing academic and policy attention owing to frequent urban water crises. Drawing on documentary analysis and field investigations, this article analyzes the administrative system and recent policy developments vis-à-vis urban water governance in China. It demonstrates the main problems of, and mechanisms for, interdepartmental and interjurisdictional coordination, and reviews new policy instruments addressing urgent urban water governance issues. The article argues that coordination mechanisms such as the river chief system are promising but their long-term effectiveness remains to be clarified, and more attention should be paid to policy enforcement and market mechanisms.

Urbanisation and water insecurity in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: Insights from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan

AbstractThis paper reviews the interlinkages of critical state of water resources, supply systems, rapid urbanisation and demand regime, aggravated by tourism leading to increasing water insecurity in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). Urban centres in the HKH have been defined based on different criteria, but mountain-specific criteria are lacking. In the mountains, small settlements such as district headquarters perform a large number of functions, typical of an urban centre. However, they are not formally classified as urban centres because they do not meet the census-defined nationally set criteria of the respective country. Nonetheless, water insecurity is a reality, attributed to: (i) water governance issues; (ii) inappropriate urban planning, failing, and to some extent, unable to account for the floating population, such as tourists; and (iii) the scourge of climate change which could worsen the situation further. Short-term coping strategies to meeting water demands often involve unsustainable solutions, such as groundwater extraction, with long-term repercussions. However, long-term strategies for water sustainability by the governments have been beneficial while others are yet to show success. Initiatives by civil society and governments along similar lines in other countries could lead to a water-secure future for the fragile urban centres of the HKH region.

Networks of Swiss Water Governance Issues. Studying Fit between Media Attention and Organizational Activity

This study analyzes Swiss water governance as a network of interrelated issues. It compares how organizations reflect relations between governance issues in their activity with the way issue relations are depicted by the media (issue attention-activity fit). To do so, a media data analysis, supported by machine learning, is combined with a nation-wide survey. Prominent areas of misfit relate to the coordination between water saving measures and drought risks; the exploitation of subterranean resources and drinking water protection; and issues of micropollutants. The study demonstrates that comparing organizational activity with media attention is particularly well suited to recognize newly emerging, currently neglected areas of governance.

Running Out of Water and Options? An Assessment of Current Drought and Water Scarcity Management Options in England and Wales

Droughts are a recurring feature of UK climate. This paper asks what drought and water scarcity management options are currently applied in England and Wales and contrasts it with international literature. This research will also deviate from the standard differentiation of supply versus demand options and present a new classification focussing on different stakeholder groups or overarching water governance issues. This new typology helps identifying weaknesses in current drought and water scarcity management. The literature review shows a tendency towards proactive measures that focus on cross-sectoral collaboration, abstractor groups and valuing water. In contrast, the results for England and Wales, based on an analysis of water companies’ Water Resources Management Plans, show that only a limited number of the international available options are applied and that the currently applied options focus on restricting water use in times of drought but focus less on preventing droughts in a larger context of water governance. Thus, to tackle future challenges such as climate change and population growth, water companies and regulators should embrace the introduction of more proactive drought management options.

Institutional Analysis of Water Governance in Pakistan

Pakistan is said to be at the brink of being a water-scarce country current per capita water availability is 1090 m3 per year. This point to the water governance issues in Pakistan. Given these problems, a debate among scholars and policymakers is what governance model should Pakistan adopt to manage its water resources effectively. A few of them are a proponent of privatization of water, while others argue that traditional warabandi can still be an effective way to manage the water if certain loopholes in the system can be addressed. In this paper, we discuss both models and analysis with institutional theories of (water) property rights and relations, state authority, and neoliberalism to analyze the pros and cons of both models. In conclusion, we enlist the problems that persist in both models and provide recommendations for better governance of water in Pakistan.

Women, Water Resource Management, and Sustainable Development: The Turkey-North Cyprus Water Pipeline Project

Women’s role in water resource management is recognized, yet the implementation of methods and strategies to get beyond gender-based obstacles to women’s equal participation in water resource management related projects remain vague. Mainstream considerations on the gender aspects of development and environment focus on women as having an intrinsic relationship with the environment. Women are perceived as a natural reflection of their responsibilities for the household and the comfort and security of future generations. Contrary to mainstream environmental and political ecology research, this paper sees gender as relevant within policy and practice across multiple levels, and within institutions related to natural resource governance. Based on this, the paper looks at the sustainable development and water governance issues with the help of a specific case: the Turkey-North Cyprus Water Pipeline Project. Through broad reviews of project documentation, interviews with people who were directly involved with the project and with women’s organizations the paper draws insights on the gender aspect of the decision-making mechanisms related to water governance. The results indicate that participation by women in resource management is marginal in North Cyprus. The paper discusses that this is a reflection of a broader problem, which is gender inequality. In conclusion, one can argue that future water projects need to realize more sustainable outcomes and greater effects on gender equality in North Cyprus.

Using complexity science and negotiation theory to resolve boundary-crossing water issues

Many water governance and management issues are complex. The complexity of these issues is related to crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. Resolution of these issues usually requires interactions of many parties with conflicting values and interests operating across multiple boundaries and scales to make decisions. The interdependence and feedback among interacting variables, processes, actors and institutions are hard to model and difficult to forecast. Thus, decision-making related to complex water problems needs be contingent and adaptive. This paper draws on a number of ideas from complexity science and negotiation theory that may make it easier to cope with the complexities and difficulties of managing boundary crossing water disputes. It begins with the Water Diplomacy Framework that was developed and tested over the past several years. Then, it uses three key ideas from complexity science (interdependence and interconnectedness; uncertainty and feedback; emergence and adaptation) and three from negotiation theory (stakeholder identification and engagement; joint fact finding; and value creation through option generation) to show how application of these ideas can help enhance effectiveness of water management.

Achieving SDG 6: water resources sustainability in Caribbean Small Island Developing States through improved water governance

Scientific findings confirm that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean are experiencing droughts and sea level rises that are contributing to saline intrusion of underground aquifers and surface water sources. This paper, using Trinidad as a case study, analyses water governance challenges in meeting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which addresses the sustainability of water resources. Interviews were conducted with professionals from multi‐disciplinary backgrounds. Also, data provided by the water agency were analysed to evaluate water governance practices. The main contribution of this paper is the generation of a blend of policies, good practices and tools to confront growing threats to water security and to attain sustainable development in Caribbean SIDS in an era of climate change and increasing non‐climatic stressors. The paper concludes that economic, environmental and human resources, reformed administrative and legislative systems, and technological tools are fundamental to achieving good water governance. Moreover, an array of complementary policies and technologies is needed to resolve water governance issues. However, political will to implement sustainable water resources management is the greatest challenge in attaining SDG 6.

Water governance for sustainable development: International practices and implications for the Mekong Delta region

Water governance takes a vital role in sustainable development in the developing world. Population growth, economic development and technological improvement have raised the water demand but water supply is becoming unstable due to natural changes. Water scarcity leads to not only environmental pressures but also social tensions due to the fact that water resources are distributed unevenly across countries, regions, and social groups. In this paper, we firstly review water governance around the world and then investigate the water governance issues in Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta. International practices including tools, models and challenges of water governance would be valuable lessons for water policies in Vietnam.

Applying a ‘Value Landscapes Approach’ to Conflicts in Water Governance: The Case of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway

Values have been identified as important factors to estimate preferences within water governance and to assess the political legitimacy of water governance in a given time and location. The present study applies an interdisciplinary ‘value landscapes approach’ to water governance in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, using conflicts around the construction of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway as a case study. Using material from interviews with major stakeholders in the region, the results demonstrate that supporters of the waterway hold similar ‘value landscapes’ around economic values of water, efficiency, order, and economic development, while opponents' ‘value landscapes’ centre on cultural and non-economic values of water, social justice, solidarity, conservation and tradition. This suggests that persistent conflicts around the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway are only an expression of much deeper value conflicts that are also relevant to other water governance issues. Moreover, values expressed through the planned construction of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway disproportionately reflect values of powerful stakeholder groups such as the agribusiness sector, which significantly undermines its political legitimacy.

Domestic Water Charges in Ireland - Issues and Challenges Conveyed through Social Media

This paper analyses a Twitter dataset to explore water governance and stakeholder engagement during the introduction of domestic water charges in Ireland. The results highlight active Twitter use during the analysis period, reflective of widespread protest centred on a new utility, Irish Water. The analysis shows protest activities were dispersed and not cohesive, with tweets largely focused on economic and political issues and not on the provision of a sustainable water supply. The findings extend our understanding of these events and provide some insights into the role of social media in water governance and stakeholder engagement issues in an Irish and wider context.

Performance evaluation of lake basin water governance using composite index

A Lake Basin Water Governance Performance Composite Index (LBWGPCI) framework was developed to test and evaluate the performance of water governance for lake basins using the Songkhla Lake Basin (SLB), Thailand as a case study. The LBWGPCI integrates a range of water resources and environmental related indicators together to provide a holistic profile of lake basin key water governance issues. The purpose of this work was to identify, examine, develop and analyze key lake basin water governance performance indicators, test them on the SLB, and make appropriate recommendations for improvement. In the light of the results obtained in this study, overall composite index of the LBWGPCI indicated poor performance, which required high priority, urgent and critical actions. We conclude that the water governance performance of the SLB is still evolving and has a lot of great potential to grow in the right direction if the current focus and commitment of government and stakeholders at all levels, are maintained and sustained.

Towards sustainable water governance: Examining water governance issues in Québec through the lens of multi-loop social learning

The focus of this paper is on multi-loop social learning processes required to move towards more sustainable water governance. Multi-loop social learning is recognized as a crucial element to decision-making involving a process of managing change where the central methodological concern is with effectively engaging the necessary participation of system members in contributing to the collective knowledge for more sustainable policy outcomes. A research framework that provides a deeper understanding of the conditions required for the facilitation of multi-loop social learning is developed to assess the capacity for multi-loop social learning of the Québec water governance system. This research focuses in particular on six watershed management organizations and their watershed territories. In total, 41 semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff of the watershed management organizations as well as with actors and stakeholders associated with three of the six studied watershed territories. This study shows that although the watershed management organizations have the potential to fulfill a key role in facilitating multi-loop social learning, there are still a number of challenges that will need to be addressed to achieve this potential. Limited capacity and perceived credibility of the watershed management organizations and a mismatch between provincial- and local-level discourses, as well as a limited participation of a wide diversity of actors and stakeholders across different levels and scales, are examples of conditions that hinder the facilitation of multi-loop social learning in Québec. Opportunities to overcome some of these key challenges include renewing partnerships with stakeholders that have so far not been involved by exploring innovative tools for knowledge co-production, and accelerating the transition towards a more collaborative water governance system through the development of required traits and skills of current and future change makers and leaders.