scholarly journals Strengths and Weaknesses of the Dutch Implementation of the Water Framework Directive

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 269-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Squintani ◽  
Ernst Plambeck ◽  
Marleen van Rijswick
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Member States ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dutch Experience ◽  
Regional Water

The Netherlands has a long and fascinating history of water management. The main features of the Dutch water governance system for the implementation of the wfd are its regional water authorities based on hydrological scales and powers to regulate, decide and raise taxes for their water tasks. Their functional approach and the decentralised character make the regional water authorities very efficient and effective. It is therefore understandable that eu institutions and other Member States consider the Dutch system an interesting potential source of inspiration for other jurisdictions. Yet, it is not all gold what shines. This paper highlights the strength and weakness elements of the Dutch water governance system under the wfd. It exposes several points of concern. When considering using the Dutch experience as a source of inspiration in other Member States, these concerns should be taken in due account.

Weidebevloeiing in de Brabantse Scheeken

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14
Author(s):  
HANS BLEUMINK
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Irrigation System ◽  
Surface Irrigation ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Agricultural Water Management ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Water Boards

Historical surface irrigation of pastures in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant: visible traces of a failed experiment In the second half of the 19th century, some major changes occurred in the water management of the eastern and southern provinces of the Netherlands. Unlike the low-lying western parts of the Netherlands which were characterised by polders and had a long history of formal water boards, the higher eastern and southern parts of the Netherlands were characterized by brook systems and sandy soils, and had no centralised water boards until 1850. From the 1850s onward, water boards were introduced in these higher regions as well, and agronomical scientists and organisations like the Nederlandse Heidemaatschappij endeavoured for the modernisation of agricultural water management. One of their priorities was the introduction of modern forms of surface irrigation of pastures, in order to increase crop yields. In various places modern irrigation systems were constructed. From the 1900s onward, these systems were abandoned due to the introduction of new chemical fertilizers, among others. This article describes the construction and abandonment of one of these modern irrigation systems that was located in Liempde, in the province of Noord-Brabant. The local farmers were not interested in the new technique, and within a few years the system was transformed in a poplar plantation. Nowadays, the area is part of a nature reserve. Nonetheless, the global layout of the irrigation system is still visible.

Social learning in an environmental justice context: a case study of integrated regional water management

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (S2) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina L. Balazs ◽  
Mark Lubell
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Disadvantaged Community ◽  
Project Study ◽  
Regional Water

California recently implemented a statewide effort to learn how best to outreach to and involve ‘disadvantaged communities’ in integrated regional water management (IRWM) planning. Using the case of the Kings Basin Water Authority's Disadvantaged Community Pilot Project Study, we argue that social learning is a key mechanism through which the procedural and distributive justice goals of environmental justice are integrated into water resources planning. Using interviews, focus groups and survey results, we find that social learning has short- and medium-term effects of increasing access to information, broadening stakeholder participation and developing initial foundations for structural changes to water governance. However, long-term change in the structure of IRWM institutions is, at best, in its early phases. Social learning provides a basis for changing water governance and management outcomes in ways that promote representation of traditionally marginalized groups and the water challenges they face.

scholarly journals Improving governance in transboundary cooperation in water and climate change adaptation

Water Policy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1014-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos Timmerman ◽  
John Matthews ◽  
Sonja Koeppel ◽  
Daniel Valensuela ◽  
Niels Vlaanderen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Oecd Principles

Abstract Climate change adaptation in water management is a water governance issue. While neither climate change nor water respects national borders, adaptation in water management should be treated as a transboundary water governance issue. However, transboundary water management is, in essence, more complex than national water management because the water management regimes usually differ more between countries than within countries. This paper provides 63 lessons learned from almost a decade of cooperation on transboundary climate adaptation in water management under the UNECE Water Convention and puts these into the context of the OECD principles on water governance. It highlights that good water governance entails a variety of activities that are intertwined and cannot be considered stand-alone elements. The paper also shows that this wide variety of actions is needed to develop a climate change adaptation strategy in water management. Each of the lessons learned can be considered concrete actions connected to one or more of the OECD principles, where a range of actions may be needed to fulfil one principle. The paper concludes that developing climate change adaptation measures needs to improve in parallel the water governance system at transboundary scale.

The Challenge of Externally Generated Collaborative Governance: California’s Attempt at Regional Water Management

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 428-437
Author(s):  
Bruce E. Cain ◽  
Elisabeth R. Gerber ◽  
Iris Hui
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Role Differentiation ◽  
Regional Collaboration ◽  
Local Agencies ◽  
Regional Water

Creating successful collaborative governance regimes is difficult, but can be especially hard when collaborations are externally generated by higher levels of government as opposed to self-generated by local agencies and stakeholders due to the lack of spontaneity. We analyze this problem as it applies to California’s Integrated Regional Water Governance Program. Public administration theory indicates that a core element in a successful collaboration is empowering local leaders who share the collaboration’s intended goal. However, the political concessions to local autonomy necessary to enact an externally generated collaboration can undermine its success. The tensions between maintaining local autonomy and creating a regional approach are inherently strong in a “layered collaborative governance” approach that acknowledges and accommodates local boundaries. Drawing on the concept of role differentiation, we hypothesize that the roles participants play in layered collaborative governance will frequently derive from their preexisting issue areas, geographic orientations, and power relations, but that program design incentives can influence which groups participate in the effort and how they engage. We test these hypotheses in the context of California’s Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) program. We find evidence of role differentiation on grant leadership both with respect to the initial goal of regional collaboration as well as later efforts to address the water issues of disadvantaged communities.

Waddenland Outstanding

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Wadden Sea ◽  
Last Millennium ◽  
Coastal Marshes ◽  
Settlement History ◽  
Political Unity ◽  
History Of

The Wadden Sea Region is comprised of the embanked coastal marshes and islands in the Wadden Sea near Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. This area retains an exceptional common history in all its aspects: archaeologically, economically, socially, and culturally. Its settlement history of more than two thousand years is unrivalled and still mirrored in the landscape. Even though it has never constituted a political unity, it still shares a landscape and cultural heritage. For example, the approaches to water management and associated societal organization developed in the region during the last millennium have set significant world standards. This book offers an overview of current research on history, landscape and cultural heritage of the Wadden Sea region.

scholarly journals Practitioners' viewpoints on citizen science in water management: a case study in Dutch regional water resource management

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Minkman ◽  
Maarten van der Sanden ◽  
Martine Rutten
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Small Sample Size ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Regional Water

Abstract. In recent years, governmental institutes have started to use citizen science as a form of public participation. The Dutch water authorities are among them. They face pressure on the water governance system and a water awareness gap among the general public, and consider citizen science a possible solution. The reasons for practitioners to engage in citizen science, and in particular those of government practitioners, have seldom been studied. This article aims to pinpoint the various viewpoints of practitioners at Dutch regional water authorities on citizen science. A Q-methodological approach was used because it allows for exploration of viewpoints and statistical analysis using a small sample size. Practitioners (33) at eight different water authorities ranked 46 statements from agree to disagree. Three viewpoints were identified with a total explained variance of 67 %. Viewpoint A considers citizen science a potential solution that can serve several purposes, thereby encouraging citizen participation in data collection and analysis. Viewpoint B considers citizen science a method for additional, illustrative data. Viewpoint C views citizen science primarily as a means of education. These viewpoints show water practitioners in the Netherlands are willing to embrace citizen science at water authorities, although there is no support for higher levels of citizen engagement.

scholarly journals National approaches of EU Member States in concluding bilateral social security agreements with third countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-172
Author(s):  
Frans Pennings
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Member States ◽  
Bilateral Agreements ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Security Agreements

This article describes the history of policies for making bilateral agreements by the Netherlands, a country with considerable migration to and from over time and one of the founding states of the EEC. For this reason, the characteristics of the agreements made and the main developments over time can provide a mirror for discussion of the bilateral agreements of other Member States. The development of the reasons of making bilateral agreements are described and this makes it possible to distinguish several generations of agreements. It is contended that this is useful in describing the agreements made by other countries.

scholarly journals A Socio-Ecological System Analysis of Multilevel Water Governance in Nicaragua

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1676
Author(s):  
Luis Montenegro ◽  
Jochen Hack
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
National Level ◽  
Ecological System ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Process Data ◽  
The Law

Nicaragua enacted its Water Law in 2007, with the Dublin Principles for sustainable water management and integrated water resources management as its guiding framework. Implementation of the law remains a challenge, but significant efforts have been made to roll out this new water resources framework, to improve water management by enhancing a multilevel water governance system. To analyze multilevel water governance in Nicaragua and diagnose stakeholders’ roles and compliance with the law, we applied a socio-ecological system framework and several methods of analysis to process data collected from 52 in-depth semistructured interviews conducted with key stakeholders in the water sector. We found that the major variables affecting multilevel water governance were social interests, administrative capacity, and political, economic, and legal arrangements. The results suggest that there is centralization at the national level, a tendency toward noncollective choice rules, little investment in water resources, and a lack of knowledge concerning conflict resolution mechanisms. For multilevel water governance, a lack of funds is the main social, economic, and political constraint, affecting interactions and outcomes. Nevertheless, there is great potential to improve water resource management in Nicaragua by enacting the self-funding schemes established in the law. Moreover, government institutions, users, and various networks are willing to participate and take action to implement the law.

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