scholarly journals Conceptualizing environmental governance on the GBM basin

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marufa Akter
Keyword(s):  
River Water ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Regional Governance ◽  
Epistemic Community ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Lower Stream ◽  
Gbm Basin

River water sharing is an issue that is dealt by the South Asian neighboring countries for the last four decades. Water management of Ganges–Brahmaputra Meghna (GBM) basin is a controversial issue, which is not yet developed as a regional cooperative mechanism. The GBM river basin countries also represent the projection of relative power differences among its upper stream and lower stream countries. Considering the geopolitical context and hydro-politics of the region, the study examines potential scopes for effective regional governance to GBM’s ecological integrity and to share common river water among China, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. The study uses Rittberger et al. (2006) explanatory model (that explains three conditions—Problem, Cognitive and Hegemonic conditions) in the development of multilateral organizations in GBM region. The study deals with the question—what conditions facilitate GBM based water governance among five main riparian countries (upstream and downstream) in resolving the water scarcity challenges in the region. The paper argues that realization of shortage of water and environmental degradation as an interdependent problem, influence of an inclusive epistemic community (cognitive condition) and a hegemonic leadership (power is willing to accept the relative gain of others states for the absolute gain of itself)—are required to foster water resource governance of the GBM for sustainable development of the region.

scholarly journals Achieving Social and Ecological Outcomes in Collaborative Environmental Governance: Good Examples from Swedish Moose Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2329
Author(s):  
Sabrina Dressel ◽  
Annelie Sjölander-Lindqvist ◽  
Maria Johansson ◽  
Göran Ericsson ◽  
Camilla Sandström
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
Ecological Context ◽  
Discretionary Power ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social

Collaborative governance approaches have been suggested as strategies to handle wicked environmental problems. Evaluations have found promising examples of effective natural resource governance, but also highlighted the importance of social-ecological context and institutional design. The aim of this study was to identify factors that contribute to the achievement of social and ecological sustainability within Swedish moose (Alces alces) management. In 2012, a multi-level collaborative governance regime was implemented to decrease conflicts among stakeholders. We carried out semi-structured interviews with six ‘good examples’ (i.e., Moose Management Groups that showed positive social and ecological outcomes). We found that ‘good examples’ collectively identified existing knowledge gaps and management challenges and used their discretionary power to develop procedural arrangements that are adapted to the social-ecological context, their theory of change, and attributes of local actors. This contributed to the creation of bridging social capital and principled engagement across governance levels. Thus, our results indicate the existence of higher-order social learning as well as a positive feedback from within-level collaboration dynamics to between-level collaboration. Furthermore, our study illustrates the importance of institutional flexibility to utilize the existing knowledge across stakeholder groups and to allow for adaptations based on the social learning process.

scholarly journals Water ethics, justice, and equity in social-ecological systems conservation: lessons from the Queensland Wild Rivers Act

Water Policy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameer H. Shah ◽  
Lucy Rodina
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Water Ethics ◽  
Natural Rivers

Abstract The protection of natural rivers and watersheds face important concerns related to environmental (in)justice and (in)equity. Using the Queensland Wild Rivers Act as a case study, we advocate that ethical water governance attends to multiple and diverse values, specifically in ways that: (i) locate them within stakeholders' claims of inequality that emerge from a given or practiced water ethic; and (ii) historicize and understand them as resonating or reflecting natural resource management frameworks that have led to structural injustices. This approach, combined with adaptive co-governance, can contribute to more inclusive water ethics and even support reflexive spaces where radical change in social-ecological resource governance can be imagined.

scholarly journals Multilevel Environmental Governance: Vertical and Horizontal Influences in Local Policy Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi ◽  
Huang ◽  
Chen ◽  
Xu ◽  
Liu
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Local Policy ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Empirical Context ◽  
Local Water ◽  
Governance Network ◽  
Different Levels

In the context of multilevel governance, collaboration among governmental and non-governmental entities across different levels of government is increasingly popular in China’s environmental governance. Policy actors are engaged in two types of collaboration with other local governments: horizontal and vertical collaboration. Policy actors participate in horizontal collaboration when they work with entities at the same level, and in vertical collaboration when working with governments at different levels. This study examines multilevel environmental governance in China by studying how the decisions of policy actors to participate in local water governance networks are influenced by vertical pressures from higher level government and horizontal influences from other policy actors at the same level. We approach the research questions in the empirical context of local water governance in Dongguan city of Guangdong Province. With survey data collected from 31 municipal departments, 32 town governments, nine water-related private businesses and five NGOs, we tested the hypotheses with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions. The results indicate that vertical pressure and horizontal brokerage are both drivers for participation in the local water governance network.

scholarly journals Boundaries between inequality and difference in water governance

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Constante Martins
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Technical Competence

This article addresses the themes of inequality and difference in water governance in Brazil. The production of hierarchies in the arenas of governance is discussed, defending the hypothesis that the shift from difference to inequality is the result of practices of justification that consolidate the sovereignty of technical competence in environmental management. Some of the more significant findings of studies about the structure and functioning of River Basin Committees in different regions of the country are taken as reference for this discussion. Based on these findings, we discuss the discursive production of the Committees, the authority of the agents that embody the new principles of management, and the implications of the process of scientification of the politics. The article concludes by pointing out the importance of diversity in the construction of a new narrative of environmental governance.

State Restructuring and the Scale Politics of Rural Water Governance in Bolivia

2005 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Perreault
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Neoliberal Reforms ◽  
Rural Water ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
Traditional Resource Rights

Recent attempts to grant private concessions to water in Bolivia raise questions regarding the effects of the state's neoliberal restructuring on environmental governance. Like other Latin American states, Bolivia has enacted sweeping neoliberal reforms during the past two decades, including privatization of public sector industries, reduction of state services, and administrative decentralization. These reforms have been accompanied by constitutional reforms that recognized certain resource and political rights on the part of Bolivia's indigenous and campesino peoples. This paper examines the reregulation and rescaling of rural water management in Bolivia, and associated processes of mobilization on the part of peasant irrigators aimed at countering state reforms. Although traditional resource rights of peasant irrigators are strengthened by cultural aspects of constitutional reforms, rural livelihoods are undermined by economic liberalization. The paper examines the implications and contradictions of neoliberal reforms for rural water management in highland Bolivia. These processes are illustrated through a brief analysis of current organizational efforts on the part of peasant irrigators.

Challenges for integrated water resources governance in Brasilia metropolitan area

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa ◽  
Marcelo Facchina
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan region of Brasilia, Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – This work is a result of a the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of local participatory arenas in Brasilia, and is complemented by a set of 13 interviews held between November 2009 and March 2010 with a variety of actors involved in the promotion of sustainability in the region. Findings – The findings reveal that impediments to the good performance of environmental governance in the Federal District are a consequence to two main factors: institutional framework poorly transferred from the national level and incompatibility between the set of regulations and local electoral power dynamics. Research limitations/implications – As a consequence of the deliberate choice of one specific case, the conclusions of this paper may erroneously overemphasize the perils of participatory local governance rather than its potentials. Practical implications – By identifying a series of mechanisms that threaten positive partnerships between governments and civil society at the local level, this work serves as an important tool for public managers and civil society to engage in more fruitful partnerships. Originality/value – The paper provides a power-based analysis of a case of ineffectiveness of participatory mechanisms. In doing so, it also demonstrates that policy planning must be analysed from a variety of perspectives, and often involve coalitions that cut across the traditional state-society divide. The identification of the mechanisms behind the creation of these obstacles constitutes the originality and value of this paper.

scholarly journals Analysing inter-relationships among water, governance, human development variables in developing countries: WatSan4Dev database coherency analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 485-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dondeynaz ◽  
C. Carmona Moreno ◽  
J. J. Céspedes Lorente
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Sanitation Services

Abstract. The "Integrated Water Resources Management" principle was formally laid down at the International Conference on Water and Sustainable development in Dublin 1992. One of the main results of this conference is that improving Water and Sanitation Services (WSS), being a complex and interdisciplinary issue, passes through collaboration and coordination of different sectors (environment, health, economic activities, governance, and international cooperation). These sectors influence or are influenced by the access to WSS. The understanding of these interrelations appears as crucial for decision makers in the water sector. In this framework, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC) has developed a new database (WatSan4Dev database) containing 45 indicators (called variables in this paper) from environmental, socio-economic, governance and financial aid flows data in developing countries. This paper describes the development of the WatSan4Dev dataset, the statistical processes needed to improve the data quality; and, finally, the analysis to verify the database coherence is presented. At the light of the first analysis, WatSan4Dev Dataset shows the coherency among the different variables that are confirmed by the direct field experience and/or the scientific literature in the domain. Preliminary analysis of the relationships indicates that the informal urbanisation development is an important factor influencing negatively the percentage of the population having access to WSS. Health, and in particular children health, benefits from the improvement of WSS. Efficient environmental governance is also an important factor for providing improved water supply services. The database would be at the base of posterior analyses to better understand the interrelationships between the different indicators associated in the water sector in developing countries. A data model using the different indicators will be realised on the next phase of this research work.

scholarly journals Breaching Barriers: The Fight for Indigenous Participation in Water Governance

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2113
Author(s):  
Ryan Emanuel ◽  
David Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barriers To Participation ◽  
Political Landscapes

Indigenous peoples worldwide face barriers to participation in water governance, which includes planning and permitting of infrastructure that may affect water in their territories. In the United States, the extent to which Indigenous voices are heard—let alone incorporated into decision-making—depends heavily on whether or not Native nations are recognized by the federal government. In the southeastern United States, non-federally recognized Indigenous peoples continue to occupy their homelands along rivers, floodplains, and wetlands. These peoples, and the Tribal governments that represent them, rarely enter environmental decision-making spaces as sovereign nations and experts in their own right. Nevertheless, plans to construct the Atlantic Coast Pipeline prompted non-federally recognized Tribes to demand treatment as Tribal nations during permitting. Actions by the Tribes, which are recognized by the state of North Carolina, expose barriers to participation in environmental governance faced by Indigenous peoples throughout the United States, and particularly daunting challenges faced by state-recognized Tribes. After reviewing the legal and political landscapes that Native nations in the United States must navigate, we present a case study focused on Atlantic Coast Pipeline planning and permitting. We deliberately center Native voices and perspectives, often overlooked in non-Indigenous narratives, to emphasize Indigenous actions and illuminate participatory barriers. Although the Atlantic Coast Pipeline was cancelled in 2020, the case study reveals four enduring barriers to Tribal participation: adherence to minimum standards, power asymmetries, procedural narrowing, and “color-blind” planning. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for federal and state governments, developers, and Indigenous peoples to breach these barriers.

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