The EU Water Framework Directive – a key to catchment-based governance

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 105-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Holzwarth
Keyword(s):  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Transboundary River Basins ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Water Quality And Quantity ◽  
The Eu

The principles of good water governance require an effective water policy with a clear legal framework and institutional structure for managing river basins and aquifers. Integrated water resources management is essential and decision-making processes must be participatory and transparent. The development of the European Union's Water Framework Directive is outlined, and it is shown how it can serve as the basis of catchment-based governance for the successful management of water quality and quantity in transboundary river basins.

scholarly journals A review of the design and implementation of Ghana's National Water Policy (2007)

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Frimpong ◽  
Ronald Adamtey ◽  
Anders Branth Pedersen ◽  
Esther Wahaga ◽  
Anne Jensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
National Water

Abstract Access to water is a matter of daily survival for people around the world. Water is crucial for human survival and also central to the development of every nation. The recent literature on world water suggests that the water crisis being experienced is related to governance and not a real crisis of scarcity and stress. This paper aims at identifying water governance practices and the challenges associated with water governance in Ghana. The paper reviews the literature on the implementation of policy directives and actions with specific focus on water resources governance aspects of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Ghana. Ghana's National Water Policy is expected to turn the fortunes of the country around in terms of water resources management. Concerning water resources management, the policy advocates for an IWRM approach. Since its implementation, certain setbacks have been challenging the effectiveness of the policy, such as inadequate institutional capacity, inadequate funding, ineffective enforcement of existing regulations, inadequate legal framework, and lack of adequate data. The paper suggests, among other things, the building of both human and institutional capacity, and making the environment a government priority, as ways to contribute to the effective implementation of the National Water Policy.

scholarly journals Between Emulation and Assemblage: Analysing WFD Policy Transfer Outcomes in Turkey

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcin Demirbilek ◽  
David Benson
Keyword(s):  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
River Basins ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Monitoring Cost ◽  
Transboundary Cooperation ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Environmental Objectives

Turkey’s protracted European Union (EU) accession process has resulted in the transfer of environmental policy, primarily the water acquis. Despite a recent reversal in accession negotiations, this process is continuing and has thereby resulted in the active Europeanisation of Turkish water policy. However, the resultant pattern of Europeanisation remains poorly understood with questions arising as to whether policy transfer is leading to significant convergence with EU policy, or if a uniquely Turkish hybrid system of water governance is emerging. The paper therefore provides an analysis of transfer outcomes from the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), using eight core institutional features: identification of river basins; transboundary cooperation; environmental objectives setting; characterisation of river basins; monitoring; cost recovery and water pricing; river basin management planning; and public participation. While analysis of legal frameworks and their implementation shows many areas of emulation, some features of the WFD in Turkey are an amalgam of pre-existing water institutions, the mimetic influence of integrated water resources management (IWRM) norms, EU policy and changing national water policy priorities: what we call assembled emulation. This observation has implications for future studies on policy transfer, Europeanisation, IWRM and Turkish accession.

Transboundary water governance in the European Union: the (unresolved) allocation question

Water Policy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 496-513
Author(s):  
Gábor Baranyai
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Water Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
European Governance ◽  
The Eu

Abstract While the European Union (EU) has one of the most extensive and sophisticated supranational water policy worldwide, its transboundary governance framework has certain structural deficiencies that may eventually give rise to significant cooperation gridlocks over shared river basins. Most prominently, EU water law as well as the numerous European basin treaties almost comprehensively ignore transboundary water quantity management and allocation questions. This lacuna is due to a series of hydro-geographical, political and institutional factors prevailing at the time when the foundations of today's European framework of transboundary water governance were laid down in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, changing hydrological conditions points to increasing fluctuations in water quantities in European river basins. Due to their one-sided ecological focus, however, the existing European governance mechanisms may prove unable to handle a growing competition for water among riparian states in case of flow variations beyond historical ranges. This article investigates the roots and the possible future implications of the unresolved transboundary allocation question within the EU.

Good water governance and IWRM in Zambia: challenges and chances

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 845-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Uhlendahl ◽  
Pritam Salian ◽  
Claudia Casarotto ◽  
Jakob Doetsch
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Hydropower Production

The implementation of principles for water governance is widely accepted but challenging for the whole water sector of a developing country like Zambia, because of the legal and administrative changes and organizational requirements involved. In February 2010, a revised water policy for Zambia was approved by the Cabinet. The revised National Water Policy 2010 aims to improve water resources management by establishing institutional coordination and by defining roles as well as responsibilities for various ministries. Taking into account the previous political and administration changes, this paper points out the problems and challenges of the implementation of good water governance mechanisms in Zambia. Focusing on the Kafue River Basin, from which water is abstracted for a variety of conflicting purposes (like municipal supplies, industrial use, mining, irrigation of agricultural land, fishery activities, wetland reserves and hydropower production), the gaps in implementing good water governance and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Zambia are identified, as well as the factors causing these gaps in the Zambian water sector. The paper finishes with a overview of the opportunities given by the new water policy through Water User Associations (WUAs) at a local level.

scholarly journals Water assessment in transboundary river basins: the case of the Medjerda River Basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrianirina Sedera Rajosoa ◽  
Chérifa Abdelbaki ◽  
Khaldoon A. Mourad
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Transboundary River ◽  
Transboundary River Basins ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Over Exploitation

AbstractWater resources in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) face over-exploitation and over-pollution due to population growth, climate change and the lack of advanced water governance approaches. These challenges become more serious in transboundary river basins and may lead to conflict between riparian countries. The main objective of this paper is to assess water resources and needs at the Medjerda River Basin (MRB), shared by Tunisia and Algeria using the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system between 2020 and 2050. Four scenarios were built to assess the current and future status of the water supply and demands in both countries. The results show that water demands, and shortages are increasing, and some demand sites will face real water scarcity in the future due to climate change and development practices. Therefore, new allocation and management plans should be examined at the regional level based on real collaboration among all stakeholders.

Water governance, resilience and global environmental change – a reassessment of integrated water resources management (IWRM)

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Galaz
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Complex Behaviour ◽  
Global Environmental

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is gaining increased acceptance among water policy makers and researchers as a way to create more effective governance institutions, leading towards integrated water development solutions for poverty alleviation, while addressing social, economic and environmental aspects of water challenges. However, global environmental change poses fundamental challenges to water policy makers as it implies vast scientific, and hence, policy uncertainty; its implications for international water governance initiatives remain unspecified, effectively hindering dialogue on how current IWRM initiatives should be modified. This paper addresses the lag between our growing understanding of resilient interconnected freshwater resources (and their governance) and the reforms being promoted by policy makers. In particular, there is a need to rethink some of IWRM's key components to better tackle the challenges posed by the complex behaviour of interconnected social-ecological systems and global environmental change.

scholarly journals Going with the flow: Integrated Water Resources Management, the EU Water Framework Directive and ecological flows

Legal Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Howarth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Water Resources Management ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Eu Water Framework Directive ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
Water Legislation ◽  
Ecological Flows ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis paper seeks to relate strategic themes in water resources management to the practicalities of imposing particular regulatory measures on water uses and to protect aquatic ecosystems. Specifically, a contrast is drawn between the global imperative of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and the sectoral (issue-by-issue) approach to water regulation that has traditionally prevailed in both regional (EU) and national legislation. The intuitive attractions of ‘integration’ are contrasted with the challenges of interrelating this to the diverse purposes for which water legislation is adopted, both for human needs and for ecological purposes. These challenges are well illustrated in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) which purports to adopt an ‘integrated’ approach, but is actually concerned with water quality, largely to the exclusion of other water-related concerns. Insofar as the Directive does seek to secure integration between water quality and water quantity concerns in surface water, this is only done in a secondary or incidental way. Water flow becomes relevant only where specified environmental objectives under the Directive are not being met. However, the legally contingent status of flow has been bolstered markedly by recent guidance on ecological flows under the WFD Common Implementation Strategy. The significance of this guidance is discussed and related to the implementation challenges that it raises. In relation to the UK, and particularly England, it is argued that the response to addressing water flow issues arising under the WFD had been dilatory and inadequate. Concluding observations reflect on the global, regional and national challenges to integration of water legislation as they have been illustrated by the discussion of regulating for ecological water flows.

Going with the flow: river basins as the natural units for water management?

Water Policy ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (S2) ◽  
pp. 121-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Warner ◽  
Philippus Wester ◽  
Alex Bolding
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Water Policy ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
River Basins ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Basin Management ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Basin Boundaries

This article engages with the currently hegemonic status of a triad of water policy prescriptions: multi-stakeholder platforms, integrated water resources management, and river basin management. A more reflective approach that opens up the choices underlying these concepts, and their limits, is needed. The choice to manage water on the basis of river basins is a political choice, and thus river basins are as much political units as they are natural units. The article concludes that the delineation of river basin boundaries, the structuring of stakeholder representation, and the creation of institutional arrangements for river basin management are political processes that revolve around matters of choice, and hence require democratic debate.

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