Advancing Collaborative Water Governance: Unravelling Stakeholders’ Relationships and Influences in Contentious River Basins

Collaborative water governance (CWG) has emerged as a promising framework to tackle water management challenges. Simple identification of participants however is not enough to unravel the intricacies of stakeholders’ interlinkages, roles and influences for robust CWG. A clear understanding of the stakeholders’ landscape is therefore required to underpin CWG. In this work, we combine stakeholder analysis (SA), social network analysis (SNA) and participatory processes (PP) under a theoretical collaborative governance framework to advance CWG in the contentious Rapel River Basin (RRB), Chile. By combining these techniques, we identified a cohort of leading (and secondary) stakeholders, their relationships and critical roles on basin-wide CWG-enabling networks (collaborative ties, information flows and financial exchanges) and their influence to achieve a shared vision for water planning. The results show members of this cohort perform critical roles (bridging, connecting and gatekeeping) across the networks and in influencing explicit elements of the shared vision. Specific CWG-enabling networks properties indicate a weak adaptive capacity of stakeholders to deal with potential water management challenges and strong prospects for sharing innovative ideas/solutions and achieving long-term water planning goals. A major CWG implementation challenge in the RRB is the lack of a leading organisation. One way forward would be formally organising stakeholders of the identified cohort to advance CWG in the RRB. By implementing the methodological framework, we facilitated social learning, fostered trust among stakeholders and mobilised efforts towards implementing CWG in practice in the contentious RRB.

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Complement or competition in water governance? Analysing two collaborative water management arrangements in one river basin

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2020.202 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Irina Mancheva

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Governance ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

Regional Level ◽

Social Value ◽

Fish Migration ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Policy Documents ◽

Feasible Solutions

Abstract This study aims at advancing collaborative governance theory by investigating the interaction between two different collaborative arrangements within the same forested area of high ecological and social value in the Vindel River basin. Semi-structured interviews, policy documents and observations of board meetings were analysed based on analytical typologies of collaborative arrangements to answer the following questions: which factors can explain why a new collaborative arrangement was established within an area where one already existed? In what way do the two arrangements compete with or complement each other? And, to what extent do they address the effects of forestry on water? The analysis shows that a new collaborative arrangement was formed because the existing arrangement did not materialise certain stakeholders' expectations. Moreover, the two collaborative arrangements do not compete but rather complement each other. The newly established organisational/action collaborative arrangement presented those stakeholders most interested in on-the-ground action with the appropriate venue while freeing them from the organisational/policy arrangement that did not match their aims. However, both arrangements experienced power misbalances as certain stakeholders were perceived as having more influence on their agenda. Collaboration at this local-regional level was found to focus on limited problems with concrete and feasible solutions, such as fish migration, rather than on the complex problems with solutions marked by ecological uncertainty and power asymmetries, e.g. diffuse pollution from forestry.

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Water Co-Governance for Sustainable Ecosystems: Reflections and Recommendations from Pilot Processes in the UK

Water ◽

10.3390/w13131737 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 1737

Author(s):

Natalie Foster

Keyword(s):

Water Governance ◽

Stakeholder Analysis ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

Catchment Management ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Management Plans ◽

Working Together ◽

Uk Government ◽

Host Organization ◽

The Uk

As part of the Water Co-Governance for Sustainable Ecosystems (WaterCoG) project, this research evaluated two river catchment pilots in the United Kingdom (UK) via a series of semi-structured interviews in order to better understand how collaborative governance (co-governance) approaches contribute to water governance. The findings demonstrate that the participatory process used by catchment partnerships (comprising stakeholders working together within a catchment area) to co-produce knowledge has enabled them to jointly identify improvements that are more meaningful than previous actions to those involved or affected by the situation in their catchment. However, there are concerns about the balance of social, economic and environmental interests in decision making, as well as perceived misunderstandings about the situation in the catchment as a whole. All interviewees (comprising stakeholders from across different scales and levels of water governance) recognized benefits from working together. They also observed that progress to deliver measures is impeded by polices and institutions that are not conducive to partnership working. The interviewees recognized and valued the significant capacity and capability of catchment partnership host organization(s) to facilitate and enable the development of the catchment partnership. However, they also raised important questions about the host’s ability to represent the needs and interests of all catchment partnership members. The recommendations emerging from this research suggest ways to improve water co-governance, including considering the feasibility and desirability of the catchment partnership host; reconceptualizing catchment management plans as a process rather than an outcome; conducting and regularly reviewing a stakeholder analysis of catchment partnership members; working more closely together with other types of partnerships and committees; engaging in and providing opportunities for developing skills in systems thinking, social learning and collaborative actions; working with the UK Government to develop place-based policies and plans; and engaging in dialogue with the UK Government and other bodies to review access to funding and other types of resources.

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The HydroSocial Cycle approach to deepen on socio-ecological systems analysis and water management

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-599 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sandra Ricart ◽

Andrea Castelletti

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Social Learning ◽

Water Resources ◽

Recognition Performance ◽

Stakeholder Analysis ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

Water Systems ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Water Demands

<p>Balancing socio-ecological systems among competing water demands is a difficult and complex task. Traditional approaches based on limited, linear growth optimization strategies overseen by command/control have partially failed to account for the inherent unpredictability and irreducible uncertainty affecting most water systems due to climate change. Governments and managers are increasingly faced with understanding driving-factors of major change processes affecting multifunctional systems. In the last decades, the shift to address the integrated management of water resources from a technocratic &#8216;&#8216;top-down&#8217;&#8217; to a more integrated &#8216;&#8216;bottom-up&#8217;&#8217; and participatory approach was motivated by the awareness that water challenges require integrated solutions and a socially legitimate planning process. Assuming water flows as physical, social, political, and symbolic matters, it is necessary to entwining these domains in specific configurations, in which key stakeholders and decision-makers could directly interact through social-learning. The literature on integrated water resources management highlights two important factors to achieve this goal: to deepen stakeholders&#8217; perception and to ensure their participation as a mechanism of co-production of knowledge. Stakeholder Analysis and Governance Modelling approaches are providing useful knowledge about how to integrate social-learning in water management, making the invisible, visible. The first one aims to identify and categorize stakeholders according to competing water demands, while the second one determines interactions, synergies, overlapping discourses, expectations, and influences between stakeholders, including power-relationships. The HydroSocial Cycle (HSC) analysis combines both approaches as a framework to reinforce integrated water management by focusing on stakeholder analysis and collaborative governance. This method considers that water and society are (re)making each other so the nature and competing objectives of stakeholders involved in complex water systems may affect its sustainability and management. Using data collected from a qualitative questionnaire and applying descriptive statistics and matrices, the HSC deepens on interests, expectations, and power-influence relationships between stakeholders by addressing six main issues affecting decision-making processes: relevance, representativeness, recognition, performance, knowledge, and collaboration. The aim of this contribution is to outline this method from both theory and practice perspective by highlighting the benefits of including social sciences approaches in transdisciplinary research collaborations when testing water management strategies affecting competing and dynamic water systems.</p>

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

The American Review of Public Administration ◽

10.1177/0275074020908578 ◽

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.

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Water as a transnational element: a reflection on governance and global environmental management

KPGT_dlutz_1 ◽

10.5335/rjd.v34i3.12095 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 06-34

Author(s):

Francine Cansi ◽

Joaquin Melgarejo Moreno

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Water Allocation ◽

Water Governance ◽

Global Scale ◽

Inductive Method ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Basic Sanitation ◽

Long Term Trends ◽

Life On Earth

Considering water as an essential good for life on earth, reflecting on management and governance will be timely relevant. Governance for equitable water allocation is closely linked to a decentralized regime without strengthening competence at the subnational level. Having made such observations, the present study through the inductive method and the literature review through the thought of classical and contemporary authors, by the succinct writing format, does not wish to propose or hope to present solutions for water management, but rather to offer some contribution for a transnational look, as a possibility of a civilizing governance of an indispensable resource to life in all its senses, water. Considering that the causal elements of inequalities are territorial, there is a lack of coordination that seeks solutions to water, sometimes too much, sometimes in scarcity, sometimes polluted. From a demographic perspective, they reflect the intrinsic characteristics of local dynamics, diversity in access, including basic sanitation and the concentration of the deficit in certain population groups, whose priority is to make management decisions at mutually compatible and effective administrative levels. Thus, with the goal of identifying long-term trends, important factors and actors for defining issues on a global scale seek to understand variables that may influence the international scenario of sustainability and transnational water governance.

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The Challenges of Water Management and Governance in Cities

Water ◽

10.3390/w11061180 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1180 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kees van Leeuwen ◽

Jan Hofman ◽

Peter Driessen ◽

Jos Frijns

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Management Practices ◽

Water Governance ◽

Extreme Rainfall ◽

Governance Capacity ◽

River Flooding ◽

Governance Strategies ◽

Development Goals

Combined impacts of sea-level rise, river flooding, increased frequency and magnitude of extreme rainfall, heatwaves, water scarcity, water pollution, ageing or lacking infrastructures for water, wastewater and solid waste in rapidly urbanising regions in the world call for improved water management and governance capacity in cities to accelerate the transition to water-wise cities. The sixteen contributions to this Special Issue create further awareness and present solutions on integrated approaches, advanced water management practices and water governance strategies. It is concluded that cities require a long-term strategy and a multilevel water governance approach. Research has shown how important it is to involve the civil society and private parties early on in this process to create success. Collaboration among cities and regions by sharing best practices for rapid implementation are crucial to cope with nearly all Sustainable Development Goals.

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WaterCoG: Evidence on How the Use of Tools, Knowledge, and Process Design Can Improve Water Co-Governance

Water ◽

10.3390/w13091206 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 1206

Author(s):

Ilke Borowski-Maaser ◽

Morten Graversgaard ◽

Natalie Foster ◽

Madeleine Prutzer ◽

Allard Hans Roest ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Social Learning ◽

Process Design ◽

Water Governance ◽

Stakeholder Involvement ◽

Qualitative Evaluation ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

Shared Understanding ◽

The European Union ◽

Governance Processes

The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) encourages water managers to implement active stakeholder involvement to achieve sustainable water management. However, the WFD does not describe in detail how member states should operationalize participation. The need for local experience and local understanding of collaborative governance (co-governance) processes remains. The WaterCoG project evaluated 11 local pilot schemes. Building on the participatory, qualitative evaluation of pilot schemes from Sweden, United Kingdom, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Germany, the authors take a closer look at how co-governance can improve water governance, how water managers can make best use of tools and knowledge, and how they can improve process designs. The results reflect how social learning and successful co-governance are linked. Social learning as a shared understanding of complex ecosystem and water-management issues can be supported with active stakeholder involvement and citizen science. As such, in co-governance processes, stakeholders need technical access to data and knowledge and a shared process memory. This enables them to develop a shared understanding and facilitates bringing together competing interests and finding new solutions. Participatory tools became part of successful processes by building trust and knowledge based on commitment. However, proficient process design and facilitation make these tools more effective.

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Irrigated Agriculture in Malaysia and Vietnam: A Comparative Analysis of Water Governance Strategies

Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies ◽

10.2478/vjeas-2020-0002 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 31-61

Author(s):

Hanna Andrea Sand

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Food Security ◽

Management Practices ◽

Water Governance ◽

Irrigated Agriculture ◽

Political Systems ◽

Freshwater Resources ◽

Governance Strategies ◽

Insight Into

AbstractIrrigated agriculture has the potential to ensure food security, contribute to sustainable management, and preserve freshwater resources. At the same time, it is connected to problems such as water scarcity, environmental degradation and pollution, and poverty. This so-called “wicked” nature is addressed by comparatively analysing the strategies used for water governance in irrigated agriculture. To highlight its cross-sectoral nature, the concept of cross-sectoral alignment is introduced based on three governance criteria. The Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia and Vietnam are used to compare strategies as their differing political systems may lead to varying strategies and can thus offer greater insight into regional water management practices. The analysis suggests that the governance strategies used for irrigated agriculture have many similarities but also distinct differences. In particular, the influence of ODA in Vietnam as well as the way farmers are included in water management stand out in regards to the differences. Similar, however, are organisational set-ups, sectoral fragmentation, and insufficient supply of participatory mechanisms as well as generally low alignment across all categories. In consideration of the global importance of water management practices, only the aligned management of freshwater resources can increase environmental health and food security in the long term.

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Water Governance and Management in Indus Basin - Challenges & Threats

Studies of Applied Economics ◽

10.25115/eea.v38i3.3601 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Marium Sara Minhas Bandeali

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Civil Society ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Policy ◽

Water Governance ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Water Security ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

The State ◽

Indus Basin

Water governance and management are important challenges for the River Indus Basin in Pakistan. Water governance refers to social, political and economic factors that influence water management. The water scarcity and water security are a major concern for the state to control its water resources. The study aims to give Sindh water policy by exploring the challenges to Indus Basin in managing water resources and to identify opportunities Indus Basin can look to improve water management. Interviews were conducted from water experts and analysts having 5 years’ experience or more in the water sector of Pakistan through a semi-structured self-developed questionnaire using purposive sampling technique and transcripts were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that increasing population, climatic change and rising demand of water are major challenges Indus is facing and Indus with time is getting water-scarce therefore need strong institutions, civil society and legislatures to ensure equitable distribution of water and maintain the ecosystem. The study emphasizes that water governance and management are necessary for sustainable use of water. Pakistan, the water stress country needs to address ‘governance’ at a wider scale to solve problems in the Indus Basin for the livelihood of people. The research will benefit the state, water experts, institutions as well as civil society to promote efficient use of water in Indus Basin.

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