Better water governance is increasingly recognised as a key to achieving socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically effective outcomes. What are the key issues in water governance? How can good practice be determined? This paper from the Australian Mekong Resource Centre examines case material from five country studies: Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Vanuatu and Indonesia. It reflects on drivers of change, issues of scale, roles in water governance and equity issues, and overall argues that good water governance is heavily defined by contextual factors.
The three main problem areas in water governance associated with official development assistance (ODA) are water supply and sanitation, irrigation and agricultural development and river basin management. Five main themes in relation to water governance are relevant to these. These are: (1) drivers of change in water regulatory systems, (2) catchment management frameworks and issues of scale and public/private/community roles and initiatives (3) equity implications of market and property rights mechanisms and (4) gender, poverty and indigenous dimensions, and dealing with conflict and risk.
Governance is multi-faceted in the water sector. Findings from the case studies indicate that:
- Development assistance is most effective when it responds to perceived needs at political and social levels. Improved water governance can best be achieved if embedded within and compatible with values, social structures and processes that come from within. Scarcity, a common driver, needs to be understood in context.
- Determining appropriate action comes from understanding both the externally imposed nature of some governance reforms and their limitations. Understanding the receptiveness or otherwise to market-based or institutional innovations is important.
- Catchment management frameworks operate at multiple scales. A key governance challenge is to establish institutional designs that link management structures from community through to international river basin levels.
- Water governance reforms must be sensitive to the politics, distributional implications and regulatory requirements in both privatisation and decentralisation reforms.
- Failure to deal with the various dimensions of equity heightens conflict and can polarise different water user groups.
Policy analysis, program design and project implementation all require an understanding of contextual aspects of water governance.
- The scope for participation varies considerably from one cultural and political context to another. Science is understood, used and accepted quite differently by different stakeholder groups in different situations. Stakeholder analysis needs to be tailored to social and resource system configurations.
- When designing programs, pay attention to scale. Do not be ideologically bound. Avoid promotion of complex financial governance arrangements where have been poorly tested or prove risky in well established and regulated circumstances. Identify what other donors are doing well and work with them.
- Adopt a ‘do no harm’ approach when promoting any market based instruments. Ensure long-term financial sustainability of systems is considered in the early design phase.
- Understand the differences between conflict resolution and conflict management in the water sector and remember that gender equity is not just about following guidelines.
- In project implementation, adopt an adaptive management approach. Involve stakeholders in any institutional design. Remember governance requires going beyond government, and consider the appropriate scale of intervention.
- Jurisdictions that define water as simultaneously an economic and public good require support to establish independent regulators. These need capacity to consider economic, financial, social, environmental and political issues in a transparent manner.
