Integrated Approaches to Water Resources Management
Cluster description
Introduction
The primary objective of the ISS Water Resources Managment Cluster is to develop a set of emprirical case studies of water managemnt in a variety of institutional settings and, subsequently, principles of successful reforms in the field of water managment.
In reviewing the global practice we find that many water reform initiatives have fallen short of their intended objectives. Despite introducing “modern” water management practices and systems, usually in partnership with—or in imitation of—internationally accepted “best practices”, the state of water supply and sanitation most developing countries remains unsatisfactory. We suspect that one reason for this dissatisfaction is that most studies and policies have addressed water resources management in isolation and have not considered the mutual impacts and interactions of non-water and water sector-specific policies and practices. Our research programme intends to address this shortcoming by taking a more comprehensive approach to the multiple, often competing, policy environments in which water resources management takes place, thus proposesing an interdisciplinary investigation of water resources management in developing countries. The objective of the research is first to understand the barriers that hinder an integrated approach to water resources management and then to propose innovative solutions to the problem.
Research Strategy
Our strategy is to use a case-study based approach to identify where and why policies related to water management have succeeded. As a first step, our research will develop empirical case studies, which can serve in theory building in areas such as the introduction and application of economic principles in water resources management, innovative approaches to natural resources protection, and quality of decision-making in multi-stakeholder groups. As a second step, our research will provide information and, more importantly, facilitate interpretation and exchange of innovative ideas in the field of water resources management We will focus our research on three broad themes: Legislation and Institutions. This set of issues relates to the formation of “modern” water management institutions. Since progress on this front has been uneven, we are interested in finding out to what extent and why states and central governments have been able to create the legislation and the institutional and organisational capacity required to establish the desired water management systems. We will use a comparative approach, asking at the national level, “How successful have our sample of countries been in implementing their policies and how much can those differences be attributed to differences in the policy and legislation at the national level?” and at the sub-national level, “Why, under similar national policy environments, have some states or basins made more progress than others? What have been the main obstacles for the creation of such systems and how were the leading states able to overcome them?”
Integration and Application of Economic Principles to Water Management.
Some of the most controversial reforms relate to introducing economically-relevant charges for services that were earlier provided either free or at nominal cost. These can change production patterns and create benefits as well as problems. For example, politicians and other interest
groups often argue against pollution charges and for lax environmental standards in order to preserve jobs and economic activity. How can these economic impasses be resolved?
Institutional Reform and Planning.
With regards to water and even more so sanitation, most of the developing world’s infrastructure is severely underdeveloped. In term of size and scope, traditional water & sanitation agencies will continue to play the major role in providing these services despite moves towards privatisation and decentralisation. While the availability of resources in developing countries is limited, institutional reform of existing bodies has the potential to significantly improve the leverage of currently-available resources and to access new source of finance. How can institutional reform and new policies create sustainable solutions to the water & sanitation question? To answer such questions, we propose conducting several in-depth case studies of instances where water management improved and understand the role played by various actors and institutions. This will be fundamental to develop lessons for better water management. We have already identified several potential case studies, and a final selection will be made after further survey research.
Outputs & Deliverables
Some of the general deliverables that this programme intends include: Research and publication: Within general policy frameworks, many of the really interesting findings relate to innovative practices not explicitly envisaged by the policies themselves. This research programme will pay special attention to finding, describing, and publicising such innovations by preparing and publishing case-based research papers that will combine theoretical and policy orientations. Network: Promote communication and exchange among funding agencies, government agencies, sector professionals, researchers and stakeholders. This will be done through :
(a) collaborative research that brings together the various stakeholders, including personnel from various universities and water-related organisations, policymakers and users,
(b) a post-research conference to be held at the Institute of Social Studies where participants will have the opportunity to present their findings, interact with each other and with the larger international policy and practitioner communities,
(c) a proposed book to be published following the conference and finalisation of research papers. We expect and hope that this research project will plant the seed for a collaborative water research network that will outlive the life of the project itself.
Apply lessons from developed country experiences apply to developing country settings: In the past, developed countries faced many of the institutional and management challenges being faced by developing countries today. As such, policymaking and implementation in developing countries can benefit from useful insights into what developing countries ought to explore in terms of applying established models for water management. This part of the research will not consist of a general survey of developed country experiences with water policies as has been done elsewhere, but rather will focus on specific selected issues confronting the countries in our research programme today and make concrete links with experiences from developed countries.
Train students: at ISS and at collaborating institutions in other countries by providing them research opportunities.
Page last updated: 10/06/2008