MULTI-LEVEL WATER GOVERNANCE:
GAPS AND GUIDELINES
Aziza Akhmouch, PhD
OECD Water Governance Programme
Water and Oceans Law in Times of Climate Change
Utrecht, 31October 2013
What we think
The “water crisis” is largely … a governance crisis
 Enough water for human and nature needs … if managed wisely!
 Coping with future water challenges requires more than financing & hydrology
 How to manage water-related risks & trade-offs ? Through better governance
Interdependencies across multiple stakeholders are poorly managed
 Water is a local & global issue with multiple actors at different levels
 All countries experience institutional & territorial fragmentation of water policy
 Many countries struggle to really understand (and map) who does what
No optimal level of “good water governance” nor a one-size-fits-all
 Need for place-based policies & national framework, strategy and set of rules
 Technical, financial & institutional solutions exist, but implementation fails
 Pragmatic diagnosis & implementation tools / methodologies are needed
Taking stock of what works well and what does not work is important
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What we have learned
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17 OECD (2011)
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Chile
France
Greece
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea,
Mexico
Netherlands,
New Zealand
Portugal
Spain
United Kingdom
(England & Wales)
US (Colorado)
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Argentina,
Brazil
Chile
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominican
Republic
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
13 LAC (2012)
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Water : a fragmented sector with multi-level interactions
Beyond the
question of
“WHAT” content
water policies
should have,
there is a need to
think about
“HOW” they will
be implemented
and “BY WHOM”
this implies
getting into the
“black box” of
water policy
=>> Three models can summarise challenges related to water policy,
based on the level of territorial and institutional fragmentation
OECD (2011) Water Governance in OECD Countries : a Multi-level Approach
Mind and bridge multi-level governance gaps
A methodological framework
OECD (2011) Water Governance in OECD Countries : a Multi-level Approach
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LAC and OECD countries face common gaps ...
but different priorities can be identified
OECD countries
LAC Countries
Key multi-level governance challenges in OECD countries
OECD (2011) Water Governance in OECD Countries : a Multi-level Approach
How to ensure horizontal coordination of water policy?
 All countries surveyed set-up coordination tool at central government level
 None considered the creation of a “magic” ministry devoted exclusively to water
as the panacea
Horizontal coordination across water-related policy areas
Current debate in Mexico : A water ministry? A federal regulator?
OECD (2013) Making Water Reform Happen in Mexico
A wide range of governance instruments for vertical
coordination of water policy
Central Government
Ministerial Departments
Inter Governmental
Council
(COAG, Australia)
River basin
organisations
Contracts
(ex. France;
EU, etc.)
Conditionalities Special Commission
( EU programming) (Delta, Netherlands)
Sub-national Governments
Whatever the type of system – federal, regionalised, unitary – there is a strong
need of coordination across ministries and levels of government
Vertical co-ordination across levels of government
Some OECD countries have set-up all these mechanisms (France, Mexico), while
others have more centralised water systems, with limited involvement of subnational governments (e.g. Korea, Israel)
Co-ordination across local and regional authorities
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Wastewater management in the Netherlands :
The need for horizontal coordination between municipalities (sewage
collection) and regional water authorities (treatment)
OECD (2014 forth.) Water Governance in the Netherlands : Fit for the Future?
Preliminary OECD Guidelines for effective management
of multi-level governance in water policy
1. Diagnose multilevel governance gaps in water policymaking across ministries
and public agencies, between levels of government, across subnational actors
2. Involve subnational governments in the “design” stage of water policymaking,
beyond their roles as “implementers”
3. Adopt horizontal co-ordination tools to foster coherence across water related
policy areas and enhance inter-institutional cooperation across ministries and
public agencies
4. Create, update and harmonise water information systems and databases for
sharing water policy needs at basin, country and international levels
5. Encourage performance measurement to evaluate and monitor outcomes of
water policy at all levels of government
6. Respond to the fragmentation of water policy at subnational level by fostering
coordination across subnational actors and between levels of government
7. Foster capacity building at all levels of government
8. Encourage public participation in water policy design and implementation
9. Assess the effectiveness and adequacy of existing governance instruments
for coordinating water policy at horizontal and vertical levels
Lessons from OECD Water Policy Dialogues
Mexico (2013), Netherlands, Jordan, Tunisia (2014) and Brazil (2015)
There is a diversity of water governance tools,
initiatives, programmes at global level .. But reforms are
mostly carried out at … national Level
OECD Water Policy Dialogues can :
 Assess water governance gaps
 Identify good practices to bridge them
 Engage a wide range of stakeholders
 Support water reform processes
 Suggest policy recommendations
 Provide international comparisons
 Institutional “mechanistic” reform cannot be thought of in a vacuum => the
form of institution need to match water management functions and target
critical issues (pricing, allocation, rights/concession deeds etc.)
 Flexibility is needed to match the type of governance to the level of risk => a
one-size –fits- all (e.g. Mexico’s RBO) does not work !
 Good practices need to be scaled-up, a crescendo approach often helps.
Next step (2015) : OECD Principles on Water Governance
Basin
Governance
Equity
Efficiency
Sustainability
Integrity &
transparency
Vertical &
horizontal
coordination
CAPACITY
BUILDING
POLICY
COHERENCE
Stakeholder
engagement
OECD Water Governance Initiative
A multi-stakeholder Policy Forum to scale up best
practice and shape policy guidance
POLICY GUIDANCE
Global
water
agenda
2013-2015
OECD Principles on
Water Governance
Policy
Forum
OECD Indicators on
Water Governance
Analytical
work
Support
6th WWF
targets
SCALE UP BEST PRACTICE
Discuss
OECD water
governance
Reviews
THANK YOU
WWW.OECD.ORG/GOV/WATER
AZIZA.AKHMOUCH@OECD.ORG