7. Water governance

Question 1

Please provide a definition of the concept of ‘water governance.’

Answer 1

• Water governance can be perceived as comprising all social, political, economic and administrative organizations and institutions, as well as their relationships to water resources development and management.
• Water governance is the range of political, institutional and administrative rules, practices and processes (formal and informal) through which decisions are taken and implemented, stakeholders can articulate their interests and have their concerns considered, and decision-makers are held accountable for water management. (OECD, 2015)
• Water governance includes political, economic and social processes and institutions through which governments, private sector and civil society make decisions about how best to use, allocate, develop and manage water resources. (UNDP, 2004)
• Water Governance is the umbrella over all the different dimensions that water is fundamental for.

Question 2

Please discuss how neoliberalism influences water governance by illustrating a real-world example.

Answer 2

• Privatization of a lake or privatisation of the commons, which could mean dispossession for the people that have been using a water body as a common pool resource, basically directly affecting their subsistence
• In Chile, the 1981 Water Code of the Pinochet dictatorship introduced radical market-based governance with privatised, tradeable water rights, policies that were central to a broader neoliberal programme.

Question 3

Please discuss the role of ‘scale’ in water governance (EXAM QUESTION)

Answer 3

According to Woodhouse and Muller (2017), the scales at which water flows and is used often cut across political and administrative boundaries, economic agglomerations and social and cultural groupings, complicating decision-making and posing significant governance challenges.

Examples of different scales:
* Local arena: water boards
* Global arena: water grabbing, virtual water (flows)
* Transboundary level: the Rhine and its overflowing or regenerating of the natural banks

Question 4

What is the difference between water governance and water management?

Answer 4

Water management includes water governance but can be considered to focus more on the operational activities of monitoring and regulating water resources and their use, and planning building and operating water infrastructure. (Woodhouse, 2017)

Question 5

How did neoliberalism change water governance?

Answer 5

• The was a big shift in water governance 1980s. Before neoliberalism, there was an old governance approach with a strong government and bureaucracy, power monopoly and top-down management.
• At the 1977 UN water conference: Mar del Plata: magic word was ‘participation’
• After neoliberalism kicked in, this went more towards reducing the government authority, decentralising, new actors and an increase in dialogue.

Question 6

According to Woodhouse and Muller (2017), water is often governed by three questions. Which are these?

Answer 6

1. Who should participate in decision-making?
2. At what geographical and political scales should governance institutions operate?
3. And what is the appropriate role of market or non-market criteria in allocation of water?

Question 7

What is the truth about the water scarcity narrative?

Answer 7

• The idea of water wars finds its root in the resource curse, which means the more abundant a resource is, the more vulnerable it is to state failure. With water, the narrative that has been created is that water is scarce.
• However, there is only water scarcity when there is demand. Water scarcity is about demand and water availability. It is an anthropic type of definition.
• In reality, we mostly use water for food. People are not thirsty because of lack of water. The problem is that people are starving. They are water hungry. (D’Odorico)
• Locally, there is an impact because of water scarcity. However, globally, drinking water is not scarce.

Question 8

What is the difference between a water conflict and a water war?

Answer 8

• A war needs interstate military confrontation. A conflict is broader and more general, which applies for example to local issues. Fighting over water could happen at a community level, but then they would be water conflicts, not wars.
• Dell’Angelo et al. (in progress) define war as a military interaction where at least one sovereign state should be involved.

Question 9

What makes scholars think water wars are unlikely to happen? (EXAM QUESTION)

Answer 9

1. Inter-state cooperation on freshwater resources prevails: historically, there have been no water wars
2. Anatomic differences between water and oil as strategic economic resources: you cannot transpose the logic of oil onto water
3. Technological optimism: why go to war if you can make irrigation schemes more effective?
4. Strategic power of virtual water: there is no need to occupy a country, better to make good deals; in a globalized market, you make sure that countries that are water rich are producing for you; you need good commercial deals

Question 10

What is the main message of Woodhouse and Muller (2017)?

Answer 10

Woodhouse and Muller contest the water scarcity narrative as there is little evidence to support it. It is much debated what the best mode of governance is for water, though it is certain that governments have a key role to fulfill.