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Increasing Good Governance for Achieving the Objectives of Integrated Water Resources Management (STEER)

Project
Duration: Jun 2017 - Sep 2020

Complex use conflicts such as those arising around the management of water resources require the coordination and cooperation of public authorities and stakeholders across very different thematic areas and geographic scales. The goal of STEER is to explore innovative mechanisms of coordination and cooperation on a river-basin level for the governance of water resources. The project is structured around a diagnostic approach, which supports the analysis of typical conflict situations between stakeholders (and/or public authorities) and allows for the identification of possible approaches to solving these by means of cooperation and/or coordination.

Research within the STEER project focuses on how local governance characteristics and management-systems influence possible solutions and explores the social and ecological conditions that determine the transferability and applicability of these solutions. Subsequently, the innovative approaches to coordination and cooperation in water management are identified, developed and presented in a toolbox directed to regional, national and international actors in the field of sustainable water resources management.

STEER focuses on five core case study areas located in four countries and on three continents (i.e. Germany, South Africa, Mongolia, and Spain), but the diagnostic approach and its results will be validated by extending them to up to 15 additional case study areas.

Within STEER, Ecologic Institute is responsible for the toolbox and for the participative assessment of coordination gaps and possible solutions within the core case study areas, which is carried out through qualitative analysis of interviews and workshops by each of the partners responsible for the respective case studies. Ecologic Institute is also in charge of the Emscher river basin case study and supports the case study on the Guadalquivir river basin as a tandem partner.

STEER is coordinated by the University of Osnabrück and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the Global Resource Water (GRoW) funding measure, which is part of the "Research for Sustainable Development (FONA)".

Introducing the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool

Year 2020

Publication:Article

This article written by several researchers from Ecologic Institute provides a review of different digital tools and resources available to support related decision-making processes in the search for solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Furthermore, it introduces the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool (DWGT) that builds on a clear diagnosis-therapy-logic.

The Diagnostic Water Governance Tool

Supporting cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination in water resources management

Year 2022

Publication:Article

This article explores how (in)coherence in policies and responsibilities affects coordination at process and outcome level. It presents a rigorous comparative study of cross-sectoral coordination in six river basins worldwide. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Dr. Ulf Stein, observe that coherence can favor coordination at the process level, but it remains difficult to establish causality. Coherence of policies and responsibilities does not change the relationship between process-level and outcome-level coordination.

Effects of Policy and Functional (In)coherence on Coordination

A comparative analysis of cross-sectoral water management problems

Year 2022

Publication:Web Application

Ecologic Institute has recently launched the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool, which is aimed at both water governance practitioners and researchers around the world. The tool provides a diagnosis of case-specific water governance as well as recommendations for appropriate instruments, with a focus on coordination and cooperation improvement.

The STEER Diagnostic Water Governance Tool

Year 2020

Publication:Article

Cover of the magazine Korrespondenz Wasserwirtschaft 12/2020

Climate change is already causing an increase in extreme weather events, including an increase in the frequency and duration of periods of dry and drought conditions. In this paper, colleagues of the Emschergenossenschaft and Ecologic Institute summarize discussions on coordination and cooperation approaches for low water management and prevention at a workshop in the Emscher region.

Niedrigwasser und Trockenheit: Herausforderungen und Entwicklung sektorenübergreifender Anpassungsmaßnahmen auf Flussgebietsebene

Year 2020

Publication:Article

This Briefing Paper examines coordination and implementation challenges between the water and agricultural sectors in relation to water quantity in the context of WFD implementation in the Spanish Guadalquivir river basin. The challenges are interlinked by the underlying difficulty of imposing unpopular decisions against the will of powerful actors in the agricultural sector. To address these challenges, the authors suggest various coordination instruments based on incentives, voluntary cooperation, persuasion and information exchange.The Briefing Paper presents one of six analyses of cross-sectoral coordination challenges that were conducted as part of the STEER research project and on which separate Briefing Papers are available.

Strengthening Coordination in River Basin Governance in Southern Spain

cooperation, incentives and persuasion

Year 2020

Publication:Article

The completed governance analysis shows that coordination in the Emscher catchment area is already effective. There is room for improvement when it comes to involving citizens and planning processes should also be characterised by a higher degree of flexibility. The analysis provides recommendations. This paper constitutes one of six analyses of cross-sectoral challenges in water governance. These have been conducted as part of the STEER research project and results are published in separate analyses and position papers.

Coordination and Cooperation of Water Management, Nature Conservation and Open Space Development in the Emscher Restoration

Year 2020

Publication:Article

In this paper the authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Ulf Stein, focus on the governmental bottlenecks in the Implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. The lack of horizontal, inter-sectoral communication; the insufficient land reserves; human resources and; the lack of financing were the areas that emerged as the most pressing issues. Further evidence suggests that the interaction of the WFD with other policy areas regulated at the European level might require closer inspection.

Perception of Bottlenecks in the Implementation of the European Water Framework Directive

Year 2020

Publication:Article

Despite numerous efforts to promote and implement more integrated approaches, coordination problems persist and impede sustainable water governance and management. This paper introduces a framework for guiding a transdisciplinary diagnostic approach (i.e. a context-sensitive assessment of multi-level water governance, which is combined with a change management process) to address such coordination problems. The approach aims at addressing some of the challenges identified in scientific scholarship and water governance practice by combining context-specific participatory assessments of individual cases with comparative case analysis guided by a generic conceptual framework.

Enhancing the Capacity of Water Governance to Deal with Complex Management Challenges

A framework of analysis

Year 2020

Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany
Partner: University of Osnabrück, Germany

Ecologic Institute, Germany

University of Kassel, Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, Section of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance, Germany

German Development Institute (DIE), Germany

Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV), Germany

Emschergenossenschaft, Germany
Team: Rodrigo Vidaurre

Dr. Ulf Stein

Ina Krüger

Jenny Tröltzsch
Duration: Jun 2017 - Sep 2020
Project ID: 2290
Keywords: Governance

International Development

Water

water resources, river basins, water governance, water management, coordination gaps, FONA, Research for Sustainable Development

Germany, South Africa, Mongolia, Spain, Europe, Africa, Asia, Emscher, Guadalquivir, Kharaa, uMngeni, Weser-Ems

diagnosis, toolbox, case study, participatory assessment, analysis, interview, workshop

Further Links

EventWorkshopEuropean Innovation for Sustainable Water Management: Users meet Researchers

WaterDiss2.0 Begleitveranstaltung bei der IWRM Karlsruhe 2012

On 22 November 2012, Ecologic Institute organized a side-event entitled ‘European Innovation for Sustainable Water Management: Users meet Researchers’ at the IWRM Karlsruhe 2012. The event presented five European research projects and their innovative outputs, covering... Read more

Workshop:European Innovation for Sustainable Water Management: Users meet Researchers

Date: 22 November 2012
Location: Karlsruhe, Germany

PresentationSpeechUrban Water Management: Case Studies Berlin and Emscher region

Urban Water Management: Case Studies Berlin and Emscher region

The Università Luigi Bocconi organised a conference on behalf of the Milan municipality to analyse Milan's wastewater treatment system as regards sustainability issues, organisational models and future challenges. The conference took place on 4 May 2006. Researchers... Read more

Speech:Urban Water Management: Case Studies Berlin and Emscher region

Date: 4 May 2006
Location: Milan, Italy

PresentationSpeechRhineNet – Linking-up the public for sustainable water management in the Rhine basin

RhineNet – Linking-up the public for sustainable water management in the Rhine basin

The RhineNet project, a multi-stakeholder initiative to foster sustainable water management through strengthening public participation in the Rhine basin, was featured as a local action at the World Water Forum held in Mexico City in March 2006. Nicole Kranz, Fellow... Read more

Speech:RhineNet – Linking-up the public for sustainable water management in the Rhine basin

Date: 18 March 2006
Location: Mexico City, Mexico

PresentationSpeechIntegrated Water Resource Management for Latin America and the Caribbean

Integrated Water Resource Management for Latin America and the Caribbean

Policy learning among nations and the exchange of experience play an important role in improving environmental management and policy. To facilitate the exchange between water experts from Central America, the Inter-American Development Bank organised a workshop on... Read more

Speech:Integrated Water Resource Management for Latin America and the Caribbean

Date: 24 - 28 May 2004
Location: San José, Costa Rica

ProjectRiver Basins and Financial Redistribution in Practice (EcoCuencas)

This project aims at strengthening the financing of River Basin Organisations (RBOs) in Latin America. Adequate financing of RBOs is crucial for improving water management and increasing local capacities to prepare for and adapt to climate change. In order to achieve... Read more

River Basins and Financial Redistribution in Practice (EcoCuencas)

Duration: Jan 2015 - Dec 2017
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Development and Cooperation (EuropeAid), International

ProjectKey Performance Indicators for Transboundary Basins in Africa

Key Performance Indicators for Transboundary Basins in Africa

Commissions of international river and lake basins are faced with a number of challenges, resulting from aligning the diverging interests of riparian states in dealing with the exchange of information as much as accounting for the effects of global environmental change.... Read more

Key Performance Indicators for Transboundary Basins in Africa

Duration: Sep 2007 - Jul 2011
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Development and Cooperation (EuropeAid), International