Insights on Water Governance: Research in the Middle East/North Africa and Latin America

Abstract

"International attention on water management issues focuses on crises of governance and the factors that endanger the water rights of marginalized people. We define effective water governance as the processes that encourage people to actively participate in designing, planning, managing and implementing water management activities while fostering communities ability to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances. In other words, water governance is as much about the art of social change as it is about the science of hydrology. To illustrate, this paper compares the experiences of two initiatives supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC): the Water Demand Management Initiative for the Middle East/North Africa (WaDI<i>mena</i>) and the Social Water Vision in Latin America. Responding to the opportunities that exist for new research to inform policymaking, each project has conceptualized water governance in a manner relevant to that region. The two initiatives have regionally specific levels of focus and research priorities; but they are both using a water governance framework to achieve their objectives. Effective water governance must encourage <i>participation </i>in the processes for deciding how water is used; promote <i>innovation </i>and learning among stakeholders, and foster <i>adaptation </i>to changes in water availability. An effective water governance framework includes three elements: policies that enable participatory water management, capacity to engage in the policy process, and the ability to negotiate among stakeholders. Further research on water governance contributes to the emerging field of adaptive environmental governance and our understanding of how social change occurs. Ultimately, such knowledge empowers poor women and men to obtain and use water they need to survive, grow food and sustain livelihoods."