OECD Principles on Water Governance: From policy standards to practice

The science–policy interface is critical to the design and implementation of water policies. In theory, scientists provide policy makers with robust facts and data that can help guide decision making, and lessons from the political economy of reforms can push scientific boundaries further to trigger further research for wise solutions. While evidence-based policy is obviously desirable, in practice such a connection is not always straightforward. Another assumption behind the science–policy gap is the discrepancy between scientists and policy makers in terms of culture, process, timing, language and expected outcome.

This book tries to reconcile this discrepancy through a multi-stakeholder approach to authoring its different articles. This joint initiative between the OECD – particularly its Water Governance Initiative – and the International Water Resources Association seeks to provide a canvas for grounding water policy in science, and vice versa. The objective of this book, devoted to the OECD Principles on Water Governance, is to use the OECD Principles as a common thread across the articles to draw lessons from theoretical work and practical experiences in water governance reforms; but also to only feature papers authored by groups of diverse stakeholders from different institutional backgrounds.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Water International.

Aziza Akhmouch is the Acting Head of the OECD Division on Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development. She oversees, amongst others, the OECD Water Governance Programme, which she set up in 2009 to help governments design and implement better water policies for better lives. She is the author of several publications on water governance and the founder of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum. She holds a PhD in Geopolitics and a MS in International Business.

Delphine Clavreul is a Counsellor in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She was previously a Policy Analyst at the OECD Water Governance Programme. Her field of expertise covers a range of topics including multi-level governance, stakeholder engagement and water integrity. She contributed to the coordination of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network sharing good practices in support of better water governance. She has contributed to several OECD water governance (country and cross-country) reports, and holds an MS in Geopolitics.

Sarah Hendry is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the Dundee Law School, and the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, at the University of Dundee, UK. She researches and teaches comparative legal frameworks for the regulation and governance of water resource management and water services.

Sharon B. Megdal is Professor at, and Director of, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, USA. Her projects include comparison of water management policy in water-scarce regions; groundwater management and governance; managed aquifer recharge; and transboundary aquifer assessment. She is an elected Board Member for the Central Arizona Project.

James E. Nickum is an Institutional Economist affiliated to the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), France and Japan; the Centre for Water and Development at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), UK; the East-West Centre, Hawaii, USA; and the University of Hong Kong, China. He is Editor-in-Chief of Water International.

Francisco Nunes-Correia is Professor of Environment and Water Resources at IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is former Minister of Environment and Regional Development of Portugal. He has been working as professor, researcher and consultant in those areas with a special interest in water policy formulation and assessment.

Andrew Ross is a Visiting Fellow and Consultant at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Australia, specialising in conjunctive water management, water governance and aquifer recharge. He is a leader of the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice and the IAH working group on economics of MAR.