1 - 20 of 29 result(s)

This report assesses the current trends, drivers, obstacles, mechanisms, impacts, costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement in the water sector. It builds on empirical data collected through an extensive survey across 215 stakeholders, within and outside the water sector, and 69 case studies collected worldwide. It highlights the increasing importance of stakeholder engagement in the water sector as a principle of good governance and the need for better understanding of the pressing and emerging issues related to stakeholder engagement. These include: the shift of power across stakeholders; the arrival of new entrants that ought to be considered; the external and internal drivers that have triggered engagement processes; innovative tools that have emerged to manage the interface between multiple players, and types of costs and benefits incurred by engagement at policy and project levels. This report provides pragmatic policy guidance to decision makers and practitioners in the form of key principles and a Checklist for Public Action with indicators, international references and self-assessment questions, which together can help policy makers to set up the appropriate framework conditions needed to yield the short and long-term benefits of stakeholder engagement.

Water is one of the most serious sustainability challenges facing the planet. The OECD projects that by 2050, over 40% of the world’s population will be living in waterstressed areas and more than 240 million people will lack access to an improved water source. Given the size and nature of water challenges, tackling them requires a co-ordinated effort among policy makers and stakeholders: those who play a role in, and those who are affected by, actions and outcomes in the water sector.

Mapping water-related stakeholders is a stepping stone to effective engagement processes. This chapter provides an overview of the broad categories of stakeholders involved in water governance, including newcomers that play an increasing role in water governance, and actors who often remain unheard. The chapter analyses stakeholders’ core motivations in water resources management, water services, water-related disasters or environmental protection, as well as their interactions. The issue of scale and the role of stakeholder engagement in coping with the multi-level complexity of water decision making and implementation are also addressed.

The world is facing critical water challenges: how to manage too little, too much and too polluted water, both today and in the future. These challenges stem partly from the failure of climate-change adaptation, the increase in the world’s population, and intensified competition among cities, farmers, industries, energy suppliers and ecosystems. Water crises can have devastating effects on food security, poverty alleviation, economic development and social stability. Decision makers will be forced to make tough choices about how to manage water for inclusive economic growth and environmental stability. Better engaging stakeholders both within and outside the water sector can help ensure that these choices are the right ones, and are implemented effectively.

This chapter sets the scene for stakeholder engagement as an increasingly important topic in water governance. It sheds light on recent policy trends towards greater inclusiveness, transparency and accountability. It provides definitions of key terms as well as insights from the literature on the various concepts related to stakeholder engagement. The chapter proposes a typology of stakeholder engagement levels, depending on the process and the intention they pursue, and looks at stakeholders’ roles as “targets” and/or “promoters” of engagement processes. The chapter presents the survey that was carried out to collect data analysed in the report, and concludes with a framework for analysing the stakeholder engagement cycle and its contribution to inclusive governance.

Decision makers and practitioners are eager to receive pragmatic guidance that supports successful stakeholder engagement. This chapter introduces the framework conditions needed to yield the short- and long-term benefits of stakeholder engagement. It proposes a set of key principles and a Checklist for Public Action, with indicators, international references and self-assessment questions that can help identify areas of improvement and create common ground for policy makers and practitioners.

Two broad categories of factors affect the way stakeholders have been engaged in waterrelated decisions, projects and policies. Long-term structural drivers related to climate change, economic and demographic trends, socio-political trends illustrated by European policies, and innovation and technologies; and conjunctural drivers related to changing circumstances and situations, which include water-related disasters and policy reforms, social demand and competition for water resources. This chapter synthetises the challenges these drivers raise for water governance and the policy implications for stakeholder engagement practices.