Pathways towards enhanced capacity in water governance to deal with complex management challenges

Pahl-Wostl, Claudia / Ines Dombrowsky / Andreas Lenschow / Andreas Thiel
External Publications (2023)

in: Environmental Science & Policy, 146, article 103556 (Editorial)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103556
Information

In recent years nexus approaches have been increasingly promoted for tackling persistent problems in environmental governance in general and water governance in particular. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus concept has gained importance in debates in business, policy and practice in recent years (Benson et al., 2015) – p
redominantly, but not only in the water domain. The WEF-nexus highlights that enhancing and guaranteeing water, energy and food security requires a cross-sectoral approach and innovative coordination instruments (Weitz et al., 2017, Pahl-Wostl, 2019). Such approaches shift focus towards complex cross-sectoral interdependencies and highlight the need for enhanced coordination. Indeed, despite numerous efforts to promote and implement more integrated approaches, coordination problems persist and impede sustainable water governance and management. Given persistent challenges and the importance of integrated governance, it is quite plausible that IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) is also an essential element of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. The baseline assessment of IWRM implementation unveiled a number of challenges with regard to coordination (UN Environment, 2018).

About the author

Dombrowsky, Ines

Economist