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1 – 10 of over 18000Jorge Alejandro Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel
The purpose of this paper is to look at how the topic of water governance in the USA reflects the discussion just prior to the contemporary wave of privatisation that now…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at how the topic of water governance in the USA reflects the discussion just prior to the contemporary wave of privatisation that now characterises a large section of water in the country.
Design/methodology/approach
In addition to select classic articles, the body of literature chosen for review includes studies published between 2000 and 2019, using The PRISMA statement. Studies chosen were published in recognised journals in core disciplines relating to governance, water management, policy and regulation.
Findings
Private equity firms and water-focused investment funds are significant investors in private companies that operate municipal water works in the USA. This has caused much of the public water infrastructure in the country (and globally) to become privatised and held by international investors as securitised assets.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for further primary research to more comprehensively capture what actions the US government are taking to carve out a large policy-making space for themselves in a country that there is not an extensive body of literature on takeover decisions in water governance.
Originality/value
The confluence of privatisation in water governance within the US government is an area of growing concern to those interested in how water governance systems and protocols shape broader justice and equality developments across the country.
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Martin Botha, Merwe Oberholzer and Susanna Levina Middelberg
The purpose of this paper is to investigate current practices of water governance disclosure in the food, beverage and tobacco industry and to determine whether the quality of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate current practices of water governance disclosure in the food, beverage and tobacco industry and to determine whether the quality of disclosure has a positive association with integrated reporting (IR).
Design/methodology/approach
A water governance disclosure index was developed that used content analysis to code the latest standalone social, environmental and sustainability reports or integrated reports of 49 companies in the food, beverage and tobacco industry. The selected companies are listed on three indices, the ASX, JSE and DJSI. This was followed by quantitatively testing the association between IR and the quality of water governance disclosure, as measured against the qualitatively developed index.
Findings
It was found that the 18 IR companies’ water governance disclosure quality significantly outperformed the 31 companies in the non-IR group, with a calculated index score of 71.67% and 40.97%, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The evidence indicates that IR is superior to non-IR water governance disclosure, and the study, therefore, contributes to the literature around the legitimacy theory by concluding that IR is supportive to companies to legitimise their being.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper stems from the comparison of water governance disclosures between IR and non-IR firms. Considering that IR preparers outperformed companies in the non-IR group could provide insights to academics, regulators and reporting organisations that IR could be used to enhance water governance disclosure.
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It is increasingly recognised that water will be the prime medium through which climate change impacts will be felt. But water governance issues are already deemed to be a prime…
Abstract
Purpose
It is increasingly recognised that water will be the prime medium through which climate change impacts will be felt. But water governance issues are already deemed to be a prime cause of a global water issues. Not only will climate change affect the function and operation of existing water infrastructure and institutions but additionally, current frameworks may not be robust enough to cope with climate change impacts. Effective water governance is seen as essential to building adaptive capacity in communities to manage future climatic uncertainty and stress. The purpose of this paper is to assess socio‐economic and climate impacts on water governance.
Design/methodology/approach
As a first step in assessing adaptive capacity of two river basins, this paper explores current vulnerabilities in a Swiss water governance arrangement, and then proposes the subsequent implications for water resource management within a climate change context. It presents results from a governance assessment in the specific context of integrated water resource management and suggests a means to develop the assessment to address the issue of climate change and extreme events.
Findings
A low level of integration and highly segregated approach to water resources management suggests that the potential ramifications of climate change and expanding water uses may not be adequately reflected in their current governance framework.
Originality/value
The paper explores the current governance context in order to improve the understanding of how regulatory and institutional regimes may facilitate the development of adaptive capacity. It then proposes additional methodological steps to improve on such an assessment to take into better account the dynamic interplay between the human, hydrological and climate components of the system.
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Alejandra Duarte Vera, Julien Vanhulst and Eduardo Antonio Letelier Araya
Rural drinking water services in Chile are managed by Rural Drinking Water Associations (RDWAs) with a community governance model. However, urban growth and a neoliberal…
Abstract
Purpose
Rural drinking water services in Chile are managed by Rural Drinking Water Associations (RDWAs) with a community governance model. However, urban growth and a neoliberal institutional setting tend to favor market-style governance, both in terms of territorial planning and drinking water supply, placing stress on the community governance model of RDWA. The authors seek to understand these processes and identify the position of RDWA actors facing socio-territorial and environmental transformations experienced in peri-urban sectors of the city of Talca (Chile).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used georeferenced data, participant and non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. With these data, the authors analyzed the positions and discourses of water governance actors in relation to socio-territorial transformations in the peri-urban areas of the city, as well as for tensions between community and market governance.
Findings
The authors identified a growth tendency of RDWA users around the city of Talca due to a sharp drinking water demand increase in peri-urban territories. As such, the authors describe and contrast RWDA managers and governmental regulators' discourses regarding environmental and socio-territorial transformations. In these discourses, the authors found three critical topics: (1) land liberalization blurring urban territory borders; (2) Law #20998, a poorly financed reform which raises the specter of RDWA privatization, jeopardizing historic community drinking water management; and (3) the consequences of declining community commitment to RDWAs.
Practical implications
One key implication of these findings is the need to modify RDWA pricing policies to deal with new rural inhabitant lifestyles and drinking water demands and to fulfill water basic needs of rural families, avoiding privatization risks. This change could help not only dealing with growing scarcity during global climate change, but could also provide financial resources to face new technical and administrative requirements of SSR Law.
Originality/value
The originality of the study comes from using a framework of governance tensions applied to water governance in peri-urban areas in a neoliberal institutional setting.
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This paper uses three case studies of urban water conflict in the United States in order to identify and compare solutions. Coupling qualitative data with a unique index of…
Abstract
This paper uses three case studies of urban water conflict in the United States in order to identify and compare solutions. Coupling qualitative data with a unique index of municipal water conservation policy, I examine the different approaches that these three cities adopted in the face of water stress and conflict, as well as the relative strength each approach brought to water conservation. Based on 31 qualitative interviews with water stakeholders in three selected cities (Phoenix, San Antonio, Tampa) and qualitative comparative case histories drawn from newspaper accounts and secondary sources, I find that entrenched conflict over local water resources usually requires action from a higher governing authority, in accordance with theories of multilevel governance. However, multilevel governance is not sufficient to produce strong urban water conservation policies. It is also critical that policy be targeted to meet specific minimum environmental indicators to prevent continued resource depletion. Moreover, a breach of that environmental indicator must trigger some penalty for noncompliance to sustain the resource into the future.
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Joseph Gerald Tetteh Nyanyofio, Kwame Ameyaw Domfeh, Thomas Buabeng, Theophilus Maloreh-Nyamekye and Nana Nimo Appiah-Agyekum
This study examined the governance and implementation of public–private partnership (PPP) based on the management contract model in the water sector in rural Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the governance and implementation of public–private partnership (PPP) based on the management contract model in the water sector in rural Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
It employed in-depth interviews with key management officials and focus-group discussions among residents in selected water-stressed communities in the beneficiary District Assemblies. Thematic analysis was employed for the analyses.
Findings
The governance of the PPP project was characterized by a well-structured institutional arrangement and effective governance mechanisms. The PPP project has increased residents' access to potable and affordable water and facilitated local economic and social development in its catchment areas. However, insufficient funding, political interference, limited infrastructural capacity and pollution are threatening its success.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on effective governance and performance of rural-based PPP water supply projects for the achievement of the sustainable development goals goal six on access to affordable and quality water.
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Margot Hurlbert, Harry Diaz, Darrell R. Corkal and Jim Warren
The purpose of this paper is to assess the successes and challenges of adaptation to climate change focusing on water governance institutions in Saskatchewan, a province located…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the successes and challenges of adaptation to climate change focusing on water governance institutions in Saskatchewan, a province located in the western Canadian prairies.
Design/methodology/approach
A framework of vulnerability and adaptive capacity to the effects of climate change is employed. Data are obtained through qualitative research conducted through interviews and focus groups with stakeholders and people playing a role in water governance in Saskatchewan.
Findings
There have been many positive institutional developments which have improved Saskatchewan's adaptive capacity. The most promising is the creation of local watershed advisory committees that are poised to implement on‐the‐ground water management decisions. What is lacking, however, is a long‐term comprehensive climate change and adaptation plan, with built‐in flexibility to address present and future climate variability. Without a long‐term baseline plan and vision, Saskatchewan rural communities and the agricultural sector will remain vulnerable to present and future climate‐induced water stress.
Practical implications
The research shows a need for an increased inter‐disciplinary approach addressing environmental issues, and an increased need for academic‐government‐industry partnerships working towards capacity‐building for sustainable climate change adaptation responses.
Originality/value
This inter‐disciplinary research study is the first of its kind conducted in this region of Canada, and blends contributions from physical and social scientists, government and rural stakeholders.
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Luiz Fernando Macedo Bessa and Marcelo Facchina
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons behind the difficulties in implementing proper participatory environmental and water governance systems in the metropolitan region of Brasilia, Brazil.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is a result of a the qualitative analysis of documents and reports of local participatory arenas in Brasilia, and is complemented by a set of 13 interviews held between November 2009 and March 2010 with a variety of actors involved in the promotion of sustainability in the region.
Findings
The findings reveal that impediments to the good performance of environmental governance in the Federal District are a consequence to two main factors: institutional framework poorly transferred from the national level and incompatibility between the set of regulations and local electoral power dynamics.
Research limitations/implications
As a consequence of the deliberate choice of one specific case, the conclusions of this paper may erroneously overemphasize the perils of participatory local governance rather than its potentials.
Practical implications
By identifying a series of mechanisms that threaten positive partnerships between governments and civil society at the local level, this work serves as an important tool for public managers and civil society to engage in more fruitful partnerships.
Originality/value
The paper provides a power-based analysis of a case of ineffectiveness of participatory mechanisms. In doing so, it also demonstrates that policy planning must be analysed from a variety of perspectives, and often involve coalitions that cut across the traditional state-society divide. The identification of the mechanisms behind the creation of these obstacles constitutes the originality and value of this paper.
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Jorge Alejandro Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel
The purpose of this paper is to look at how water management reflects patriarchal considerations or gender biases that inflict a penalty upon Mexican women and enumerates…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at how water management reflects patriarchal considerations or gender biases that inflict a penalty upon Mexican women and enumerates recommendations that can both ameliorate water management across Mexico.
Design/methodology/approach
Peer-reviewed scholarly materials, carefully vetted for empirical worth, for the clarity and soundness of their research methodologies, and for their capacity to account for confounding or complicating factors, are reviewed. Special attention is given to studies, found in academic databases such as EBSCOHost, conducted in the years 2013–2018.
Findings
The Mexican state has finally made some progress in recognizing the hurdles women face in attaining educational equality, but there is not yet the universal application and comity that would ensure appropriate levels of representation in all communities. Mexico will have to do more to compel local actors to give greater credence to the voices of women.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for further primary research to more comprehensively capture what actions women are taking to carve out a large policy-making space for themselves in a country that has only quite recently begun to realize the contributions women can make to forward-looking water governance policy.
Originality/value
The uneasy confluence between water governance and gender within the Mexican context is an area of growing concern to those interested in how water management systems and protocols shape broader social justice and equality developments across Mexico.
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Lili Mundle, Marianne Beisheim and Lars Berger
This paper aims to analyze the relevance of private meta-governance for multi-stakeholder partnerships. The authors assume that meta-governance, defined as higher level rules that…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the relevance of private meta-governance for multi-stakeholder partnerships. The authors assume that meta-governance, defined as higher level rules that shall guide partnerships’ governance activities, could build on and institutionalize lessons learned about partnerships’ success conditions and, in doing so, may render partnerships’ work more effective in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The research paper investigates a case of non-state meta-governance in the standard-setting arena. It explores how actors assess the interaction of the meta-governance efforts of the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance (mainly in the form of their three Codes of Good Practice) and the Alliance for Water Stewardship’s efforts when setting and implementing their International Water Stewardship Standard. For this, a combination of research methods is applied: a literature review for deriving propositions on success conditions; document analysis, participatory observation and semi-structured interviews for gathering empirical evidence on the interaction between meta-governance and the partnership’s work.
Findings
Respondents praise the benefits of ISEAL’s enabling meta-governance measures to strengthen their standard, structures and processes, as well as from ensuring activities, as these also improve their internal governance system while simultaneously providing credibility. In this context, they confirm the relevance of three success factors mentioned in the literature on voluntary standards: an inclusive process, a locally adapted design of the standard and institutionalized compliance management.
Practical implications
Instead of reinventing the wheel with every new multi-stakeholder partnership, meta-governance frameworks should be used to enable partnership staff and members, policymakers and stakeholders to learn from experience.
Originality/value
The authors’ analysis generates unique insights into perceptions of partnerships’ staff and stakeholders regarding lessons learned and private meta-governance. The present study on these actors’ perspectives provides a starting-point for further research on how meta-governance could help institutionalize success factors to scale-up and improve the impact of standard-setting partnerships.
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