event 07 Oct 2018

SWWW 2018 Outcomes // Bridging Conservation and Development through Stakeholder Inclusive Transboundary Water Governance

Bridging Conservation and Development through Stakeholder Inclusive Transboundary Water Governance: How do the imperatives of water-related ecosystem conservation and those of water security for human socio-economic development become intertwined in transboundary basins, which provide freshwater to 50% of the worlds’ population? How are these efforts faring in practice?

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The SWWW 2018 Outcomes series provides access to key resources and highlights the main takeaways from panel sessions at Stockholm Water Week 2018 related to the water-energy-food Nexus.

Water cooperation mechanisms have moved beyond the purview of state diplomatic offices to operate at multiple levels of governance that involve local to intergovernmental basin stakeholders. Through innovative engagement tools, planning processes that include stakeholders from a variety of sectors, such as agriculture and energy, are laying the foundations for new paradigms in basin planning. Women and youth are participating in leadership and innovation in these processes. These new models include nexus planning and dialogues around benefit enhancements and trade-offs. They posit a direct link between inclusive governance and improved outcomes for humans, water

How are these efforts faring in practice? The session will be anchored around examples from practice and research across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Speakers will include stakeholders and practitioners who will bring an array of perspectives to stimulate a debate among participants on whether and how stakeholder-inclusive, multilevel governance cooperation mechanisms can consolidate an understanding that conserving ecosystems is essential for humans to thrive in our increasingly water-insecure world.

Speakers

Conclusion

This session stimulated a discussion among participants about ways in which transboundary stakeholders, including women, are being mobilised through multi-level cooperation to actively weigh trade-offs and make decisions around sharing water for energy, agriculture and ecosystems.

Behind the widely acknowledged need to account for the values of ecosystem services, it’s important to understand what values these services have for different stakeholders: behind sectors and “ trade-offs” there are real people with their own solutions, values and needs (incl. caring better for ecosystems), in complex systems. What tools and approaches are we using now to make sense of this complexity, and to harness stakeholder inputs into more solid decision-making around water management on the ground?

Examples of inclusive planning and monitoring approaches were presented, including benefit-sharing assessments in the Sio-Malaba-Malakisi basin, basin-level freshwater health monitoring in the “3S” basins of the Lower Mekong, and gender-proactive design in the Ocotepeque-Citala Transboundary Aquifer (OCTA).

Key messages and take away recommendations

  • Stakeholder-inclusive dialogue, decision-support and monitoring tools offer huge potential to strengthen water governance processes and the technical quality of decisions around water management through the inclusion of more stakeholders, including women and youth, representing different kinds of water uses. These “living tools” can be disseminated, adapted and adopted into formal governance and planning mechanisms, through good project design, donor and government support. Champions can play a role in this.
  • It’s imperative to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders are at the table. Looking proactively beyond incumbent or donor-driven framing of the issues and actors can ensure better inclusivity, which is essential for the success and credibility of more stakeholder-inclusive processes around decision-making.

Tools and initiatives

The Benefit Opportunities Assessment Tool (BOAT - IUCN Global Water Programme) is a dialogue and decision-support tool that allows multiple stakeholders to qualitatively assess, prioritise and propose design changes to projects to achieve benefits for a wider array of stakeholders through cooperation. In the SMM basin (Kenya/Uganda), this type of process is being integrated into new institutional arrangements for transboundary cooperation.

The Freshwater Health Index (led by CI). This index assesses the health of a basin freshwater system through three main indicators; (i) Ecosystem vitality; (ii) Ecosystem services; (iii) Governance and stakeholders. By examining the water governance system itself, the Freshwater Health Index offers a unique but standardized way to have stakeholders self-assess strong and weak points in their governance, and structure the discussions about how to improve water governance. Stakeholders from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia also created future scenarios that make clearer connections between hydropower development, ecosystem modification, and changes in ecosystems/benefits.

The UNESCO IHP is executing the Groundwater Resources Governance in Transboundary Aquifers "GGRETA” project, which aims to improve the governance of the OCTA Aquifer. Given women’s involvement in water conservation and protection, the project has performed in-depth gender analysis making use of the WWAP toolkit and is helping governments to mainstream gender and increase women’s participation in transboundary institutions.

Resources

Original Event

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