TY - JOUR
T1 - Making water policy work in the United Kingdom
T2 - A case study of practical approaches to strengthening complex, multi-tiered systems of water governance
AU - Robins, L.
AU - Burt, T. P.
AU - Bracken, L. J.
AU - Boardman, J.
AU - Thompson, D. B.A.
N1 - Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the forum speakers at the ‘Dialogue on management challenges for water sustainability’ held at Hatfield College, Durham University, on 20 April 2016: Dr Christine Blackmore, Senior Lecturer, Engineering and Innovation Department, The Open University, UK; Prof. Andrew Campbell, former Director of the Research School for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Australia; Prof. Adie Collins, national lead of the UK Demonstration Test Catchment Programme, Rothamsted Research, UK; Prof. Ray Ison, Professor of Systems, Engineering and Innovation Department, The Open University, UK; and Dr Peter Long, Research Fellow, Institute of Biodiversity, University of Oxford, UK. We also extend our gratitude to Mr Damian Crilly (Environment & Business Manager, Strategic Catchment Partnerships, Environment Agency), Dr Donal Mullan (School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queens University Belfast) and Prof. Alan Werritty (Professor Emeritus, Centre for Research on Water, University of Dundee) for providing feedback on our draft manuscript. The views expressed here are the authors and should not be attributed to their organisations. This paper was written while the lead author was Visiting Fellow at Hatfield College, Durham, UK, Easter Term 2016.
PY - 2017/5/1
Y1 - 2017/5/1
N2 - We propose a suite of actions for strengthening water governance in contexts with complex, multi-tiered arrangements. In doing so, we focus on the collective water policies and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including those of devolved governments, which confront a host of serious water-related challenges—from massive flooding of urban areas and agricultural lands, to pressure on aquifers from rising water demand and drought. Further complexity in addressing these challenges has emerged in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU), so-called ‘Brexit’, and the ensuing ‘separation process’ with uncertainties for institutional and governance arrangements to follow. We make ten proposals for improving and reinvigorating water policy in complex, multi-layered situations, and comment specifically on their application in the UK setting. These are: put in place a system-wide water policy; fully embrace community-led nested river basin planning and management; fully fund river basin planning and management; re-focus the policy framing; use best-available data and information; create conversational spaces and become a more water-literate society; mobilise people; support and sustain core community networks; underpin river basin plans with regulatory provisions and effective monitoring and enforcement; and address systemic institutional amnesia. Individually and collectively, we contend that these actions will have a marked effect on transforming the planning and management of water resources. A system-wide water policy that maintains and builds on the substantive biophysical and socio-economic benefits delivered through implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, together with the more recent Floods Directive, will galvanise stewardship of water in the UK. We urge more active engagement with and empowerment of the multiplicity of system ‘actors’, and highlight the role of non-government actors in a post-Brexit world as conduits for reaching out to and connecting directly with a wide range of water-related actors, especially across the EU. While attention to-date has focused on a plethora of specifically water-related projects, initiatives, plans and regulations, what is really needed is a systemic, long-term view of water resource management.
AB - We propose a suite of actions for strengthening water governance in contexts with complex, multi-tiered arrangements. In doing so, we focus on the collective water policies and approaches of the United Kingdom (UK), including those of devolved governments, which confront a host of serious water-related challenges—from massive flooding of urban areas and agricultural lands, to pressure on aquifers from rising water demand and drought. Further complexity in addressing these challenges has emerged in the wake of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU), so-called ‘Brexit’, and the ensuing ‘separation process’ with uncertainties for institutional and governance arrangements to follow. We make ten proposals for improving and reinvigorating water policy in complex, multi-layered situations, and comment specifically on their application in the UK setting. These are: put in place a system-wide water policy; fully embrace community-led nested river basin planning and management; fully fund river basin planning and management; re-focus the policy framing; use best-available data and information; create conversational spaces and become a more water-literate society; mobilise people; support and sustain core community networks; underpin river basin plans with regulatory provisions and effective monitoring and enforcement; and address systemic institutional amnesia. Individually and collectively, we contend that these actions will have a marked effect on transforming the planning and management of water resources. A system-wide water policy that maintains and builds on the substantive biophysical and socio-economic benefits delivered through implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, together with the more recent Floods Directive, will galvanise stewardship of water in the UK. We urge more active engagement with and empowerment of the multiplicity of system ‘actors’, and highlight the role of non-government actors in a post-Brexit world as conduits for reaching out to and connecting directly with a wide range of water-related actors, especially across the EU. While attention to-date has focused on a plethora of specifically water-related projects, initiatives, plans and regulations, what is really needed is a systemic, long-term view of water resource management.
KW - Brexit
KW - European Union
KW - Floods Directive
KW - Integrated catchment management
KW - Policy
KW - Water Framework Directive
KW - Water governance
KW - Water resource management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014424770&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2017.01.008
DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2017.01.008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85014424770
SN - 1462-9011
VL - 71
SP - 41
EP - 55
JO - Environmental Science and Policy
JF - Environmental Science and Policy
ER -
