The management of, and access to, water resources have been universally identified as a key aspect of poverty reduction, agriculture and food security and sustainable development in developing, transitional, and developed countries worldwide. Yet good "water governance," so eagerly sought, has in practice proven difficult to achieve. This book, edited and authored by leading authorities on water resource management, examines the recent changes in governance, institutions, economics, and policies of water, from a global point of view and a cross-country perspective, with special emphasis on African and Southern African case studies.The authors show that in recent years, water policies, institutions, and governance have shifted from technical, quantitative, supply-driven, centrally controlled management to more demand-sensitive, qualitative, decentralized, participatory, integrated approaches. Such a move also often supposes cost recovery principles, resource allocation among competing sectors, and privatization. In most developing countries, motivations for these changes have been increased resource scarcity, increased diversity of users and uses, urbanization, financial constraints and the need for sustainable development through renewed water management. Yet the creation and operation of new policies and legal frameworks often fall short of initial expectations since management transfer and decentralization processes, cost recovery principles and the emergence of new local organizations have proven difficult to implement. The book examines these issues through case studies at national, river basin, and local levels using accessible multidisciplinary approaches that integrate economics, institutional analysis, geography, and policy analysis. Ultimately the book untangles and presents best practices for policy and decision makers, governments and regulators, NGOs and user groups, farmers, water-supply companies, and researchers, and points towards how good water governance structures can be developed and implemented for the benefit of all.

Good management of water resources - universally identified as a key aspect of poverty reduction, agriculture and food security - has proven, in practice, as difficult to achieve as it is eagerly sought. This book, edited and authored by leading authorities on water resource management, examines the recent changes in governance, institutions, economics and policies of water, covering developing, transitional and developed countries, with special emphasis on southern African case studies. The book examines how water policies, institutions and governance have shifted in recent years from supply-driven, quantitative, centrally controlled management to more demand-sensitive, decentralized, participatory approaches. Such a move often also implies cost recovery principles, resource allocation among competing sectors, and privatization. The case studies demonstrate that the new policies and legal frameworks have been difficult to implement and often fall short of initial expectations. Using an accessible multidisciplinary approach that integrates economics, sociology, geography and policy analysis, the book untangles the issues and presents best practices for policy- and decision-makers, governments and regulators, NGOs and user groups, service providers, and researchers. The overall aim is to show how good water governance structures can be developed and implemented for the benefit of all.

This book is about the process of water management decentralization in African countries, which is seen as a means of advancing river basin management at the lowest appropriate level. There are very different stages of implementing decentralization in practice. This called for research aiming to understand the following questions: (i) why do some water agencies succeed more than others? (ii) What are the variables involved in such reform process? (iii) which variables have a positive or a negative impact on the implementation of decentralization processes? (iv) Which variables could be affected by policy interventions, and how? This study aimed to answer these questions through the following objectives: (i) analyze the factors that have potentially affected the results of decentralization process in SSA basins, and (ii) analyze the performance of decentralization process in SSA basins. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. The main findings are that water scarcity is a major stimulus to reform; water user associations, if not well prepared and trained, may deter the decentralization process; and being part of an existing treaty over an international basin helps foster the process. Conditions improving decentralization performance include: scarcity of water resources, longer period of implementation, bottom-up creation, and appropriate budgetary support.