DISCUSSIONS ON WATER GOVERNANCE: PATTERNS AND COMMON PATHS

Abstract

Water governance is a prominent theme in the discourse of international agencies and organizations, and in the research field. Given the continuous importance of this theme in discourse, politics and science, this article presents the results of a comprehensive literature review aiming to provide an overview of discussions on water governance. With the ample body of material reviewed, the main contributions were collated and summarized in terms of their motivations and core ideas. The discussions presented herein may be a starting point for those intending to study or improve water governance systems at different levels and scales. We have mainly concluded that there is no ideal “model” of governance - water governance is totally dependent on a particular social, cultural, environmental, economic, political and institutional context.

Keywords :
water governance; water management; processes; institutions