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European water regimes and the notion of a sustainable status

Obiettivo

Problems to be solved
The project will consider rival uses of water resources and the way in which resource regimes (property and use rights) are established to balance these rival uses in a sustainable way. To learn how regimes can be modified, also the evolution of the regimes in their political-institutional context will be analysed, in order to find triggers that are crucial for regime shifts towards sustainability. So the project intends to get a better understanding of the dynamic relationships between various water uses, the regimes under which these uses are managed, and factors in the political-institutional context that are generating regime shifts. By studying 12 cases in 6 different European countries, the final purpose is to assess the effectiveness of different water resource regimes and to identify ways in which they can become more effectively sustainable. The project will contribute to the newly proposed European framework for Community Action in the Field of Water Policy (Proposal for a Council Directive, COM(97)49, COM(98)76 final), where a 'good status of water' in the meaning of sustainable use of water resources has been put forward as a major principle. The researchers want to demonstrate what kind of regime conditions are crucial to reach a sustainable status. Looking at property and use rights, the researchers are identifying users, the importance they have in using water in a certain way, the extent to which they are paying a price for it, and the extent to which they have a say or participate in managing the water resources in their river basin area. The new Council Directive is considering these elements as important keys to a sustainable status of water resources. Furthermore, the project will help to implement 'Action Line 8: The Socio-Economic Framework' which has been formulated in the document 'Freshwater: A Challenge for Research and Innovation. A Concerted European Response' (EUR 18098 - July 1998). The researchers want to clarify how resource regimes can account for externalities, such as depletion, degradation or pollution of water resources. The cases in the project will cover different regimes with arrangements for combating pollution, for rational use of water (demand reduction), for combating chronic water deficits, and for prevention or management of crisis situations. The regimes will be evaluated on their contributions to sustainability by generating technical innovations, by reducing demands, by stimulating alternative practices and by changing land (and water) uses.
Scientific objectives and approach
A theoretical framework on institutional regime analysis will be used that combines property rights theory and institutional rational choice with approaches from political science (policy analysis, in particular policy design theory), thereby innovating the theory of institutional regime. The variables include: the form of the property and use rights (the regulative system); the internal coherence and comprehensiveness of the selected policy design of the relevant protection and use policy; supply and demand for certain goods and services; and the political institutions. An innovative resource regime is defined as a regime that stimulates more integrative management of supply and various uses. During the first phase of the project, long-term diachronic country studies will test hypotheses on the factors that generate developments into more integrative resource regimes. These studies and their comparative analysis will subsequently provide a basis for the final selection of twelve cases to be studied in detail in the second phase of the project. The case studies in the second phase of the project will enable a detailed examination of the development of more integrative regimes and will test hypotheses on the effects of such regimes in practice. These cases will be water-basin based and will be of intermediate scale (mostly tributary basins). Cases of regimes to be studied can address issues of surface water, groundwater, wetlands or combinations of these. The third phase will involve the final comparative evaluation of the case studies and the examination of the theory-based hypotheses. In addition, the final phase will focus on the formulation of recommendations for the design of water resource regimes. The methods to be used in the project include analysis of documentation, interviews, actor analysis and statistical and scientific approaches to the evaluation of the use of water resources. Comparative analysis will be based on purposeful case selection, enabling inferences from a small number of cases.
Expected impacts
The project will generate recommendations for water authorities on how to improve water resource regimes and make them more effectively sustainable. Especially these recommendations will focus on the distribution of rights among water users, the accountability for externalities, and the participation of water users in the resource management of their river basin area.
Through such recommendations, the project may contribute indirectly to:
· promoting the quality of life and health of European citizens (e.g. protecting the drinking water function of water resources);
· preserving the environment (e.g. maintaining/restoring the ecosystem function of water resources; protecting the storage capacity for water in an area to prevent flooding);
· reducing costs to society (e.g. minimising the need for restoration/remediation);
· increasing social/political stability in times of crises (e.g. preventing overuse of water resources which may lead to water deficits).

Campo scientifico

Programma(i)

Argomento(i)

Invito a presentare proposte

Data not available

Meccanismo di finanziamento

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinatore

UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE
Contributo UE
Nessun dato
Indirizzo
Drienerlolaan 5
7500 AE ENSCHEDE
Paesi Bassi

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Costo totale
Nessun dato

Partecipanti (5)

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Ultimo aggiornamento: 28 Luglio 2005

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/EVK1-CT-1999-00038/it

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