Oriana Romano (OECD) - 6th WGI Meeting (2-3 November 2015, Paris)

WATER GOVERNANCE IN CITIES

KEY FINDINGS

6th OECD Water Governance Initiative Paris, 2 November 2015

Aziza Akhmouch & Oriana Romano

OECD Survey “Water Governance in cities”

Key questions

METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES

• Challenges to urban water governance • Performance indicators • Governance gaps • Best practices in urban water governance

• Factors of urban water governance • Allocation of roles and responsibilities • Interconnection with water-related sectors • Tools and strategies to overcome fragmentation

TARGET

• Questionnaire to 48 cities from OECD and emerging economies

• Policy makers at local and national level • Water managers at city and metropolitan level

Analytical framework for assessing

water governance in cities

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

The 3Ps co-ordination framework

Cities complex

interactions

People

Places Policies

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

PEOPLE

Facts

Multiplicity of governmental actors with shared prerogatives on water

• Central governments : policy making (e.g. water security 65%) and regulatory functions ( e.g. drinking water 52%)

• Local government ( policy making, information, financing e.g. drainage/ drinking water)

• Other sub-national governments: information/monitoring/evaluation

Multiplicity of non-governmental actors with a stake in urban water governance

• Service providers (main counterparts of city departments, 79%)

• Industry/ Business ( not frequent interaction )

• Irrigators and their association ( rare interactions)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%Service providers

Regional / provincialgovernment

Local government

Advisors

Media

Customers and theirassociations

Civil society

Central government

Business/ IndustrySub-national institution

dealing specifically with water

Trade unions and workers

Science, academia andresearch centres

Regulator

Inter-municipal /metropolitan authority

Financial actors

International organisations

Irrigators and theirassociations

Frequent interactions between cities and stakeholders

Obstacles

• Complexity of issues at hand

• Resistance to change

• Lack of funding for engaging stakeholders Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

Opportunities

• Building trust and ownership • Securing the willingness to pay for water services • Raising awareness on current and future water challenges • Ensuring the accountability of city managers and service providers to end

users and citizens • Managing conflicts on water allocation • Ensuring the political acceptability of different ownership models • Setting convergent objectives across policy areas.

Focus on Stakeholder engagement

Focus on Multi-level approaches to water governance

• Minimising overlaps • Avoiding duplications • Identifying grey areas • Vertical and horizontal co-ordination

PLACES

Facts

75% 73%

63% 58%

54% 54%

44% 42%

8%

Issues generating interdependencies between

cities and surrounding areas • Major issues: water quality (75%) , flood control (73%), wastewater treatment ( 63%).

• Ageing/lacking infrastructure and extreme events are the main water-related challenges for surveyed cities (92% and 83%)

• For OECD countries as a whole,

investment requirements in the water supply and treatment sector are expected to increase by almost 50% by 2030 (OECD, 2007)

• Cities coordinate with rural areas and other municipalities: 46% of cities implemented inter-municipal co-ordination mechanisms

• Lack of relevant scale for investment ( administrative gap)

• Mismatch between hydrological and administrative boundaries (administrative gap)

Obstacles

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

Opportunities

Focus on Rural- Urban partnerships

• Building synergies for a more efficient use of water • Managing trade-offs and building trust and

capacities • Integrate water management between cities and

their hinterland

Focus on Metropolitan governance

• Enhancing information sharing and costs saving for projects on water

• Integrate planning, policy making, strategy setting and service provision across municipalities

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

POLICIES

Facts

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%81%

77% 71%

56%

39% 38% 31%

Policy areas influencing water challenges in

surveyed cities • Land use and spatial planning (81%),

Energy (77%) and territorial development (71%) mainly influence water challenges in surveyed cities

• Surveyed cities coordinate across sectors through planning, but also through contracts (energy, agriculture); coordination groups (territorial development, environment)

Obstacles

• Lack of strategic vision across water related policy areas ( policy gap)

• Lack of institutional incentives for sectoral cooperation ( objective gap)

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

• Managing conflicts on water allocation

• Efficiently allocating resources

• Increasing capacity

• Strategic vision

Opportunities

Focus on policy complementarities

Coordination mechanisms

Conditionalities

Financial incentives

Joint programmes

Partnerships

Contracts

Legal requirements

Co-ordination groups

Planning

Environment

Spatial planning

Energy

Agriculture

Regional development

Land use

Water

Waste

Source : OECD, 2015 forthcoming, Water Governance in OECD Cities, OECD Publishing, Paris

THANK YOU

[email protected]

[email protected]

WWW.OECD.ORG/GOV/WATER