Full Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Issue ...

1UNIVERSITIES COUNCIL ON WATER RESOURCESJOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATIONISSUE 135, PAGES 1-7 DECEMBER 2006Integrated Water Resources Management:Governance, Best Practice, and Research ChallengesBruce HooperDHI Water and Environment, Brisbane, AustraliaThis collection of invited papers published inthis issue of the Journal of ContemporaryWater Research and Education examinesthe theme of governance in integrated waterresources management (IWRM). Governance isa suite of procedures that use decision-makingprocesses at different levels and among differentsectors, stakeholders, and jurisdictions to enact,in this case, water resources management. Muchhas been said about governance in the water sector,with one foundational explanation provided by theGlobal Water Partnership (undated):• Governments to establish water policies, lawsand regulatory frameworks, devolve decisionmaking,and encourage better service deliveryby autonomous public sector agencies andprivate sector operators.• Governments to set policies and establishinstitutional structures for managing riverbasins and aquifers and processes to overcomeconflict over water allocation.• Governments to facilitate the realignment ofeconomic and financial practices, includingfull cost pricing for water services—withappropriate mechanisms to protect the poor.• Governments, with the help of internationalpartners, to establish mechanisms forstrengthening river basin management andestablishing transboundary water agreementsallowing for equitable utilization of sharedwaters.This functionality emphasizes the role of thepublic sector and sees governance comprising thecore elements of water policy, water laws, waterpricing mechanisms, river basin organizations andinternational and intra-national (cross-jurisdiction,cross-boundary) agreements. These elements do notexist in an institutional vacuum, rather they relateto the broader democratic functions of governmentand civil society. Indeed, good governance occurswhen societies establish democratic freedoms (freeelections), robust economies, low unemployment,state-of-the-art technological development, financialand resource security, human rights, and lackof civil unrest. Poverty, insurgence and nationalsecurity work against good governance and the wayto implement IWRM in struggling economies willrequire the simultaneous elimination of civil unrestand poverty. These form the precursor to effectivewater governance. This expansive governancemandate, more than one focusing solely on thewater sector, suggests a number of elements arerequired: transparency, accountability, anticorruption,citizen participation, and a workingjudiciary.Issue OutlineThe papers are grouped into two themes:concepts and practices. The first theme comprisesfour papers that discuss the conceptual complexityof IWRM and its expression in emerging waterpolicies. In a refreshing exploratory discussion,Cardwell et al. present an innovative framework,using the axes of time, space, institutions, andobjectives, for examining the nature and degree ofmanagement integration relevant to water resourcesmanagement, comparing this with both U.S. andinternational IWRM conceptualizations. Theymaintain the need for spatial, objective (goals),JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATIONUCOWR