Opportunities and Barriers for Water Co-Governance—A Critical Analysis of Seven Cases of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in Europe, Australia and North America

Morten Graversgaard, Beatrice Hedelin, Laurence Smith, Flemming Gertz, Anker Lajer Højberg, John Langford, Grit Martinez, Erik Mostert, Emilia Ptak, Heidi Peterson, Nico Stelljes, Cors Van den Brink and Jens Christian Refsgaard
Additional contact information
Morten Graversgaard: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Alle 20, 8830-DK Tjele, Denmark
Beatrice Hedelin: Centre for Climate and Safety, Faculty of Health, Science and Technology, Karlstad University, Karlstad 651 88, Sweden
Laurence Smith: Centre for Development, Environment and Policy, SOAS University of London, London WC1H 0XG, UK
Flemming Gertz: SEGES, Landbrug & Fødevarer F.M.B.A., Agro Food Park 15, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
Anker Lajer Højberg: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), 1350 Copenhagen C, Denmark
John Langford: Department of Infrastructure Engineering, the University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
Grit Martinez: Ecologic Institute, 10717 Berlin, Germany
Erik Mostert: Department of Water Management, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
Emilia Ptak: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Alle 20, 8830-DK Tjele, Denmark
Heidi Peterson: Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, Falcon Heights, MN 55108, USA
Nico Stelljes: Ecologic Institute, 10717 Berlin, Germany
Cors Van den Brink: Royal Haskoning DHV, P.O. Box 8064, NL-9702 KB Groningen, The Netherlands
Jens Christian Refsgaard: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), 1350 Copenhagen C, Denmark

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-39

Abstract: Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture (DWPA) and its governance has received increased attention as a policy concern across the globe. Mitigation of DWPA is a complex problem that requires a mix of policy instruments and a multi-agency, broad societal response. In this paper, opportunities and barriers for developing co-governance, defined as collaborative societal involvement in the functions of government, and its suitability for mitigation of DWPA are reviewed using seven case studies in Europe (Poland, Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and UK), Australia (Murray-Darling Basin) and North America (State of Minnesota). An analytical framework for assessing opportunities and barriers of co-governance was developed and applied in this review. Results indicated that five key issues constitute both opportunities and barriers, and include: (i) pressure for change; (ii) connected governance structures and allocation of resources and funding; (iii) leadership and establishment of partnerships through capacity building; (iv) use and co-production of knowledge; and (v) time commitment to develop water co-governance.

Keywords: collaborative governance; decentralized decision-making; non-point source pollution; nutrient management; water governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1634/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1634/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1634-:d:147872

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().