Skip to content

Global Water Governance: Challenges and Future Scope

Gupta, Joyeeta, Claudia Pahl-Wostl. 2013. Global Water Governance: Challenges and Future Scope. Ecology and Society, 1-4. Special Feature 65

Abstract

One specific challenge for global governance is the issue of water resources. Are water challenges a global challenge, and as such, do they require governance at a global level? Whereas some years ago the political discourses favored local management through to management at the river basin level, this debate is now theoretical as it has been overtaken by the reality of attempts at global water governance (in addition to governance efforts at other administrative levels). The question to be posed is rather (a) which specific water challenges require governance at the global level and why, and (b) does the emerging incrementally developing global governance landscape have the institutional architecture to deal with the wide range of water challenges that are affecting the global community? 

The different articles in this Special Feature focus on specific research questions, and the collection of these research questions aims to present an internally consistent story. This Special Feature is based on an intensive three-day workshop that was held on October 13-15, 2010 in Bonn, Germany under the auspices of the Global Water System Project. Some of the articles were further tested at the Global Catchment Initiative Conference of the Global Water System Project in December 2010 and the European Science Foundation Conference on Water Governance in June 2011. This Special Feature contributes to the ongoing research work of the Global Water System Project and the Flagship Activity on Water Governance of the Earth System Governance Project.

Table of Contents

Gupta, Joyeeta, and Claudia Pahl-Wostl. 2013. “Editorial on Global Water Governance.” Ecology and Society 18 (4).

Baumgartner, Thomas, and Claudia Pahl-Wostl. 2013. “UN-Water and Its Role in Global Water Governance.” Ecology and Society 18 (3).

Dellapenna, Joseph W, Joyeeta Gupta, Wenjing Li, and Falk Schmidt. 2013. “Thinking About the Future of Global Water Governance.” Ecology and Society 18 (3). 

Groenfeldt, David, and Jeremy J Schmidt. 2013. “Ethics and Water Governance.” Ecology and Society 18 (1). 

Gupta, Joyeeta, Aziza Akhmouch, William Cosgrove, Zachary Hurwitz, Josefina Maestu, and Olcay Ünver. 2013. “Policymakers’ Reflections on Water Governance Issues.” Ecology and Society 18 (1).

Gupta, Joyeeta, and Claudia Pahl-Wostl. 2013. “Global Water Governance in the Context of Global and Multilevel Governance: Its Need, Form, and Challenges.” Ecology and Society 18 (4).

Pahl-Wostl, Claudia, Ken Conca, Annika Kramer, Josefina Maestu, and Falk Schmidt. 2013. “Missing Links in Global Water Governance: a Processes-Oriented Analysis.” Ecology and Society 18 (2). 

Schubert, Susanne, and Joyeeta Gupta. 2013. “Comparing Global Coordination Mechanisms on Energy, Environment, and Water.” Ecology and Society 18 (2). 

You might like these publication categories

Recent publications

Building Capabilities for Earth System Governance

This Element develops a new Strategic Capabilities Framework for studying and steering complex socio-ecological systems. It is driven by the…

Trade and the Environment: Drivers and Effects of Environmental Provisions in Trade Agreements

The mushrooming of trade agreements and their interlinkages with environmental governance calls for new research on the trade and environment…

The Politics of Deep Time

Human societies increasingly interact with processes on a geological or even cosmic timescale. Despite this recognition, we still lack a…