OECD Water reports: Water Governance, Water and Cities, Fit to Finance and more

April 2015 was marked by the World Water Forum 7 in South Korea during and around which various new analyses and perspectives on global water challenges and markets were published.  The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD launched several new reports on water challenges all of which can be read online: 

1. Stakeholder Engagement for Inclusive Water Governance assesses the current trends, drivers, obstacles, mechanisms, impacts, costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement in the water sector, building on a survey across 215 institutions and 69 case studies.
2. The Governance of Water Regulators presents a picture of governance arrangements, operational modalities and use of regulatory tools across a sample of 34 water regulators; the establishment of dedicated regulatory bodies in charge of regulating water services is a consistent trend among OECD and non-OECD countries.
3. Water and Cities. Ensuring Sustainable Futures  focuses on urban water management challenges across OECD countries; it explores both national and local policy responses with respect to water-risk exposure, the state of urban infrastructures, and institutional and governance architectures.
4. Water Resources allocation: Sharing Risks and Opportunities provides an overview of how water allocation works in a range of countries and how the performance of allocation arrangements can be improved to adjust to changing conditions.

Two further reports were developed in collaboration with partner organisations:

1. Securing Water, Sustaining Growth for the first time captures how water security defines growth, building on the best available research, and detailed case studies at country, basin, aquifer and city levels. It is based on, among others, a Global Dialogue for Water Security and Economic Growth by the OECD and the Global Water Partnership connecting policymakers and practitioners through global and country level consultations and through an expert task force analysis. An accompanying policy statement calls for further investments in water security, risk management, people and partnership, along pathways that combine water security and sustainable growth.
2. Water: fit to Finance?  takes stock of recent trends in water-related finance and brings together options to catalyse national growth through investment in water security. It is a joint OECD / World Water Council publication based on the work of a High Level Panel (HLP) to raise the global debate on how to scale up financing of water infrastructure; the HLP’s results show that there is no silver bullet that will bridge the financial gap arising from the burgeoning demand for water and the current limitations for supply. Rather there is a more nuanced mix of options that needs to be brought to bear by all stakeholders.