Understanding water governance

1. Governance of Informal Water EconomiesA Framework for Study of Water Governance in the Indo-Gangetic BasinTushaar Shah and R.P.S.MalikIWMI

2. Understanding water governance Water governance is viewed as the sum total of processes, mechanisms, systems and structures that a State evolves and puts into place in order to shape and direct its water economy to conform to its near and long term goals.

3. Institutional Environment and Institutional Arrangement • The concern on institutional analysis has generally focussed on water law, water policy and water administration- often referred to as the three pillars of institutional analysis • If institutional change is about how societies adapt to new demands, its study needs to go beyond what government bureaucracies, international agencies and legal/regulatory systems do; people, businesses, civil society institutions, religions and social movements – all these must be covered in the ambit of institutional analysis. • We therefore distinguish between Institutional Environment (IE) and Institutional Arrangements (IA)

4. Formal and Informal Institutions • There is another way in which this classification of institutions in to IE and IA has been looked at : ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ institutions • The main difference between the two types of institutions lies in the basis of attainment of powers and the nature of authority wielded. • The formal institutions derive power by the virtue of the state and formal rule of law, the informal ones acquire power through customary influences and beliefs

5. This transformation is driven by the ‘iron laws’ of economic development of nations. Informal Formal Self-supply predominates service providers dominate Vast numbers of tiny, primary very few, but large primary diverters Water diverters from nature of water from rivers, lakes Water institutions are local, water institutions are few, formal, fragmented, informal legal bodies Intermediation in water services Very high degree of Low or absent intermediation in water provision Water is scarce but free.. Water is aplenty but it costs money.. Water is everybody’s Water is the business of an Business organized industry.

6. How informal can a poor country water economy be is suggested by a large sample survey of households in India.. • As a country, urbanizes, its water economy formalizes.. • As rural areas become richer, they depend more on organized water service providers for domestic water..

7. A similar survey of irrigation in India showed that over 80% of India’s villages have irrigation..but less than 10 percent depend on public irrigation systems; the rest operate in an informal irrigation economy, outside the reach of the public system..

8. Economic Growth and Water Governance

10. The nature of water institutions existing in a given region/ nation at any given point in time depend critically upon the level of formalization of its water economy; by formalization, we mean the proportion of the economy that comes under the ambit of direct regulatory influence of the IE

11. Farm population as % of total % of water use in agriculture % of water use self-supplied Economic cost of water service provision Human, technical & financial investment/m3 of water diverted

12. Indirect instruments: e.g., power subsidies Indirect instruments: Fixing Procurement policy Direct Instruments of Water Governance Indirect instruments e.g., subsidizing arsenic filters Indirect instruments: e.g., Gujarat’s recharge program

13. Water Institutions in IGB • Indo-Gangetic Basin (IGB) water sector exhibits a large variety of informal institutions which co-exist with formal institutions. • Much information is however not known about the extent, nature and intensity of involvement of formal and informal institutions within different regions in IGB as also within a given region over different tiers of resource management. • There is also a lack of clear understanding on the complex inter-relationships between the formal and informal institutions, their relative strengths, weaknesses and efficacy under varying resource availability and other underlying conditions, their impacts in promoting sustainable use of resources and contribution to pro poor growth and economic development

14. The lack of an analytical framework to investigate and answer some of these questions has hindered comprehensive analysis of issues related to water governance in the region. • The paper has attempted to develop a framework for analysis of water governance in the IGB.

15. An inventory of indicators of levels of formalization of water institutions

18. Thank you