Water
what’s happening 2016-17
Improving water policy Better water management is needed to ensure there is sufficient water of adequate quality to meet the needs of all users, including the environment. The OECD is continuing its strong commitment to provide guidance on improving water policy through its work on economic and governance issues. Working with a multi‑disciplinary team drawn from across the organisation, the OECD provides a forum for the exchange of country experiences and the identification of good practice, and helps to improve the economic and governance information base for meeting the challenge of securing water for sustainable growth, and human and environmental well-being.
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“Investing in water security will drive sustainable growth. These investments must be well-planned, fit in with broader development agendas, benefit local communities and the environment, and be flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances.” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría
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Global initiatives The Roundtable on Water Finance aims at expediting investments in water security. The OECD-GWP Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth has established how water security contributes to sustainable growth (see the Securing Water, Sustaining Growth report). The OECD-WWC High-Level Panel on Financing Infrastructure for a WaterSecure World has argued that needed investments in water security fail to materialise at the proper scale (see the Water: Fit to Finance? report). The Roundtable on Water Finance, a joint initiative with the Netherlands and the WWC, was set up to address this conundrum. Ahead of the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia in 2018, the Roundtable plans to contribute to i) policy recommendations to make investments in urban development, energy, or agriculture water-wise; ii) options to allocate risks and rewards related to water investments; and iii) tools that help investors select the most beneficial projects. Feel free to join the conversation. (Contact: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org) The OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI) is an international multi-stakeholder network of 120+ members from the public, private and non-for-profit sectors gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum. The WGI works on several fronts: advising governments on water reforms, assisting with the implementation of OECD Principles on Water Governance, peer-reviewing OECD’s analytical work on water governance, and providing a space for sharing good practices and pitfalls to avoid. The WGI is currently developing a set of water governance indicators and a best practice database to support the implementation of the OECD Principles on Water Governance over 2016-2018. (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
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Recently published Policy Perspectives on Water, Growth and Finance. The brochure sketches an OECD perspective on financing investment in water security and sustainable growth. It takes stock of recent developments on these issues, in particular the reports Securing Water, Sustaining Growth and Water: Fit to Finance? and related work. Guidance is provided on how to translate the economic case of water security into an attractive investment case for public and private entities. (Contact: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
Water Governance in Cities. The report aims to provide policy recommendations on how to foster integrated urban water management in cities and their hinterlands, with a focus on the governance “dimension� for overcoming fragmentation and building intersectoral complementarities. (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
Drying Wells, Rising Stakes: Towards the Sustainable Management of Agricultural Groundwater Use. The report provides a characterisation of the diversity of groundwater systems, reviews policies in OECD countries, and proposes a package of recommendations to ensure that groundwater can sustain its services to agriculture and contribute to climate change adaptation. (Contact: Guillaume.Gruere@oecd.org) 4 . Š OECD wATER 2016-17
Mitigating Droughts and Floods in Agriculture. The report proposes a comprehensive analysis of key recommendations on policy approaches to the sustainable management of droughts and floods in agriculture and provides a general policy framework for countries to analyse their own drought and flood policies. (Contact: Guillaume.Gruere@oecd.org)
Sustainable Business Models for Water Supply and Sanitation in Small Towns and Rural Settlements in Kazakhstan. The report analyses the effectiveness and efficiency of existing business models applied in Kazakhstan and compares them with approaches in the OECD countries. The report recommends a range of reforms to ensure sustainabile operations and financing of water supply and sanitation in Kazakhstan. (Contact: Alexandre.Martoussevitch@oecd.org)
Policy Perspectives on Reforming Economic Instruments for Water Management in EECCA countries: The publication summarises policy messages and recommendations on the role of economic instruments in addressing key water policy objectives including relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia region. (Contact: Alexandre.Martoussevitch@oecd.org)
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Recently published continued... Water Resources Governance in Brazil. The report focuses on water allocation and multi-level governance, while supporting the implementation of the National Water Pact, for strengthening federal and state government’s priorities, and capacity. More than 100 stakeholders were involved in the OECD - National Water Agency (ANA) Policy Dialogue. (Contacts: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org; Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
OECD Principles on Water Governance provide standards for design and implementation of water policies, and aim to enhance water governance systems that manage water risks in a sustainable, integrated and inclusive way, at a reasonable cost, and time-frame. The principles acknowledge that water governance is a shared responsibility between levels of government, public, private and non-profit stakeholders and have been endorsed by 42Â countries and 100+ stakeholders so far. (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
Reforming Economic Instruments for Water Resources Management in Kyrgyzstan. The report presents recommendations on the reform of economic instruments for water resources management in Kyrgyzstan, specifically tariffs for urban water supply and sanitation and irrigation water, pollution charges, surface water abstraction charges for enterprises, and taxes and customs duty on products contributing to water pollution. (Contact: Alexandre.Martoussevitch@oecd.org) 6 . Š OECD wATER 2016-17
Water and Innovation for Green Growth. This working paper provides guidance on how water policies can better contribute to green growth objectives. It includes a toolbox to allocate water, catalyse investment and innovation, and facilitate and monitor green growth investment. (Contacts: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org; Hannah.Leckie@oecd.org)
Water and Cities: Ensuring Sustainable Futures. The report provides guidance on how governments and cities can cooperate to ensure the financial sustainability of urban water systems, improve governance and regulatory frameworks to better implement water policies at different territorial scales, reduce barriers to the use of innovative techniques and approaches, and better link urban and rural water policies. (Contact: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
Water Resources Allocation: Sharing Risks and Opportunities. This report reviews the current allocation policies in OECD and key partner countries and provides policy guidance on how to improve the performance of allocation regimes. The report provides a “Health Check for Water Resources Allocation� to help countries assess whether their institutional arrangements have the core elements of well-designed regimes. (Contact: Kathleen.Dominique@oecd.org) Š OECD wATER 2016-17 . 7
Upcoming publications TO BE RELEASED
Diffuse Water Pollution in OECD Countries: Policies and Principles for Action. The report will provide a characterisation of the water challenges facing OECD countries, particularly diffuse pollution which remains under‑reported and under-regulated in comparison to point source pollution. The report presents a range of policy instruments, several water quality policy reform case studies, and a package of guiding principles for more effective water quality management. (Contact: Hannah.Leckie@oecd.org)
Water risk hotspots for agriculture. Agriculture is expected to face increasing water risks in the future, impacting its productivity, with further impacts on market, trade and food security. The hotspot approach focuses on globally significant agricultural regions, and insists on locally customised mitigation and adaptation plans. (Contact: Guillaume.Gruere@oecd.org)
TO BE RELEASED
Potential Benefits of Transboundary Cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan in
TO BE RELEASED
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the Kura river basin. This report covers analysis and policy recommendations on transboundary water cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Kura river basin. (Contact: Tatiana.Efimova@oecd.org)
Towards sustainable sanitation in Armenia. The report provides recommendations for the development of a national strategy on sustainable sanitation in Armenia. This work builds on an assessment of the state of wastewater collection and treatment services in Armenia and a review of the level of ambition of the Armenian government. (Contact: Tatiana.Efimova@oecd.org)
TO BE RELEASED
TO BE RELEASED
Strengthening Domestic Financial Support Mechanisms for Water Supply and Sanitation in Moldova. This report assesses the existing mechanisms vis‑à‑vis good international practice and recommends measures for strengthening domestic financial support mechanisms, including to mobilise capital investment and to support vulnerable households to address affordability constraints. (Contact: Alexandre.Martoussevitch@ oecd.org)
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Work happening 2016-17 OECD work on water will continue addressing a number of key areas of current and emerging policy priorities. These include: •
The economics of urban water quality management. Cities face distinct challenges with regards to poor water quality and the value of assets at risk. Cities are required to upgrade drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities to cope with the pressures of population growth, urbanisation, climate change, and increasingly stringent environmental and health legislation. Options for the management of contaminants of emerging concern will be specifically discussed. (Contact: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
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Water allocation – groundwater. The work on water allocation will continue in 2016-17. This project will focus on the allocation of groundwater, a major issue that affects the sustainability of cities and agriculture in a number of OECD and partner countries. (Contact: Kathleen.Dominique@oecd.org)
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Towards an OECD Council Recommendation on water. The OECD Council Recommendation aims to bring together the OECD acquis on water in a single consistent document. The Council Recommendation covers policies to manage water quantity and quality, water-related risks and disasters, and governance and financing issues. A toolkit will be developed subsequently, to facilitate the implementation of the Recommendation of the Council. (Contacts: Anthony.Cox@oecd.org; Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
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Human Impacts on the Nitrogen Cycle. This project promotes a holistic approach to nitrogen management, assessing the scientific and economic aspects of the human and environmental impacts from the modified nitrogen cycle. (Contact: Gerard.Bonnis@oecd.org)
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Measuring water related disaster losses and damages. The OECD High Level Risk Forum collects data from countries on the social and economic impacts of water related disasters. Historically, floods, droughts, storm surges and tsunamis account for the vast majority of all people affected by disasters. This figure is still increasing with the poor and other vulnerable groups suffering the most. Economic losses associated with water related hazards are also rising due to mega-trends in urbanisation. (Contacts: Catherine.Gamper@oecd.org; Charles.Baubion@oecd.org)
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OECD Water Governance Indicators. The Water Governance Initiative is developing indicators to assess water governance frameworks and foster peer to peer dialogue among countries facing similar challenges. The objective is to support the implementation of the OECD Principles on Water Governance. The indicators, to be adopted early 2017, will also help with the monitoring of target 6b on “local participation” of the SDG 6, which involves the WGI as a partner. A first stock-taking of the state of play in interested cities, basins and countries will be published in an OECD Water Governance at a Glance report at the 8th World Water Forum (Brasilia, 2018). (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
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OECD Best Practice Database on Water Governance. The Water Governance Initiative is developing an online database that will feature prominent examples of solutions to bridge governance gaps at local, basin, national and global level for each of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance. A call for application will be issued early 2017 based on a template under development, and peer-review workshops and focus group will be held in 2017-2018. (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
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Policy dialogues 2016-17 •
The National Policy Dialogues (NPDs) in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA). Projects implemented under this platform facilitate the reform of economic instruments for water management, strengthen financing for water supply and sanitation, and support transboundary water management in the EECCA region. The NPDs help OECD member states coordinate their assistance on water to beneficiary countries in the region. (Contact: Tatiana.Efimova@oecd.org)
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OECD Policy Dialogue on Water in Brazil. The OECD is carrying out a second policy dialogue with the National Water Agency, Brazil, on governing economic instruments for water resources management. The project is a follow-up to support the implementation of the recommendations on water charges from the earlier dialogue on Water Resources Governance in Brazil. It will conclude with the publication of an OECD report in December 2017 with policy recommendations and an Action Plan. (Contact: Aziza.Akhmouch@oecd.org)
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OECD Policy Dialogue on Water in Korea. The OECD is working with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Water and K-water on a range of pricing instruments to manage water quantity and promote smart water resources management in Korea. (Contact: Xavier.Leflaive@oecd.org)
w w w. o e c d . o r g / w a t e r water@oecd.org
Updated: August 2016