Practices for Governance and Sustainability Improvement
Resource information
The past decade has witnessed a major
global shift in thinking about water, including the role
that water infrastructure plays in sustainable development.
This rethinking aims to better balance the social, economic,
and environmental performance aspects in the development and
management of large dams. Additionally, it reinforces
efforts to combat poverty by ensuring more equitable access
to water and energy services. There is also growing
appreciation of how broad-based policy reforms come into
play and influence decisions around issues related to dams.
Apart from democratization of the development process
itself, it is increasingly recognized that infrastructure
strategies must complement strategies for water,
environment, and energy security; they must also address
emerging concerns to reduce vulnerability in water resource
systems due to the probability of climate change.
Communication comes to the forefront in modern approaches to
dam planning and management in several respects.
Communication is central to multi-stakeholder dialogue and
partnerships at all levels needed to achieve sustainability
and governance reform in water resource management and
infrastructure provision. At the same time, communication
drives the advocacy to mobilize political will and public
support for beneficial change and continuous improvement in
practices. This case study emphasizes that it is important
not only to mobilize all opportunities to reconcile water
demand and supply in river basins facing increasing levels
of water stress, but also to effectively integrate
governance and anticorruption reforms and sustainability
improvements into all stages of the planning and project
cycle-adding value for all stakeholders, not just for some
of them.
