Initiative:

NEXUS Gains

Strengthening nexus governance

Work Package 4 (Strengthening WEFE nexus governance) aims to enhance nexus governance through more effective multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) and social learning interventions.

The challenge

A lack of good governance at all levels leads to the continuous degradation of water, food, land, and ecosystems – meaning that innovative solutions that could generate tangible benefits go unrealized. A major barrier to the adoption of nexus solutions is the political economy at the national and transnational level, where inequities in access to resources and economic development can challenge something as simple and essential as sharing data. Sectoral divisions, contested mandates, and mutual distrust prevent agricultural, environmental, and energy ministries from working together or with the private sector and civil society.

Multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) offer the potential to bring together various actors, but there is a critical need for evidence on how MSPs and other institutions can improve governance of WEFE systems and break down sectoral silos that prevent the formulation of coherent policies and effective management.

Our research

A literature review and an international workshop on MSPs provided guidance on improving the inclusion of women and marginalized groups. A review paper and international workshop on Institutional Tools for Groundwater Governance provided guidance on identifying tools to improve groundwater governance. Qualitative research on groundwater in Nepal, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan laid the foundation for locally adapted interventions.

Our work emphasizes the importance of understanding the political economy and incentive structures of different actors to promote transformation successfully. Our Theory of Change assumes that social learning processes create conditions for partners to adopt/adapt the toolbox and guidelines for collective action, and engage in science-policy dialogues and multistakeholder processes.

Research questions

  1. How can MSPs be adapted to realize nexus outcomes, and what coordination mechanisms are needed to be effective in achieving nexus outcomes?
  2. How can social learning interventions be linked with technical and policy measures to develop inclusive groundwater governance systems?
  3. How can a nexus systems approach advance the global discourse on systems transformation?

Outcomes

NEXUS Gains works with policymakers and stakeholders from community and municipal levels through to national and international arenas to identify how effective governance can address trade-offs and maximize gains across the WEFE nexus. For example, the revised Nepal Irrigation Policy acknowledges the importance of a nexus approach to development. While vested interests persist and can block governance reforms, stakeholders in the Ganges, Incomati, and Indus basins are receptive to addressing governance issues.

Multistakeholder platforms

NEXUS Gains has expanded guidelines on multistakeholder platforms (MSPs) by publishing a review of community-based conservation of freshwater resources. The Initiative convened multistakeholder workshops in Nepal and in the Incomati Basin.

In the Incomati, NEXUS Gains is supporting capacity building to develop an MSP linking the subnational water catchment agencies from Eswatini, Mozambique, and South Africa to strengthen water governance at a transboundary level and present its water modeling tool. As each stakeholder will be impacted in some way by the modeling and resulting decisions regarding water storage, use, and allocation, MSP provide a space to present the scenarios identified through the modeling and invite people from WEFE sectors in the three countries to respond and engage with them. NEXUS Gains also established a community of practice on MSPs across 13 CGIAR Research Initiatives and developed guidance for their establishment.

Groundwater governance

In Pakistan, a lack of investment and governance means that untreated water can be discharged back into the river, resulting in significant health and environmental problems. NEXUS Gains has worked with farmers, local governments, and the provincial irrigation department, to better understand the issues and determine how governance can be improved. NEXUS Gains also collaborated with Pakistan’s Punjab Irrigation Department to test a practical, near-real-time methodology to monitor groundwater depletion zones. It is being implemented province-wide and tested in two other provinces. The methodology is a step toward more informed decision making and governance.

500 staff from a major government program in India (Atal Bhujal Yojana) were trained, with support from NEXUS Gains, to apply groundwater governance tools that link social learning with technical and policy interventions. To develop the groundwater governance toolbox, the Initiative produced a review paper and held an international workshop.

Policy contributions

NEXUS Gains has advocated a nexus approach to systems transformation in global science–policy dialogues through the Montpellier Process; helped strengthen climate–water–food systems linkages of three COP28 country delegations; and contributed to the 2023 UN Water Conference incorporating WEFE linkages.

Work Package 4 innovations

  • A groundwater governance toolbox to address growing competition for, and degradation of, water resources.
  • Guidance to enhance the effectiveness of multistakeholder platforms to influence integrated, inclusive WEFE nexus management.

Contact

Ruth Meinzen-Dick: r.meinzen-dick@cgiar.org

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