Navigating pathways to reform water policies in agriculture

Abstract

This paper is published under the responsibility of the Secretary General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and the arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD countries. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. This document has been declassified on the responsibility of the Joint Working Party on Agriculture and the Environment under the OECD reference number COM/TAD/CA/ENV/EPOC(2018)16/FINAL.

Measuring progress in agricultural water management

“…Identifying necessary policy changes or adjustments to achieve further progress requires sufficiently robust assessments of existing policies (Council of Canadian Academies, 2013 [21]). Evaluations are necessary for effective reform processes, to motivate change, or indicate directions and adjustments on a reform pathway (Gruère, Ashley and Cadilhon, 2018 [16]; Garrick et al, 2020[22]). A necessary condition for an effective reform process is to "support problem definitions, policy objectives setting and evaluations with robust evidence" (Gruère and Le Boëdec, 2019 [14]); this encompasses diagnosing the situation at any particular stage and indicating where the reform is heading.…”

“…Second, a governance system may be evaluated with a structural evaluation grid identifying gaps (OECD, 2011 [41]). This may rely on an analytical framework, such as a SWOT 16 analysis (Chan et al, 2016[43]), or an evaluation of the key water governance features of a policy change such as a water governance reform framework (Grafton et al, 2019[44]). These methods share similarities with the screening method discussed in the case of policy design above (subsection B.1).…”

“…Because of the characteristics of water and agriculture issues, there can be a trade-off between the breadth of the objective and its usefulness in evaluation (Gruère, Ashley and Cadilhon, 2018 [16]). For instance, looking at the performance of a policy change at farm level can provide a near-sighted understanding of the impact of any measure at the river basin or aquifer level.…”

Foreword

“…Evaluation of research and innovation policy is important to increase the efficiency with which public funds are used, and more broadly to improve the functioning of the research and innovation system and its contribution to addressing a wide range of socio-economic and environmental issues and to global challenges (Joly et al, 2016). Practices are very diverse among reviewed countries, and evaluation is often partial, focusing on financial considerations (Table 5.1).…”

“…Evaluation of research impacts poses methodological challenges, in particular in terms of attribution, evaluation of longer term impacts and non-market impacts Joly et al, 2016). Some countries are developing procedures and guideline, and efforts are made at international level in this area (OECD, FAO), but more concerted efforts are needed.…”