Water institutional reforms in Australia

McKay, Jennifer

doi:10.2166/wp.2005.0003

Cited by 80 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Drought however is exacerbated by the water use decisions taken by governments when water availability is more normal or plentiful and governments can take actions to redress these normal water sharing arrangements to reduce the impacts of drought. In the view of news framing, this case suggests that subjective perception of objective reality could be more powerful than the reality itself as the problem was not as severe as it was projected or believed to be (McKay 2005). This demonstrates that extreme/unusual natural events are seen as an important ''opportunity'' of good timing to influence public opinion about water and sustainable water management.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia during 1843–2011

Wei

Western

et al. 2014

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

News accounts both reflect and influence public opinion through their noted 'agenda-setting' capability. We examined newspaper articles in Australia's The Sydney Morning Herald from 1843 to 2011 to observe the evolution of media coverage on water issues related to water resources management. The results showed that water supply-related articles have dominated the reporting of water issues since 1843. This emphasis is reflected in the institutions involved and their related policy/management initiatives, as well as the themes of the articles. Extreme events such as flooding and drought have punctuated the historical record of reports on water issues. An economic development-driven tone was overwhelmingly predominant in newspaper articles (85 % of the total); however, there has been a marked decline in the importance of development-driven tone relative to environmental-sustainability oriented tone of articles since 1994. People from academia and NGOs were rarely quoted. Inclusion of wider range stakeholders should be considered as a strategic break-through and natural events should be considered as an ''opportunity'' to change public opinion on water issues for environmental sustainability.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia during 1843–2011

Wei

Western

et al. 2014

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Australia, in contrast, the Crown declared ownership of all groundwater in the twentieth century (McKay 2005), and there are multiple government agencies that generate data on water availability and usage, with different definitions of terms and data sources leading to major challenges of coordination and information availability (Vardon et al 2007). While groundwater usage has increased considerably, effective management is still lacking.…”

Section: Polycentric Governance Of Other Natural Resource Commonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycentric governance of multifunctional forested landscapes

2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human-induced causes of forest change occur at multiple scales. Yet, most governance mechanisms are designed at a single level -whether international, national, regional or local -and do not provide effective solutions for the overarching challenge of forest governance. Efforts to "decentralize" governmental arrangements frequently do not recognize the importance of complex, polycentric arrangements and are based on a presumption of a single government at one level taking charge of a policy arena, often ignoring the existence of many vibrant self-governed institutions. Polycentric institutions provide a useful framework for governance, enabling aspects of preferred solutions to be used together in efforts to protect the long-term sustainability of diverse forested social-ecological systems. By considering the interaction between actors at different levels of governance, polycentricity contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the variation in diverse governance outcomes in the management of common-pool resources based on the needs and interests of citizens and the complexity of resources and governance systems at local, regional, national, and global levels. In this paper, we discuss challenges to polycentricity such as the matching of the boundaries of those who benefit, those who contribute with the boundary of the resource. We describe some approaches that have been effectively utilized to address these challenges in forests in various parts of the world. We also provide a brief overview of how the concept of polycentricity helps in the analysis of climate change and the closely related international effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through degradation and deforestation (REDD).Polycentric governance of multifunctional forested landscapes 105

show abstract

“…Increasing emphasis was placed on the development of water markets and improving water allocation arrangements with a special attention to environmental usage (Sharma, 2012, McCay, 2005. The former included recommendations for separation of water licenses from land title, allowing water access entitlements and allocations to be deployed to uses generating greater economic returns (COAG, 1994, Young and McCoil, 2002.…”

Section: Water Markets In Australiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust Institutions for Sustainable Water Markets: A Survey of the Literature and the Way Forward

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AbstactThis paper discusses a framework for analyzing robust institutions for water markets drawn on the new institutional economics school of thoughts which is based on Williamson, North, Coase and Ostrom theories on transaction cost economics, property rights and collective actions. Based on these theories, we review the evolution and development of water reforms and markets in countries such as Australia, USA (California and Colorado), Chile and in Spain. Based on the lessons learned from the Spanish and international experience on water markets, a list of robust recommendations for the improvement of water markets in Spain is proposed. These include among others, not only the definition of secure water rights, through the registration of rights or recognition of environment as a legitimate user, but also the monitoring of water trading activities, including the collection of information for prices and quantities or cost-benefit analysis for quantifying benefits and externalities. Finally, based on Sharma's approach (2012) a new robust water governance model for Spain is proposed in which the highest priority is given to the role of legal and political institutions and second priority to environmental, economic and social needs. We hope that the framework presented in this paper will function as a tool for researchers and policy makers in Spain and other European countries to understand how water markets can be further developed to be economically and environmentally efficient, and socially accepted.

show abstract

Water institutional reforms in Australia

Cited by 80 publications

References 4 publications

Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia during 1843–2011

Evolution of newspaper coverage of water issues in Australia during 1843–2011

Polycentric governance of multifunctional forested landscapes

Robust Institutions for Sustainable Water Markets: A Survey of the Literature and the Way Forward

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About