1. Stakeholders and Participation
River Basin Management
&
IP Field Study Days
2013-14

2. Reasons for stakeholder
participation?
QUALITY INSTRUMENT DEMOCRACY
ADVANTAGES
• KNOWLEDGE
• FINANCING
• MANPOWER
• INITIATIVES
ADVANTAGES
• UNDERSTANDING
• COOPERATION
• CREATIVITY
• COMMITMENT
ADVANTAGES
• TRANSPARANCY
• MOBILIZING
• NO NIMBY
PRACTICAL REASONS
e.g. knowledge of the
environment
PRAGMATIC REASONS
e.g. support
PRINCIPLES, e.g.
democratic rights
Adapted from: Breman, B. et al, Participatie in het Waterbeheer, Alterra, Wageningen, 2008

3. Key elements of IWRM
• Coordinated process, brings stakeholders
together
• Focuses both on economic and social wellfare
and equity AND protecting ecosystems
• Uses scientific data & tools to provide a sound
base for judgement
• Proper governance; involving participation

4. Participation in the WFD

5. Stakeholder
• An interested
individual, group or
institution that may be
affected by decisions or
actions pertaining to a
specific resource and
may be part of decision-
making about the
resource
Participation
• a process in which
stakeholder and public
concerns, views and
values are incorporated
into decision-making
(and implementation)
of water resource
management
• Not a single event; co-
management of a
resource necessitates
ongoing commitment.

6. Adapted from: Breman, B. et al, Participatie in het Waterbeheer, Alterra, Wageningen, 2008
TOP – DOWN APPROACH
PARTICIPATIVE APPROACH
DECISION
DECISION
Problems identification
and planning
Problems identification
and planning
Implementation
Implementation
End of project
End of project
Start of project
Start of project

7. and interest
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

8. A. Stakeholder identification
• Who are the potential
beneficiaries?
• Who might be adversely
affected?
• Have vulnerable groups
who may be impacted
been indentified?
Categorization
• Water users
• Governmental
institutions
• Civil society and NGO’s

9. B. Power – Interest Grid

10. C. Drawing out Assumptions and
Risks, e.g.
• It must be made clear how different groups
are represented; how these representatives
are selected
• Expectations should be managed, e.g. UK
involvement of amateur naturalist in BAP
• Not all stakeholders want to be involved and
they may have very different reasons for
participating.

11. Expectations: participation of amateur
naturalists in the Biodiversity Action
Planning (UK)
From: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water
governance – policy brief, GoverNat 2010

12. D. Levels of participation
• Delegated power:
stakeholder has dominant
decision-making power
• Partnership: joint setting of
agenda and agreement on
the process; participatory
decision-making
• Consultation: informing and
consulting; perhaps
responding to plans and
proposals
• Information: providing
information

13. Step D: Stakeholder communication
worksheet
• http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/StakeholderCommunicationsWorkshe
et.pdf

14. Factors for successful
participation
1. Managing expectations
2. Adapting to context
3. Interacting with multiple actors
4. Involving bottom-up initiatives
5. Recognizing and sharing benefits and
costs
From: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water governance – policy brief, GoverNat 2010

15. Adapting to context: Alqueva
multipurpose water project
From: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water
governance – policy brief, GoverNat 2010

16. Interacting with multiple actors
agro-environmental project in Lleida
source: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water governance – policy brief,
GoverNat 2010

17. Bottom-up initiatives: bird lake in
Lempälää, Finland
Source: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water governance – policy brief,
GoverNat 2010

18. Recognizing and sharing benefits and
costs. Sado Estuary, Portugal
Protected species:
Otters
Economic activity:
Fish farmers
Source: Towards succesful participation in European biodiversity and water governance – policy brief,
GoverNat 2010

19. Lessons learnt from earlier projects
• Stakeholder participation, especially in its
earlier stages, needs a lot of resources
• Without lobying, women’s representation in
the stakeholders fora becomes low
• Large stakeholders dominate and set the
agenda
• The needs for rural small-scale stakeholders
are not considered in large scale river basin
management

20. Other Challenges to Participation
• Representation
• Accountability
• Role of experts
• Scale
• Time-frame
• Jurisdictional issues
From: Perkins, P.E., Public participation in watershed management: international practices for inclusivenetss,
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 36 p.204-212, 2011