STEER

STEER: Increasing Good Governance for Achieving the objectives of Integrated Water Resources Management
© Martina Nolte | wikimedia

Summary

STEER aims to identify starting points for increasing good governance in relation to complex systemic challenges facing integrated water resources management (IWRM). In particular, the project will focus on water conflicts and on conditions that will encourage better coordination and collaboration between relevant actors. With this in mind, STEER plans to develop a diagnostic water governance toolbox. The toolbox will be aimed at regional, national and international actors who are committed to sustainably managing water resources. In terms of its spatial focus, the research will cover five in-depth case studies in Germany, South Africa, Mongolia and Spain, and up to 15 additional case studies which will be used to validate the results. As for its methods, the project will build on qualitative comparative case studies to examine in detail the factors that influence coordination and collaboration.
Priorities
  • Examine how governance characteristics and management systems influence efforts to solve complex challenges in water resources management
  • Observe the effects of social and environmental frameworks as a basis for transferring elements of effective governance systems
  • Develop innovative forms of coordination and collaboration to help solve water conflicts

Relevance

Water resources are at risk in many parts of the world because the different types of use are not sufficiently harmonised. The complexity of numerous water conflicts presents IWRM with major challenges for which no satisfactory solutions yet exist. In light of this, STEER will research innovative forms of coordination and collaboration to increase good governance across all sectors and thus solve water conflicts. STEER will work at the subnational level because existing research is almost exclusively limited to coordination efforts at the national level. At the heart of the project is a diagnostic approach that will allow researchers to investigate typical problems and develop appropriate strategies for solving them.

More information about the joint research project is available here.

News

21/12/2020 | Policy Briefs from six in-depth international case studies of the joint project STEER
The GRoW joint project STEER has published six Policy Briefs dealing with complex and cross-sectoral challenges of water governance in six different case studies. The authors present findings from Mongolia, Iran, South Africa, Southern Spain and Germany and translate them into recommendations for action.
Complete article
 
29/06/2020 | Final STEER consortium meeting: generating added value for researches and practitioners
On June 28, 2020, the joint project STEER hosted its final consortium meeting. With the project coming to an end in three months, project members used the meeting to present their ongoing work and to discuss activities for a successful project completion.
Complete article
 
03/06/2020 | New article on water policy and mining released
The article “Water policy and mining: Mainstreaming international guidelines and certification schemes”, recently published in the journal “Environmental Science & Policy”, presents new research results from the STEER joint project.
Complete article