Doctoral School Sustainable Development - Institutional change through the European Water Framework Directive: ambitions and reality in integrated water protection
Abstract
Traditional approaches of water protection and management have often shown deficits in coordination and cooperation. So far, this often led to insufficient policies, restricting the achievement of good water quality. The Water Framework Directive (WFD), agreed upon in 2000, explicitly aims at overcoming this high degree of fragmentation in water policies within the European Union. The key innovation of the WFD is that it takes the spatial units of ecosystems into account; its implementation does not follow administrative borders but rather watershed boundaries. The approach further emphasizes the implementation processes themselves, putting more weight on transparency, political integration, and public involvement. Successful implementation requires many institutional adaptations within EU member states. This research project investigates the institutional changes resulting from the implementation of the WFD (including their prerequisites and barriers) in different sub-basins and on different levels (EU, nation states, regions, districts). Analytically, the project builds on the concept of actor-centred institutionalism as developed by Mayntz & Scharpf (1995). This approach combines a structural with an actor-centred perspective and thus facilitates insights into the institutional framework for implementation and possible courses of (inter )actions of involved stakeholders. Based on the analysis policy recommendations on how to reach the WFD’s goals will be developed.
keywords European Water Framework Directive Neo-Institutionalism Implementation Coordination
Publikationen
Project staff
Michael Pregernig
Ao.Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Mag.rer.soc.oec. Michael Pregernig
michael.pregernig@boku.ac.at
Project Leader
01.03.2007 - 31.01.2010
Judith Feichtinger
Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Judith Feichtinger
judith.feichtinger@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
01.03.2007 - 31.01.2010
Susanne Muhar
Ao.Univ.Prof.i.R. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Susanne Muhar
susanne.muhar@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-81210
Sub Projectleader
01.03.2007 - 31.01.2010