Transboundary water management (TWM) regards how internationally shared waters are managed. Recently, TWM processes have been researched from the perspective of gender inclusivity. In line with this trend, this thesis is investigating to what extent the Transboundary Policy Dialogue for Improved Water Governance in Brahmaputra River (the Brahmaputra Dialogue) about the Brahmaputra River is gender sensitive. The Brahmaputra River is shared by China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The management of the river is severely conflicted both intra- and interstate wise. Therefore, the Brahmaputra Dialogue, facilitated by the South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Study (SaciWATERs), aims at creating understanding between the different stakeholders. To measure the gender sensitivity, the Gender Sensitivity Framework is created. The framework is a toolkit that, through a set of indicators, measure gender inclusivity from both a structural and a substantive perspective. Using a descriptive text analysis method of the reports from the third and current phase of the Brahmaputra Dialogue, the investigation reveals that the Brahmaputra Dialogue is only 45% gender sensitive. While the work ways of the Brahmaputra Dialogue generally are gender inclusive, the Brahmaputra Dialogue content wise lacks some key aspects of gender awareness. One such aspect is that the concept of “gender” is broader than women’s vulnerabilities to masculine decision-making.

To guarantee protection of our drinking water, water catchment protections are established. These are divided into three different zones and in the first zone it is most likely that an activity, such as agriculture, will contaminate the water resource. Hence the activities are strongly regulated or banned. The EU communion is working towards a sustained water quality through several directives; Nitrate Directive, Waterframwork directives and Sustainable use of pesticide directive. The main purpose is to regulate the diffuse pollution from agriculture.This thesis is about how Denmark, Germany and France are working towards a sustainable agriculture within water protection areas. Sweden is also discussed but mainly about two different methods applied in Linköpings and Ljungbys municipalties.How the different countries work is mainly the same due to the directives. However, there are some interesting water management methods to observe such as voluntary agreements between water companies and farmers. Moreover, the sustainability perspective is approached in a larger scale where you and I as consumers also contribute via consumer-pays-principle. Therefore, we are, by our demand for water, the problem but also the solution and together we can contribute with good social, economic and ecological conditions for ourselves and the farmer.

A strategic management of water is integral for any society aiming at moving towards sustainability. This thesis aims to provide a common understanding of how water management should be considered within sustainability constraints, using ‘backcasting’ from basic sustainability principles as a compass. With a common language, a constructive dialogue is then possible to unify all stakeholders to move together towards sustainability. To answer the research question “How can an interaction with water stakeholders be strategically developed to progress toward the service of water in a sustainable society”, a methodology based on Sustainability Life Cycle Assessment, the Template for Sustainable Product Development and Multi-Stakeholder Platforms has been utilised within one domestic and one industrial water user case study in Blekinge, Southern Sweden. In this locality, water is regarded as abundant in volume. Yet it was revealed that what is consumed by society is not water as such; but the purity of water. Within this context, opportunities to move towards sustainability have arisen and the case study organizations were able to utilise improvements in reporting and operations. Economic activity such as new infrastructure, pollutant trading schemes and product accreditation are amongst the many concepts identified as potential steps towards the service of water in a sustainable society.

Främmande organismer i fartygs barlastvatten har med sjöfarten spridits runt världen med förödande konsekvenser. För att reglera denna spridning infördes Barlastvattenkonventionen av IMO, som innebär att fartyg inom en viss tid måste investera i godkända barlastreningssystem. Konventionens implementering har skapat ett visst huvudbry och rederier har ställts inför utmaningen att välja system som passar deras fartyg och fartområden. En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes med representanter från svenska tankrederier för att få en bild av hur de har hanterat konventionen. Vidare undersöktes på vilka beslutsgrunder olika reningstekniker valdes samt hur eventuellt installerade system har levt upp till förväntningar. Intervjustudiens resultat visade att samtliga rederier har påverkats ekonomiskt och upplever problem med att hantera konventionens implementering samt att hitta tillförlitliga barlastreningssystem. En rapport kom även fram under intervjuerna där Saudiarabien hade gjort omfattande provtagningar på fartygs barlastvatten som visade att ett anmärkningsvärt stort antal fartyg med IMO-godkända barlastreningssystem inte klarade utsläppskraven. Intervjustudien indikerar påtagliga brister i barlastreningssystemen som Saudirapporten även bekräftar. / Aquatic invasive species have spread around the world in ships’ ballast water tanks with dire consequences. To regulate this spreading, the International Maritime Organization implemented the Ballast Water Management Convention which forces ships to, within a certain time frame, install approved ballast water treatment systems. The implimentation of the Convention has been complex and shipping companies have had to face challenges of choosing suitable treatment systems for their ships and trading areas. For this study, qualitative interviews were conducted with representatives from Swedish tanker shipping companies to examine how the Convention has affected them. On what grounds different treatment techniques were chosen was also examined, as well as if installed treatment systems have met expectations. Results from the study show that companies have suffered economical impacts, have had difficulties handling the implementation of the Convention as well as difficulties finding reliable treatment systems. Furthermore, one respondent referred to a report submitted by Saudi Arabia where extensive ballast water sampling had been conducted on ships calling their ports. The report showed that a considerable amount of ships with approved ballast water treatment systems did not meet the required levels of organisms in the treated ballast water. The interviews confirm the report’s description of the treatment systems’ fundamental flaws.

PŘIBYLOVÁ, M. (2015): Impacts of the realization of investments in water infrastructure on the development of small municipalities. Master thesis. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Department of Social Geography and Regional Development, Prague, pp. 120. This thesis deals with the disposal of waste water in small municipalities. The theses addresses the impacts that may be caused by investment in the construction of water infrastructure. This investment is very expensive for small municipalities and could lead them into debt. The question to be answered is whether the construction of facilities for wastewater treatment is really important for small municipalities (and their development) and if it should be done in compliance with the EU directive. The task of the study is to assess the current situation of the requirement to build a system of wastewater treatment in small municipalities in Czechia. The study is written from the perspective of a social geographer and in particular in an economic and developing point of view. The theses is also trying to suggest an alternative and cheaper solution. The impacts of these investments could be identified on the basis of the relevant review of the literature and thanks to the responses from the interviews which were conducted both with...

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This research investigates the performance of private sector participation (PSP) in the water sector from a governance perspective. It is concerned with the role that institutions play in the interaction between the state and the private sector, which occurs with respect to the regulation and implementation of such PSP arrangements. The research takes place within the context of a development debate and practice, which identifies water as a key poverty issue in a substantial part of the developing countries, which advocates private sector participation as a remedy to inadequate water management and which acknowledges good governance as a crucial requirement for development. Nevertheless, few studies have scrutinized the impact of governance and institutions on the outcome of PSP arrangements in the water sector. Most research on the performance of PSP arrangements has examined exogenous and endogenous determinants, such as the price mechanism and the property rights allocation, but these factors proved unsatisfactory as explaining variables in the context of natural resource management. To contribute to filling a gap in research this study aims at evaluating the impact of institutional frameworks on the outcome of private sector participation in water supply and sanitation through a case study of the Management Contract for Water and Wastewater Service in the Amman Governorate, Jordan. At the end of the 1990s the quality of water supply and sanitation in the Jordanian capital Amman was unsatisfactory, as supply was insufficient and entailed high costs. Therefore, in 1999, the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan contracted a private joint venture to improve water service provision in the Amman Governorate. The research takes into account the specific institutional framework for the mentioned arrangement in Amman, which is comprised of the national judicial and political institutions, the specific regulatory institutions as well as relevant international institutions. These institutions are not limited to laws and regulations only, but also include informal institutions such as traditions. The specific objective of this study is to show how the institutional framework of a transaction affects regulatory processes by abating and amplifying the potential for opportunistic behavior of the contracting parties, and thereby affecting the performance of a privately operated water utility. The examination of the institutional framework of the Amman Management Contract revealed that mainly judicial and international institutions and specific contract rules were constraining the discretion of the contracting parties. Political checks and balances were insufficiently established and the regulatory institutions of the water sector were set up in an improper way. The field study discovered that the resulting discretionary power of certain actor was used opportunistically, which had a detrimental effect on the outcome of the PSP arrangement. Nevertheless the overall performance of the arrangement was good from which the general insight was drawn that regulatory credibility may be developed even in unpropitious environments. However, to be able to judge upon the effect of governance and institutions on a planned or existing PSP arrangement each time a complex assessment of the respective institutional environment is necessary. This is because institutions may not be seen as independent building blocks but rather form a network which is likely to be unique for each country and situation. The mini-thesis is organized as follows. In Chapter 1 an outline of the study and its problem background is provided. Chapter 2 provides a detailed literature review and sets out the theoretical framework and research hypotheses of the study. Chapter 3 outlines the research design and methodology that was used for the study. Chapter 4 provides background detail on the Jordanian political, economic and social situation, on the issues pertaining to the water sector, andon the Amman water contract. Chapter 5 provides a description and analysis of the main research findings. Chapter 6 provides a summary as well as final conclusions and considerations.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / In this thesis, I explore the allocation and use of water for productive and domestic purposes in the village of Siyandhani in the Klein Letaba sub-area, and how the allocation and use is being affected by new water resource management and water services provision legislation and policies in the context of water reform. This problem is worth studying because access to water for domestic and productive purposes is a critical dimension of poverty alleviation.The study focuses in particular on the extent to which policy objectives of greater equity in resource allocation and poverty alleviation are being achieved at local level with the following specific objectives: to establish water resources availability in Letaba/Shingwedzi sub-region, specifically surface and groundwater and examine water uses by different sectors (e.g. agriculture, industry, domestic, forestry etc.,); to explore the dynamics of existing formal and informal institutions for water resources management and water services provision and the relationship between and among them; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of domestic water; to investigate the practice of allocation and use of irrigation water.The study concludes that there is a problem of water scarcity in the study area and that the water scarcity is caused by the growth in the population, specifically in the Giyani area; these problems are exacerbated by financial and institutional obstacles within local institutions of governance. The water scarcity is not, therefore, natural but anthropogenic in nature.The water scarcity is not felt by all sectors, however: some farmers have access to water for irrigation, while many others face great challenges in their farming activities.Overall, people in Siyandhani and surrounding villages surrounding villages in the Letaba Catchment do not have access to water because of human action, hence the use of the concept of manufactured scarcity. The lack of access to water, it is argued,leads to the violation of the human right to water. This study concludes that water reform, which is widely seen as a priority for South Africa, has not yet reached the villages of the Klein Letaba.

En matière de consommation énergétique mondiale, l'augmentation est indiscutablement la tendance actuelle. Conformément au contexte énergétique international, l'île de La Réunion doit faire face à une demande énergétique croissante. Après analyse de la répartition de ces besoins, la régulation thermique du bâti apparaît être l'un des postes les plus énergivores. Afin de réduire l'importance de ce poste, la solution présentement proposée consiste a végétaliser la structure afin d'en réduire la surchauffe. Le présent article est une introduction vulgarisée au domaine des parois complexes végétalisées (PCV). Afin d'accréditer cette prétention, la notion de toiture végétalisée, leurs utilisations, ainsi que les différentes modifications quelles induisent y sont définies. L'illustration des propos est permise par l'application d'un cas d'étude concret, celui d'une utilisation sur l'île de La Réunion. Cette dernière permettant de définir divers impacts du système dans ces conditions. / The aim of this article is to present a vulgarized introduction to the vegetated complex partitions field, called VCP. To reach this goal, the green roof notions, their uses and implications are defined. The theory is illustrated by a Reunion Island case study, which allows to list several impacts of the green walls utilization.

The aim of the study emanates from the research question: Is the incorporation of the integrated water resource management (IWRM) approach in South Africa’s water policy, from a political point of view, appropriate? The IWRM approach, as applied to developing countries, originated in developed countries with predominantly homogeneous societies where there is a broad commitment to democratic principles, the free market system and individualism. Societies in developing countries do not necessarily share the same characteristics associated with those in developed countries. South Africa, classified as a developing country, has a multicultural society that reflects an income disparity and two major cultures, namely a modernised Western and a traditional African culture. As a result two subsidiary research questions follow: Can the commitment and impartiality of all the stakeholders that partake in the decision-making processes of water institutions at all levels be ensured? Is it possible to establish small, efficient and financially viable bureaucratic structures (water institutions) at the level of water management areas (WMA)? The study uses the public choice theory to assess the IWRM approach in selected developed and developing countries. The applicability of public choice concepts with reference to the differences between Western and African cultures are briefly alluded to. It also defines the IWRM approach and certain IWRM elements that have political implications for society at large. The study describes specific elements of the IWRM approach in France and Australia and the relative successes thereof in terms of the public choice theory. The implementation of the IWRM approach in Indochina and selective developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are described to highlight certain institutional problems, inadequate financial resources, the lack of capacity and various cultural aspects that inhibit the efficiency and effectiveness of the IWRM approach. In the analysis of South Africa’s water policy, the study found that the multicultural nature of society, the unequal levels of economic development and the limited level of technological and scientific knowledge, will make it extremely difficult to implement the IWRM approach without contextualising it. According to the public choice theory, the net benefits of a policy for a society must outweigh the costs. If not, the policy needs to be either adjusted or abandoned. Since none of the proposed catchment management agencies (CMA) were established between 1998 and 2001, it is not possible to come to a verifiable conclusion. However, the study indicates that the opportunity costs of the IWRM approach are likely to outweigh the benefits for society. Other aspects that necessitate a re-evaluation of South Africa’s water policy are the holistic element of the IWRM approach and the demarcation of WMAs. The study identifies three options: The first option is to revert back to the riparian principle. The second option is to either revisit the concept of public participation, or to re-delineate the WMAs. The third and most favourable option is to abandon the concept of public participation. It would not only negate the need for CMAs (and indirectly WMAs), but would also greatly simplify the management of water resources. / Dissertation (M (Political and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

Na cidade de São Paulo, as inundações, consideradas a consequência das chuvas intensas e da impermeabilização do solo urbano, têm causado impactos consideráveis. As contínuas e frequentes inundações e as intervenções para contê-las, de alto custo para o Poder Público, justificam a busca de uma abordagem complementar à puramente técnica-hidráulica, que dê atenção aos aspectos sociopolíticos inerentes à drenagem urbana e ao manejo de águas pluviais, o foco principal desta pesquisa. Seus objetivos são: uma análise crítica sobre a incorporação do sociopolítico na malha de disciplinas do curso de Engenharia Civil; uma análise crítica da visão dos profissionais envolvidos, direta ou indiretamente, com a gestão urbana sobre a incorporação de aspectos sociais no planejamento e na implantação de obras de drenagem urbana; e se estes aspectos são incorporados aos projetos de obras de drenagem e se atores sociais localizados na área de uma bacia hidrográfica valorizam esta incorporação. A pesquisa concluiu que, ainda que aspectos sociopolíticos estejam incorporados na malha de disciplinas dos cursos de Graduação em Engenharia Civil e ainda que os profissionais da gestão urbana valorizem os aspectos sociais tanto quanto os aspectos técnicos das obras de drenagem, o planejamento e a implantação de obras de drenagem em construção na área da bacia hidrográfica, foco geográfico desta pesquisa, não incorporam os aspectos relativos ao sociopolítico. A bibliografia consultada e os exemplos concretos apresentados mostram a importância da incorporação dos aspectos sociopolíticos nas intervenções. Os conceitos discutidos ajudaram a formular recomendações para a incorporação do sociopolítico na malha das disciplinas e nos projetos de obras hidráulicas. São recomendações que visam, além da preservação ambiental e do atendimento ao interesse público, maximizar os benefícios da solução técnica. / In the city of São Paulo, intensive rains and urban impervious cover are being held responsible for flooding events which have been causing increase in runoff volume and in peak discharge. The high costs of technical hydraulic interventions to contain the frequent flooding impacts justify the search for an alternative approach: the incorporation of the sociopolitical complexities of urban stormwater drainage, the main theme of this research. Its objectives are: understand if and how sociopolitical complexities are being incorporated to Civil Engineering education; how professionals directly or indirectly involved in urban stormwater management see the incorporation of sociopolitical complexities in planning and implementation of stormwater drainage construction works and, finally, if these complexities are integrated in the projects being planned and being implemented in an urban watershed area. The research concluded that Civil Engineering education incorporate courses which open space for the discussion of sociopolitical aspects; that professionals involved in urban management value the incorporation of sociopolitical aspects in planning and implementation of storm water construction projects, but that in the watershed area where projects are being implemented such aspects are not taken into account. The bibliography and the concrete examples examined show the importance of incorporating sociopolitical aspects in drainage construction projects. The concepts brought forward help identify recommendations for the incorporation of sociopolitical aspects in Civil Engineering education and in the planning and implementation of stormwater constructions projects. These are recommendations which aim at increasing environmental preservation, meeting the public interest and maximizing the benefits of the technical solution.