The Evolution of European Water Policy

Climate Change Adaptation as a New Global Norm in the Water Sector? Between Symbolism and Dilution

“…Moreover, in many cases, flexibility has already become an intrinsic feature of water policy. For instance, the WFD, which is nothing less than a top-down policy, stipulates the introduction of water-pricing instruments and broad stakeholders participation (Aubin and Varone 2004). In that sense, neither formalization nor top-down policy precludes flexible management at the lower levels of decision-making (Ebbesson 2010).…”

“…However, it is important to note that adaptive governance addresses mainly the structure of governing institutions (the polity), whereas it has only little to say about policy instruments, nor does it seem to consider politics and power. For example, when the WFD began to be implemented in European States, one of the main worries of political scientists concerned the lack of policy instruments for influencing water quality in cases where water disturbances originate from private owners of adjacent land (Aubin and Varone 2004). In this situation, adaptive governance is ill-equipped to advise which of water pricing, payment for environmental services or land exchange would be to most "adaptive" or effective policy instruments to solve the environmental problem.…”

Safeguarding freshwater life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the new global biodiversity framework from the European experience

“…We begin with a brief review of relevant policy mechanisms functioning at the global and European scales ( Figure 3) to highlight key current national and international policies that are necessary for understanding and implementing these recommendations. A more comprehensive history of freshwater conservation in Europe is available elsewhere (e.g., Aubin & Varone 2004).…”

The WFD dreams: between ecology and economics

“…Exploring the evolution of water issues at the EU level, scholars typically developed two narratives, incremental versus chaotic. The incremental narrative focused on the evolution of the European water law before the WFD enactment from 1975 to 1995 (Kallis & Nijkamp 1999; Kallis & Butler 2001; Aubin & Varone 2002; Barraqué 2002; Kaczmarek 2006). It accounted for the consistence of the WFD with previous water directives as far as environmental objectives were concerned.…”

“…However it considered that the ecological objectives were unprecedented. The chaotic narrative focused on the directive negotiation from 1996 to 2000 (Aubin & Varone 2002; Kaika & Page 2003; Page & Kaika 2003; Kaika 2004). It accounted for the strong lobbying movement of ecologists and the Parliament's empowerment during the legislative negotiation.…”