Water resources : policy and socio-economic aspects

Abstract EN

Most of the water policies addressed by several international organizations, as well as those recommended by many national and regional scientific events, recognized the urgent necessity to improve water resources policy and management.

Deep analysis of those documents showed that many of them refer to common policy issues.

Some of them suggest specific policy implementation but many do not recommend any concrete approach or actions for tackling emerging water resources issues.

Developing effective water sector policies is not easy for a number of reasons: First, water has unique physical properties, complex economic characteristics and important cultural features that distinguish it from all other resources.

Second, water resource management is administratively complicated because it involves legal, environmental, technological, economic and political considerations.

In most societies, political considerations dominate decisions on water resource use.

Improving water resource management requires recognizing how the overall water sector is linked to the national economy.

Equally important is understanding how alternative economic policy instruments influence water use across different economic sectors as well as between local, regional and national levels and among households, farms and firms.

For too long, many water managers have failed to recognize the connection between macroeconomic policies and their impact on, for example, technical areas such as irrigation.

This paper argues that water is a special good for which there is no substitute, therefore its allocation is a societal question that cannot be left to market forces alone and hence the price of water should not be determined by the market, as well as giving a clear signal to the users that water is indeed a scarce good that should be used wisely.