How different institutional arrangements promote integrated river basin management. Evidence from the Baltic Sea Region

In order to provide a common ground for the Special Issue ‘Water quality and agricultural diffuse pollution in light of the EU Water Framework Directive,’ this review sets out to provide a concise overview of the academic literature on two topics. First, we review the issues in the governance literature on the ‘wicked problem’ of diffuse agricultural sources focussing on three principles: (1) fragmentation and the distribution of power to address diffuse sources, (2) the problem of source-oriented and effect-oriented measures, and (3) contested knowledge for policies for diffuse sources. Second, we briefly sketch the literature on policy instruments and confront that with the scholarly understanding of addressing diffuse agricultural sources under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The Water Framework Directive and Agricultural Diffuse Pollution: Fighting a Running Battle?

Institutional change in water management collaboration: implementing the European Water Framework Directive in the German Odra river basin

Land use planning was modernised in Finland at the turn of the millennium. Simultaneously, river basin planning based on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) markedly changed the environmental goals for water bodies. The WFD’s main objective is to achieve good ecological status in all water bodies by the year 2015. To meet this objective, traditional water protection measures are planned for preventing and reducing eutrophication in water bodies suffering from diffuse pollution, which is the major obstacle reaching a good ecological status in Finnish waterbodies. The need for an alternative and broader selection of water protection methods is nevertheless evident due to the low efficiency and high costs of traditional means. We have studied the potential to integrate water protection objectives into land use planning and found several interfaces between river basin planning and land use planning in Finland. The emphasis is on the prevention of diffuse pollution originating from different land use practices. Our study highlights the linkages between the two planning processes and proposes ideas for further integration by drawing on the experiences gained from two pilot studies focusing mainly on water protection measures, which provide support to achieving the ecological objectives of WFD.

Practical integration of river basin and land use planning: lessons learned from two Finnish case studies

............................................................................................................................ x Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ xiii Publications and presentations ....................................................................................... xv Table of contents ........................................................................................................... xvii List of figures ................................................................................................................... xx List of tables .................................................................................................................... xxi List of abbreviations ...................................................................................................... xxii

The capacity of organizations to deliver effective water management through the provisions of the Water Framework Directive: the case of Malta

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the prospects of integrated planning and management of the environment in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and river basin planning.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses the legal framework of the WFD and other related water and environmental legislation as well as the provisions for integrative practice in the WFD. Moreover it analyses the potential for integration with issues that are not provided for in the WFD, such as land use. The procedural elements of the WFD and other EU legislation are analysed for identifying common elements within a modern consensus and efficiency based planning mode.Findings – Three aspects of the integrated management framework for water and other environmental resources are highlighted. The first concerns the need for interaction between spatial land use planning and the integrated river basin management plans of the WFD, in order to ensure that land‐use plans do not contradict water goals and th...

Ville Hokka

Papers

The Water Framework Directive: spatial and institutional integration