The (changing) role of national government in multi-level (water) governance

There is a difference between water management – even integrated water resource management – and water governance. Water management is about achieving goals, preferably in a functionally and socially responsive and efficient manner, with given means, and largely within given conditions and constraints. Water governance is about identifying, choosing or adhering to values and translating these values – water, safety, agriculture, urban space, natural beauty or artistic design – into goals, standards and institutional structures and processes. These are achieved in a context of public external accountability. Governance is about establishing the appropriate means and setting limits and constraints within which operational action in terms of water management can take place. And these are also achieved under conditions of public external accountability. Limits and constraints are not merely at the borderline of do’s and don’ts. They also constitute the conditions for change and innovation. Without limits and rules – without scarcity and the need for choice – there is no innovation