Participation for Effective Environmental Governance: Evidence from European Water Framework Directive Implementation

Does participatory governance benefit the environment? The European Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000 with the aim of revolutionizing European water governance, mandates participatory river basin management planning across the European Union. The belief of European policymakers and the European Commission is that participation will deliver better policy outputs and implementation. This book examines a range of approaches to participatory river basin management planning, and considers whether and how participation impacted on the environmental standard of planning documents, quality of implementation, and social outcomes.

It draws on evidence from WFD implementation in eight case studies from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom on the basis of a matched comparative case study design. The Directive sets common timeframes and procedural requirements, which provides a perfect test-bed and unique opportunity to study the effects of participation on implementation and outcomes in comparative perspective.

Elisa Kochskämper is a Research Associate with the Research Group on Governance, Participation and Sustainability at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.

Edward Challies is Senior Research Associate with the Research Group on Governance, Participation and Sustainability, at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.
Jens Newig holds a chair in governance and sustainability at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany, affiliated with the university's Faculty of Sustainability and its Center for the Study of Democracy.
Nicolas W. Jager is a postdoctoral Research Associate in the Research Group on Governance, Participation and Sustainability, at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.