Analyzing Polycentric Governance and Performance of WFD Implementation in Spain: Comparative Case Study on the Reduction of Agricultural Water Concessions

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is said to be one of the most ambitious policies in the field of environmental governance of the European Union (EU). However, many Member States are still far from achieving the key objective of the WFD, namely a good status of all surface water and groundwaters. In policy and scholarly debates, the lack of cross-sector and cross-level coordination is often one of the explaining factors for lacking environmental performance in the context of WFD implementation. However, research gaps exist regarding the theoretical conceptualization of what coordination essentially means. This paper therefore aims to address this gap, by applying a theoretical framework of polycentricity, and building on Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyze the co-existence and interaction of different decision-making centers across levels and scales. More specifically, we firstly address the question of what are factors explaining the emergence of different types of coordination among and between public and private actors across the agricultural and water sector, and across scales and levels for the implementation of River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). Secondly, we aim to shed light on whether and how different types of coordination can be related to performance of WFD implementation in polycentric governance. These questions are addressed through a comparative case study of two Spanish river basins, the Guadalquivir and Jucar, using data collected in qualitative interviews and grey literature. The empirical context is cross-level and cross-sectoral coordination of private and public actors to reduce water consumption of agricultural water users through reducing water concessions in the wake of increasing irrigation efficiency. The empirical analysis shows that despite same institutional arrangements of the two river basins, as well as similar political contexts shaped by the implementation of the WFD, river basins perform differently in terms of actually reducing water concessions. Moreover, forms of coordination within the two river basins among the River Basin Authority and water users vary. Empirical evidence suggests that difference in coordination and performance might be explained by variances in biophysical characteristics of the river basins, levels of trust of involved actors, as well as actors’ interests and goals.