The question of scale

At what level should governments manage water?

The question of the appropriate scale or level at which governments should operate has traditionally been important in political and economic discussions. It has also become a key issue within development policy, with policymakers thinking that this determines institutional effectiveness.

Similarly, the scale of governance has become an increasing preoccupation in environmental management. However, many tensions exist between different approaches to scale in environmental management. These tensions are considerable, but not always acknowledged.

Approaches to scale include:

• Within the social sciences, there has been an increasing emphasis on the benefits of accountability and participation that come from decentralised and local management. This includes the management of public services and natural resources.
• In environmental and conservation sciences, the emphasis has been on the need for management at increasingly large scales, so that whole ecosystem processes (such as predator-prey interactions) can continue.
• For economists, a key issue is the minimum efficient scale – if management functions are carried out by institutions on too small a scale, they will be unnecessarily costly.

In response to these tensions, environmental management is typically carried out by a system of multi-tiered institutions, rather than a single institution operating at one scale. This enables each function to be carried out at the appropriate scale. This makes it possible to resolve the tensions between different management scales.

The South African 1998 Water Act

South Africa's 1998 Water Act created management institutions ostensibly based on the 'catchment' scale. The Act established nineteen Catchment Management Associations (CMAs) across South Africa (see diagram below). While based on watershed boundaries, none of these CMAs actually covers a single, complete catchment. In some, several small catchments are combined into one CMA. This prevents the establishment of several small, inefficient institutions. In others (for example the Upper, Middle and Lower Vaal CMAs), the CMA covers only part of a catchment. This prevents the CMA becoming so large that it loses the benefits of accountability and participation.

Catchment and Water Management Areas under the 1998 Water Act
(Source: Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, South Africa)
(Larger version)

This multi-tiered system of water management can link with other systems and scales of government and management. Several institutions exist below CMAs, including Water User Associations and Catchment Committees. These represent local water users, such as domestic users and farmers. In addition, South Africa also retained several regulatory functions at the national level, including environmental reserve flows and policies for international and strategic uses of water.

The South African Government is exploring governance by addressing scale and institutional coverage. By establishing multi-tiered structures, the South African Water Act is trying to respond to the competing factors that influence the appropriate scale for managing water. Although enacted in 1998, policymakers wisely envisaged a phased implementation. It is therefore too early to form a definite assessment of whether the arrangements are working. However, there are some important implications to consider:

• Contrary to some thinking in water management, the boundaries for management institutions should not simply be based on catchment boundaries.
• Implementation has already raised debates over the relationship and distribution of management functions between central institutions, CMAs and local institutions.

Tom Le Quesne
WWF-UK, Panda House, Weyside Park,
Godalming GU7 1XR, UK
tlequesne@wwf.org.uk
T +44 (0)1483 412054

See also

The analysis of Multi-tiered Natural Resource Management Institutions, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Oxford, by Tom Le Quesne, 2005

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