moment, no strong drought-related strategy exists which could initiate strong
drought-related activities. But in the last year, in several important strategic policy
documents on Flanders level such as ‘Flemish vision on water policy’ and
‘MINA-Plan 4’, water scarcity and drought aspects were included.
Existing goals have to be improved. It will be necessary to go beyond the policy
that is already in place (business-as-usual). Further goal ambitions should also be
increased, but for this the awareness of the problem of water scarcity and droughts
has to be improved so new and ambitious goals are agreed on with a huge number
of relevant stakeholders. At the moment, many stakeholder groups have a quite low
awareness of the problem and do not intend to support goals. It is currently only
possible to implement local projects where local problems are clear. Even in these
situations, gaining a long-term perspective versus just solving immediate problems,
it is very problematic.
However, many stakeholder groups’ awareness of the problem is quite low, and
while they are in favour of initiatives addressing droughts, it is not considered as
one of the issues on their agendas, which means that no energy and resources are
earmarked to address the topic. Awareness of problems among farmers is growing,
but they still want to use groundwater resources today and do not integrate the
perception of future generations in their actions. The fact that most stakeholders do
not seem to be involved, seems to be a hurdle for further actions, as much depends
on individual coalitions between agencies and stakeholders. These coalitions have
to be built up for every individual project implementation or also for policy processes. Furthermore, instruments for awareness-raising of different stakeholders are
also not clearly defined.
7.4.5 Summary
The analysis of the drought governance qualities leads to the conclusion that the
governance context for drought resilience policies and measures in Flanders can be
regarded as at the moment ‘intermediate’. Overall, both extent and coherence are
between moderate and supportive for most governance dimensions, with the
exception of ‘responsibilities and resources’, which are somewhat underdeveloped
but are to be expected for a new issue. Flexibility is mostly moderate, with significant room for improvement, and intensity is as yet neutral to restrictive—again
something to be expected for a new water management issue. In Fig. 7.7, our
findings are visualized.
7 Flanders: Regional Organization of Water and Drought …
153
drought-related activities. But in the last year, in several important strategic policy
documents on Flanders level such as ‘Flemish vision on water policy’ and
‘MINA-Plan 4’, water scarcity and drought aspects were included.
Existing goals have to be improved. It will be necessary to go beyond the policy
that is already in place (business-as-usual). Further goal ambitions should also be
increased, but for this the awareness of the problem of water scarcity and droughts
has to be improved so new and ambitious goals are agreed on with a huge number
of relevant stakeholders. At the moment, many stakeholder groups have a quite low
awareness of the problem and do not intend to support goals. It is currently only
possible to implement local projects where local problems are clear. Even in these
situations, gaining a long-term perspective versus just solving immediate problems,
it is very problematic.
However, many stakeholder groups’ awareness of the problem is quite low, and
while they are in favour of initiatives addressing droughts, it is not considered as
one of the issues on their agendas, which means that no energy and resources are
earmarked to address the topic. Awareness of problems among farmers is growing,
but they still want to use groundwater resources today and do not integrate the
perception of future generations in their actions. The fact that most stakeholders do
not seem to be involved, seems to be a hurdle for further actions, as much depends
on individual coalitions between agencies and stakeholders. These coalitions have
to be built up for every individual project implementation or also for policy processes. Furthermore, instruments for awareness-raising of different stakeholders are
also not clearly defined.
7.4.5 Summary
The analysis of the drought governance qualities leads to the conclusion that the
governance context for drought resilience policies and measures in Flanders can be
regarded as at the moment ‘intermediate’. Overall, both extent and coherence are
between moderate and supportive for most governance dimensions, with the
exception of ‘responsibilities and resources’, which are somewhat underdeveloped
but are to be expected for a new issue. Flexibility is mostly moderate, with significant room for improvement, and intensity is as yet neutral to restrictive—again
something to be expected for a new water management issue. In Fig. 7.7, our
findings are visualized.
7 Flanders: Regional Organization of Water and Drought …
153