Chapter 1
Introduction
Nanny Bressers, Hans Bressers and Corinne Larrue
This book is about governance for drought resilience. But that simple sentence alone
might rouse several questions. Because what do we mean with drought, and how
does that relate to water scarcity? And what do we mean with resilience, and why is
resilience needed for tackling drought? And how does governance enter this equation? We argue that governance assessment—the study of restricting and facilitating
characteristics of a governance setting—can greatly aid implementation of drought
adaptation measures, thereby increasing drought resilience. In this chapter we will
first discuss the occurrence of drought in (Northwest) Europe, and why governance
matters for increasing drought resilience (Sect. 1.1). Second, we will shed more light
on the notion of governance and how governance is dealt with by us (Sect. 1.2).
Third, we will review existing governance assessment methods (Sect. 1.3). Fourth,
we will use this knowledge on governance and governance assessment to introduce
our key principles in governance assessment, and discuss how we have applied these
in a real-life project setting (Sect. 1.4). Fifth, and last, this chapter ends with an
outlook into the rest of the book, to guide the reader in reading (Sect. 1.5).
N. Bressers (&)
Water Board Vechtstromen, Kooikersweg 1, Almelo, The Netherlands
e-mail: n.bressers@vechtstromen.nl
H. Bressers
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
C. Larrue
Corinne Larrue works at University of Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_1
1
Introduction
Nanny Bressers, Hans Bressers and Corinne Larrue
This book is about governance for drought resilience. But that simple sentence alone
might rouse several questions. Because what do we mean with drought, and how
does that relate to water scarcity? And what do we mean with resilience, and why is
resilience needed for tackling drought? And how does governance enter this equation? We argue that governance assessment—the study of restricting and facilitating
characteristics of a governance setting—can greatly aid implementation of drought
adaptation measures, thereby increasing drought resilience. In this chapter we will
first discuss the occurrence of drought in (Northwest) Europe, and why governance
matters for increasing drought resilience (Sect. 1.1). Second, we will shed more light
on the notion of governance and how governance is dealt with by us (Sect. 1.2).
Third, we will review existing governance assessment methods (Sect. 1.3). Fourth,
we will use this knowledge on governance and governance assessment to introduce
our key principles in governance assessment, and discuss how we have applied these
in a real-life project setting (Sect. 1.4). Fifth, and last, this chapter ends with an
outlook into the rest of the book, to guide the reader in reading (Sect. 1.5).
N. Bressers (&)
Water Board Vechtstromen, Kooikersweg 1, Almelo, The Netherlands
e-mail: n.bressers@vechtstromen.nl
H. Bressers
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
C. Larrue
Corinne Larrue works at University of Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_1
1