wells. Although the water authorities considered banning the existing wells in the
protection zones, they realized that this would be impossible, since some of the
existing wells were not registered. If the existing wells would be banned, the water
authorities might have to pay the cost of a new well and not irrigating the fields, as
well as facing the resistance of many farmers that would want to continue using
their wells. According to NMO, leaving all the old permits gives a “window
dressing” character to the irrigation policy. They think that the policy is made for
situations that might not so easily emerge, since the farmers are unlikely to invest in
new irrigation systems due to installation and fuel costs.
The intensity of responsibilities and resources is also assessed as neutral. An
increasing level of efforts is made towards the adoption of drought measures. The
major indication of this increase is the ZON, which has been developed under the
national Delta Programme. Within the scope of ZON, the local and regional
stakeholders and the Delta Commission will contribute a significant amount of
funding for implementing measures that will address both droughts and floods. The
design of the ZON involves both using long-term climate data to demonstrate
changes in the water system, and engaging the relevant actors at the local, regional
and national level, who in the end agreed to devote resources for the realization of
measures. The five water authorities have already allocated significant time to
formulating the irrigation policy, and are committed to invest in implementing a
metering system to monitor water use at the field level. This situation indicates a
high degree of intensity. However, currently they do not have the resources to
monitor or enforce the amount of water that is being taken by farmers (valid for
WGS, unknown for the others). Furthermore, the influence of NMO is decreasing
due to lower funds from the government and the province, while the water
authorities expect NMO’s inputs. In terms of NCO representation, two critical
questions are raised: Who pays for the voice of nature conservation? What if some
actors do not want any more the voice of nature conservation? NMO organizes the
NCOs into the planning process and represent them during the meetings with the
water authorities. This implies that if the water authorities involve the NMO, they
can reach to all nature organizations.
8.5.5 Overview of the Assessment Results
Our observations demonstrate that the Salland Region has a neutral governance
context regarding its drought resilience policies and measures. As visualized in
Fig. 8.3, the context involves mostly neutral aspects, with five supportive elements
and two restrictive elements.
Considering the five dimensions of governance, the most supportive one is
“levels and scales”, whereas the coherence of “strategies and instruments” and the
174
G. Özerol et al.
protection zones, they realized that this would be impossible, since some of the
existing wells were not registered. If the existing wells would be banned, the water
authorities might have to pay the cost of a new well and not irrigating the fields, as
well as facing the resistance of many farmers that would want to continue using
their wells. According to NMO, leaving all the old permits gives a “window
dressing” character to the irrigation policy. They think that the policy is made for
situations that might not so easily emerge, since the farmers are unlikely to invest in
new irrigation systems due to installation and fuel costs.
The intensity of responsibilities and resources is also assessed as neutral. An
increasing level of efforts is made towards the adoption of drought measures. The
major indication of this increase is the ZON, which has been developed under the
national Delta Programme. Within the scope of ZON, the local and regional
stakeholders and the Delta Commission will contribute a significant amount of
funding for implementing measures that will address both droughts and floods. The
design of the ZON involves both using long-term climate data to demonstrate
changes in the water system, and engaging the relevant actors at the local, regional
and national level, who in the end agreed to devote resources for the realization of
measures. The five water authorities have already allocated significant time to
formulating the irrigation policy, and are committed to invest in implementing a
metering system to monitor water use at the field level. This situation indicates a
high degree of intensity. However, currently they do not have the resources to
monitor or enforce the amount of water that is being taken by farmers (valid for
WGS, unknown for the others). Furthermore, the influence of NMO is decreasing
due to lower funds from the government and the province, while the water
authorities expect NMO’s inputs. In terms of NCO representation, two critical
questions are raised: Who pays for the voice of nature conservation? What if some
actors do not want any more the voice of nature conservation? NMO organizes the
NCOs into the planning process and represent them during the meetings with the
water authorities. This implies that if the water authorities involve the NMO, they
can reach to all nature organizations.
8.5.5 Overview of the Assessment Results
Our observations demonstrate that the Salland Region has a neutral governance
context regarding its drought resilience policies and measures. As visualized in
Fig. 8.3, the context involves mostly neutral aspects, with five supportive elements
and two restrictive elements.
Considering the five dimensions of governance, the most supportive one is
“levels and scales”, whereas the coherence of “strategies and instruments” and the
174
G. Özerol et al.