Chapter 13
Towards a Drought Policy in North-West
European Regions?
Corinne Larrue, Nanny Bressers and Hans Bressers
13.1 Introduction
As presented in the previous chapters, to enhance the preparedness of NW European
regions for periods of drought and water scarcity, the governance team used a governance assessment tool (GAT) to reveal the ‘essence’ of drought adaptation and
governance in the six NW European regions investigated (see Chap. 3). We should
remember that this governance assessment has been developed by social scientists with
the help of practice partners (project partners from the region, such as water authorities
and county councils) and other governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. This
inclusion of practice partners has allowed a continuous iteration between science and
practice, as well as access to regional stakeholders for interviews; in addition, it
ensured an even representation of the relevant stakeholders. The contacts and networks
of the practice partners facilitated the exchange with these regional stakeholders.
This ‘Governance Assessment Tool’ is composed of a ‘matrix’ style model that
consists of five elements (levels and scales, actors and networks, perceptions of the
problem and goal ambitions, strategies and instruments, and responsibilities and
resources for implementation) and four criteria (extent, coherence, flexibility and
intensity), producing a matrix of 20 cells. This model was used to diagnose the
regional setting and to formulate regional roadmaps to optimize regional settings.
As presented in the conclusion of the previous chapters, a qualitative evaluation has
been performed for each region. For each case, the evaluation of the drought
C. Larrue (&)
Paris School of Planning, University of Paris EST, Champs-sur-Marne, France
e-mail: corinne.larrue@u-pec.fr
H. Bressers
CSTM, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
N. Bressers
Water Authority Vechtstromen, Almelo, The Netherlands
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_13
245
Towards a Drought Policy in North-West
European Regions?
Corinne Larrue, Nanny Bressers and Hans Bressers
13.1 Introduction
As presented in the previous chapters, to enhance the preparedness of NW European
regions for periods of drought and water scarcity, the governance team used a governance assessment tool (GAT) to reveal the ‘essence’ of drought adaptation and
governance in the six NW European regions investigated (see Chap. 3). We should
remember that this governance assessment has been developed by social scientists with
the help of practice partners (project partners from the region, such as water authorities
and county councils) and other governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. This
inclusion of practice partners has allowed a continuous iteration between science and
practice, as well as access to regional stakeholders for interviews; in addition, it
ensured an even representation of the relevant stakeholders. The contacts and networks
of the practice partners facilitated the exchange with these regional stakeholders.
This ‘Governance Assessment Tool’ is composed of a ‘matrix’ style model that
consists of five elements (levels and scales, actors and networks, perceptions of the
problem and goal ambitions, strategies and instruments, and responsibilities and
resources for implementation) and four criteria (extent, coherence, flexibility and
intensity), producing a matrix of 20 cells. This model was used to diagnose the
regional setting and to formulate regional roadmaps to optimize regional settings.
As presented in the conclusion of the previous chapters, a qualitative evaluation has
been performed for each region. For each case, the evaluation of the drought
C. Larrue (&)
Paris School of Planning, University of Paris EST, Champs-sur-Marne, France
e-mail: corinne.larrue@u-pec.fr
H. Bressers
CSTM, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
N. Bressers
Water Authority Vechtstromen, Almelo, The Netherlands
© The Author(s) 2016
H. Bressers et al. (eds.), Governance for Drought Resilience,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29671-5_13
245