Improving water governance: Lesson-drawing from water market comparisons in Spain and Australia

Water crises now pose one of the highest global social impact risks. Increasing uncertainty complicates future water governance arrangements as supply management options diminish and demand management arrangements such as water markets are increasingly proposed to deal with complex sharing requirements. The transfer of water market governance processes between settings is often suggested or adopted by policy makers. However, this approach does not often occur successfully. Comparison analysis can be useful in addressing this problem by identifying, and then transferring, successful governance processes between settings. But simple comparative studies offer no guidance about how positive water market achievements in one country can improve water governance outcomes in another country, nor opportunities to learn from past failures. Lesson-drawing approaches to water market transfers offer a promising alternative approach, addressing the critical question of whether successful governance procedures in one context can be transferred to another. The proposed paper tests lesson-drawing approaches to water market transfers using data from Spain and the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Spain is the blueprint country for water market adoption in Europe, while Australia is often presented as the world’s leader in innovative water demand management. A comparative analysis framework linking good governance principles to institutional arrangements and management outcomes is provided. Finally, key lessons, problems and policy transfer potential to stimulate and enhance Spanish water markets from lesson-drawing approaches is drawn.