Developing Economic Arrangements for Water Resources Management : The potential of stakeholder oriented Water Valuation

As water is increasingly recognized as a scarce resource, the use of economic arrangements for water resources management seems increasingly promising. Experiences show that economic arrangements can contribute to a more efficient use of water resources but only if specific conditions are met, related to a well-functioning institutional framework and regulations that ensure that the use of economic arrangements is balanced with broader societal objectives. One of the remaining questions is how to replicate the existing cases where economic arrangements are successfully used in water resources management in other areas where the conditions seem promising. Therefore, this paper reviews three cases in the USA, Ecuador and Australia where economic arrangements have been successfully applied, focusing on the processes that have characterized their evolution. Based on these cases, it is concluded that stakeholder-oriented valuation can offer useful support for the development of economic arrangements for water resources management and an approach for such stakeholder-oriented water valuation is briefly outlined and illustrated.