ABSTRACT Climate change impacts are largely transmitted through the water cycle, making adaptation in water governance essential for resilience. This paper identifies key success factors for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into transboundary water governance. Using the Enabling Environment Framework, we examine how policy, legal, institutional, informational, and financial conditions shape adaptation outcomes. Results show that factors such as long-term vision, flexible policies, stakeholder participation, and strong institutions correlate with successful mainstreaming. Human dimensions – leadership and trust-building – are critical in water. We propose a practical checklist to guide decision-makers in creating enabling environments that strengthen cooperation and advance integrated water resources management.

ABSTRACT Globally, many regions experience rising water stress from development and climate change. For water-stressed advanced economies, personal water allowance (PWA) trading offers a nascent tool to reduce demand. Using an evaluation framework applied by the UK government to personal carbon allowance (PCA) trading this viewpoint discusses the PWA, concluding that it would be simpler to implement than the PCA, with potential co-benefits of debt reduction for vulnerable households, greater cost recovery for water utilities, energy conservation, and creation of a cultural practice supportive of the PCA. Exploratory research is needed to assess challenges and benefits in applicable territories.

ABSTRACT Ten percent of Quebec’s territory is covered by freshwater. With tens of thousands of rivers and over three million bodies of water, Quebec has 3% of the planet’s renewable freshwater reserves. This abundance should protect the Quebec population from water stress and guarantee a certain level of water security. However, despite the solid legal framework governing water resources, problems linked to human activity and climate change are threatening water quality and water security. This article examines how Quebec law ensures water security and looks at the various institutional and legal mechanisms established to guarantee the human right to water.

ABSTRACT The GERD has been a focal point of hydropolitical tensions in the Nile River Basin, primarily involving Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt. This article examines Sudan’s unique position and role as a potential mediator in this tripartite dispute. Khartoum’s mediation role, driven by its own vested interests in the dam’s operation, including benefits from regulated flood control, electricity generation and water security, could be essential in reducing regional tensions. However, due to a historical shaky position on the GERD and an unstable domestic policy, Sudan has yet to fully express its potential as a diplomatic facilitator in the regional water dispute.

ABSTRACT Provoking emotions in water conservation campaigns works better than information provision. However, scholars disagree on the pathways through which emotions impact behaviour, and on whether positive communication works better than negative one. Based on an experiment with undergraduate students in Azerbaijan (N = 214), we demonstrate how emotions may help stimulate desirable behaviour, and that positive emotions are more effective that negative ones. We offer policy recommendations to adjust the ongoing public conservation campaign ‘birdamcı’ (‘a water drop’ in Azerbaijani) to maximize its impact. Our findings are also relevant for water conservation beyond Azerbaijan.

ABSTRACT While Latin America has witnessed mixed results in public–private partnerships, understanding the factors driving these varied outcomes requires closer examination. Public institutions are responsible for the design, procurement, and regulation of contracts, yet the focus tends to be almost entirely on the private operator. This paper provides an in-depth case study of the water concession in Tumbes, Peru, which was prematurely terminated in 2018. The examination of the quantitative and qualitative information on contract design, the regulatory framework, and performance indicators reveals that well-designed contracts, strong institutions, and a solid regulatory framework are crucial for successful private participation.

ABSTRACT Current efforts to localize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are hindered by uncertainties and risk, insufficient monitoring and inappropriate indexes, and limited exchanges among countries/regions. We provide perspectives on downscaling SDG6 – clean water and sanitation – to decision relevant scales everywhere in the world. We synthesize existing experiences to identify promising approaches; test entry points and applicability of SDG indicators in pilot basins, cities and countries; and promote evidence based indexes and dashboards for local water management. In this way, we directly respond to a key question of the UN 2023 SDG progress report on how progress towards SDG6 can be accelerated.

Yes

ABSTRACT Urban planners often fail to include the value of ecosystem services in their decision-making. This study applies a quantitative assessment tool, i-Tree Eco, to measure multiple ecosystem services from an urban park in Amsterdam and to demonstrate the value of nature-based solutions in urban areas. The outcome of this study was a value case for Park Frankendael that comprehensively demonstrates key quantitative, qualitative, monetized and non-financial values of multiple ecosystem services provided by the park to city residents. Moving forward, such values can and should be quantified to facilitate greater use of nature-based solutions in sustainable urban spatial planning.