Perhaps one of the greatest honors of my career has been to work with my colleague, Syed Farhan. This policy paper for the UN intertwines lifelong work for both of us, and it offers on-the-ground solutions to enrich current water policy and governance worldwide. Below is a portion of the Executive Summary. If you would like a copy of this document, please contact me through this webpage or through my email.
The global community has made significant commitments to water security through two principal governance frameworks: Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on Clean Water and Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on Clean Water and Sanitation, adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) promoted by the Global Water Partnership (GWP). These frameworks have delivered measurable progress in expanding access to drinking water and sanitation services worldwide. Notwithstanding these achievements, this submission presents empirical and analytical evidence demonstrating that current global water governance frameworks carry within them a set of structural blind spots, neglected dimensions of cultural, historical, ecological, regional, and social reality that consistently limit policy effectiveness at the community level. These blind spots are not peripheral concerns; they are systemic features of governance frameworks designed at the global level without adequate mechanisms for adapting to the extraordinary variation of the contexts they are meant to serve.
