#23: Citizen boards

Citizen Boards are associations of citizens that facilitate community participation in

Water management refers to the activities of analysing and monitoring water resources, as well as developing and implementing measures to keep the state of a water resource within what has been negotiated as desirable bounds (Pahl-Wostl, 2015).

Pahl-Wostl, C. (2015). Water Governance in the Face of Global Change—From Understanding to Transformation. Wiesbaden: Springer International Publishing.

tasks and decision making.

The involvement of citizens is key for managing rivers in a sustainable way, better co-ordinating public action across levels of government and reducing conflicts at the local level. Widening public participation is seen as a means to increase transparency of environmental policies and citizens’ compliance with it. Transparency in the establishment of objectives, the imposition of measures and the reporting of standards is seen to empower citizens to influence the direction of environmental protection.

Among the different good practices for community-side management of water and sanitation services we find the example of the “patronatos” in Chiapas, Mexico. The patronatos are citizens’ boards and they were formally included in the State Water Law in 2000, with the objective of fostering the inclusion and the participation of communities in the water and sanitation services, facilitating organizational and regulatory

Processes describe policy implementation rather than the development of formal institutions. This focus takes into account that the bottleneck for policy effectiveness is often implementation rather than policy development.

and, overall, contributing to the improvement of the

Sustainability is defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). For development to be sustainable, it must take account of social, ecological, and economic factors (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 2015).

 

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. (2015). Integrating the Three Dimensions of Sustainable Development. A Framework and Tools. Bangkok.

World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future.

of water and sanitation service systems. On top of the positive effects on the definition and the operation of water and sanitation services processes, a deeper participation of the community results in a better collective awareness and responsibility in consumption. Patronatos enjoy their own legal status and have therefore regulatory discretion on the management of water and sanitation. In the State of Chiapas more than 800 patronatos are currently registered across over 100 municipalities. Despite these encouraging aspects, one known problem with citizens boards is that the adaptation of the standard model to specific local

The context comprises all overarching societal and environmental factors that may influence but can hardly be influenced by the water governance and management system.

can be rather complicated. The scope and modalities of participation can be tailored by local customs and historical circumstances.