Aziza Akhmouch is the Acting Head of the OECD Division on Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development. She oversees, amongst others, the OECD Water Governance Programme, which she set up in 2009 to help governments design and implement better water policies for better lives. She is the author of several publications on water governance and the founder of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum. She holds a PhD in Geopolitics and a MS in International Business. Delphine Clavreul is a Counsellor in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She was previously a Policy Analyst at the OECD Water Governance Programme. Her field of expertise covers a range of topics including multi-level governance, stakeholder engagement and water integrity. She contributed to the coordination of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network sharing good practices in support of better water governance. She has contributed to several OECD water governance (country and cross-country) reports, and holds an MS in Geopolitics. Sarah Hendry is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the Dundee Law School, and the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, at the University of Dundee, UK. She researches and teaches comparative legal frameworks for the regulation and governance of water resource management and water services. Sharon B. Megdal is Professor at, and Director of, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, USA. Her projects include comparison of water management policy in water-scarce regions; groundwater management and governance; managed aquifer recharge; and transboundary aquifer assessment. She is an elected Board Member for the Central Arizona Project. James E. Nickum is an Institutional Economist affiliated to the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), France and Japan; the Centre for Water and Development at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), UK; the East-West Centre, Hawaii, USA; and the University of Hong Kong, China. He is Editor-in-Chief of Water International.Francisco Nunes-Correia is Professor of Environment and Water Resources at IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is former Minister of Environment and Regional Development of Portugal. He has been working as professor, researcher and consultant in those areas with a special interest in water policy formulation and assessment. Andrew Ross is a Visiting Fellow and Consultant at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Australia, specialising in conjunctive water management, water governance and aquifer recharge. He is a leader of the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice and the IAH working group on economics of MAR.

• Editors’ foreword Aziza Akhmouch, Delphine Clavreul, Sarah Hendry, Sharon B. Megdal, James E. Nickum, Francisco Nunes-Correia and Andrew Ross Introduction: Introducing the OECD Principles on Water Governance Aziza Akhmouch, Delphine Clavreul and Peter Glas 1. Addressing the policy-implementation gaps in water services: the key role of mesoinstitutions Claude Ménard, Alejandro Jimenez and Hakan Tropp 2. Stakeholder engagement in water governance as social learning: lessons from practice Uta Wehn, Kevin Collins, Kim Anema, Laura Basco-Carrera and Alix Lerebours 3. OECD Principles on Water Governance in practice: an assessment of existing frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America Susana Neto, Jeff Camkin, Andrew Fenemor, Poh-Ling Tan, Jaime Melo Baptista, Marcia Ribeiro, Roland Schulze, Sabine Stuart-Hill, Chris Spray and Rahmah Elfithri 4. Functions of OECD Water Governance Principles in assessing water governance practices: assessing the Dutch Flood Protection Programme Chris Seijger, Stijn Brouwer, Arwin van Buuren, Herman Kasper Gilissen, Marleen van Rijswick and Michelle Hendriks 5. The evolution of water governance in France from the 1960s: disputes as major drivers for radical changes within a consensual framework Marine Colon, Sophie Richard and Pierre-Alain Roche

Aziza Akhmouch is the Acting Head of the OECD Division on Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development. She oversees, amongst others, the OECD Water Governance Programme, which she set up in 2009 to help governments design and implement better water policies for better lives. She is the author of several publications on water governance and the founder of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum. She holds a PhD in Geopolitics and a MS in International Business. Delphine Clavreul is a Counsellor in the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She was previously a Policy Analyst at the OECD Water Governance Programme. Her field of expertise covers a range of topics including multi-level governance, stakeholder engagement and water integrity. She contributed to the coordination of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, an international multi-stakeholder network sharing good practices in support of better water governance. She has contributed to several OECD water governance (country and cross-country) reports, and holds an MS in Geopolitics. Sarah Hendry is a Senior Lecturer in Law in the Dundee Law School, and the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, at the University of Dundee, UK. She researches and teaches comparative legal frameworks for the regulation and governance of water resource management and water services. Sharon B. Megdal is Professor at, and Director of, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, USA. Her projects include comparison of water management policy in water-scarce regions; groundwater management and governance; managed aquifer recharge; and transboundary aquifer assessment. She is an elected Board Member for the Central Arizona Project. James E. Nickum is an Institutional Economist affiliated to the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), France and Japan; the Centre for Water and Development at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), UK; the East-West Centre, Hawaii, USA; and the University of Hong Kong, China. He is Editor-in-Chief of Water International.Francisco Nunes-Correia is Professor of Environment and Water Resources at IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is former Minister of Environment and Regional Development of Portugal. He has been working as professor, researcher and consultant in those areas with a special interest in water policy formulation and assessment. Andrew Ross is a Visiting Fellow and Consultant at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Australia, specialising in conjunctive water management, water governance and aquifer recharge. He is a leader of the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice and the IAH working group on economics of MAR.

• Editors’ foreword Aziza Akhmouch, Delphine Clavreul, Sarah Hendry, Sharon B. Megdal, James E. Nickum, Francisco Nunes-Correia and Andrew Ross Introduction: Introducing the OECD Principles on Water Governance Aziza Akhmouch, Delphine Clavreul and Peter Glas 1. Addressing the policy-implementation gaps in water services: the key role of mesoinstitutions Claude Ménard, Alejandro Jimenez and Hakan Tropp 2. Stakeholder engagement in water governance as social learning: lessons from practice Uta Wehn, Kevin Collins, Kim Anema, Laura Basco-Carrera and Alix Lerebours 3. OECD Principles on Water Governance in practice: an assessment of existing frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America Susana Neto, Jeff Camkin, Andrew Fenemor, Poh-Ling Tan, Jaime Melo Baptista, Marcia Ribeiro, Roland Schulze, Sabine Stuart-Hill, Chris Spray and Rahmah Elfithri 4. Functions of OECD Water Governance Principles in assessing water governance practices: assessing the Dutch Flood Protection Programme Chris Seijger, Stijn Brouwer, Arwin van Buuren, Herman Kasper Gilissen, Marleen van Rijswick and Michelle Hendriks 5. The evolution of water governance in France from the 1960s: disputes as major drivers for radical changes within a consensual framework Marine Colon, Sophie Richard and Pierre-Alain Roche