Delft University of Technology The evolution of regional cross-border water regimes, the case of Deltarhine Renner, T.; Meijerink, S; van der Zaag, P. DOI 10.1080/09640568.2017.1371005 Publication date 2017 Document Version Accepted author manuscript Published in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Citation (APA) Renner, T., Meijerink, S., & van der Zaag, P. (2017). The evolution of regional cross-border water regimes, the case of Deltarhine. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61 (2018)(10), 1701-1721. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2017.1371005 Important note To cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policy Please contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. This work is downloaded from Delft University of Technology. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to a maximum of 10. manuscript submitted to Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Management 1 The Evolution of Regional Cross-border Water 2 Regimes, the Case of Deltarhine 3 4 5 Tobias Renner1, Sander Meijerink 2, and Pieter van der Zaag3,4 1 6 ir. Tobias Renner, Radboud University, Institute for Science, Innovation and Society, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 7 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands, e-mail: [email protected]; +31 6 1509 3067 2 8 Dr. Sander Meijerink, Radboud University, Institute for Management Research, P.O. Box 9108, 6500 HK 9 Nijmegen, The Netherlands, e-mail: [email protected]; +31 24 3611648 3 10 Prof. Dr. Pieter van der Zaag, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands, e-mail: 11 [email protected] 4 12 Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 13 14 15 16 Abstract 17 In this study we look at the evolution of a cooperative water regime in the delta of the 18 Rhine catchment. In a Dutch-German case study, we focus on cross-border cooperation on 19 the local and regional scale, describing and analyzing how a remarkably resilient and 20 robust transboundary water regime evolved over the course of 50 years. Context-, interest- 21 and knowledge-based explanations contribute important insights into the evolution of the 22 Deltarhine regime, and it is shown that the legal, institutional and socio-economic context 23 shapes and constrains regional cross-border cooperation. Surprisingly in this regard, we 24 find that European water directives have not yet played a decisive, catalyzing role for 25 policy harmonization across borders. Finally, we show that key individuals play a crucial 26 role in regime formation and development. We suggest that the presence of entrepreneurs 27 and leaders adds explanatory power to current conceptual frameworks in international river 28 basin management, thus meriting further research. 29 30 Keywords 31 Regime change, cross-border cooperation, transboundary river basins, water policy 32 implementation 33 34 1 / 24 manuscript submitted to Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Management 1 1. Introduction 2 The record of cooperation in international rivers historically clearly outweighs the record 3 of conflict, and a large number of international river basins have seen the creation of 4 transboundary water regimes with concluding water treaties and establishing joint river 5 basin commissions dealing with a broad range of topics such as flooding, pollution, 6 navigation and water resource allocation (Wolf, 1998; Bloesch et al., 2011). This positive 7 record is also mirrored in Europe, where we find a rich history of transboundary 8 cooperation in international rivers, and where nearly 120 international water treaties have 9 been concluded since 1945 (Le Marquand, 1977; Savenije and Van der Zaag, 2000; Sadoff 10 and Grey, 2002; Wolf et al., 2003; Lindemann, 2008; Dombrowsky, 2009; Bernauer, 11 2010). 12 Focusing on the Rhine catchment, we study the Dutch-German cooperative water regime 13 in the delta of the Rhine. The study area of Deltarhine is one of the nine river basin 14 districts in which the Rhine basin has been subdivided under the European Water 15 Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC; IRBM, 2009). It is the most downstream 16 subcatchment of the Rhine and is shared by Germany and the Netherlands, with the latter 17 being the downstream party (Van Leussen et al., 2007; Wiering et al., 2010). Cross-border 18 cooperation in Deltarhine, though sanctioned at the national level, is mostly organized and 19 shaped at the regional and local level, where regional and local denotes in this paper the 20 subnational level involving German and Dutch authorities such as provinces, districts 21 (Kreise), waterboards and the German federal states (Länder). The study area is 22 characterized by more than fifty years of continued, uninterrupted and well-documented 23 international river basin management, diverse institutional arrangements for cross-border 24 cooperation involving national, regional and local actors as well as a variety of cross- 25 border issues ranging from water pollution, river restoration, and flood protection to spatial 26 development schemes. As such Deltarhine lends itself for a longitudinal research design 27 with a time frame of several decades, from 1963 to 2014, to study in comprehensive detail 28 the mechanisms and temporal evolution of international river basin management in an 29 empirically rich case study. 30 Local and regional actors in border areas are crucial to develop and implement water 31 policies on the ground and are directly confronted with the challenges of transboundary 32 cooperation as well as any inconsistencies and differences in national policies. Therefore, 33 we expect regional and local authorities to play a decisive role in moving transboundary 34 cooperation towards actual problem-solving, especially in smaller shincprared river 35 systems. Eschewing a state-centric approach, where only nation states (as an analytical 36 unit) are supposed to be involved in transboundary water regimes, we further explore the 37 two-level game of international agreements and domestic implementation (Skjaerseth, 38 2000; Mostert, 2005) and take a more governance-oriented perspective where authorities 39 and stakeholders from the national down to the local level actively participate in cross- 40 border cooperation. It is noteworthy, that the impressive body of literature of 41 transboundary water management (overviews are provided by Marty, 2001; Bernauer, 42 2002; Mostert, 2003) has strongly focused on major international rivers due to the high 43 stakes involved, and less on regional, nested river systems that are shared between 44 countries, but which in Europe alone account for the substantial number of 300 45 transboundary river basins, as recorded in a comprehensive UNECE (2011) survey. 2 / 24 manuscript submitted to Journal of Environmental Planning and Management Management 1 The task we set ourselves in this study thus consists of a longitudinal analysis of the main 2 research question, relating to the causes, changes and consequences of the Deltarhine water 3 regime: 4 Under what conditions and through what mechanisms (why and how) has the international 5 water regime in Deltarhine been formed and evolved since the early 1960s? 6 In answering this question we develop a narrative of the temporal evolution of the 7 Deltarhine regime, track a number of regime characteristics over time and seek explanatory 8 factors for the observed regime changes. Verwijmeren and Wiering (2007) have succinctly 9 reviewed the work of various authors on transboundary water management, including the 10 theoretical lens of regime theory (Mingst 1981; Marty, 2001; Dieperink, 1997; Lindemann, 11 2008; Lugo 2010; Bressers and Kuks, 2013). With our study we build on these works and 12 seek to contribute to the existing literature by applying a conceptual explanatory 13 framework developed for major international rivers to regional shared rivers as well as 14 describing water regime changes over a time span of several decades. 15 16 2. The Deltarhine study area 17 The study area of Deltarhine comprises the three adjacent regional river basins of Vecht- 18 Dinkel, Berkel and Oude IJssel River (in German Issel river), tributaries of the river IJssel, 19 being itself part of the delta of the Rhine. Under the European Water Framework Directive, 20 the Rhine basin was subdivided in international river basin districts, one of them being 21 Deltarhine (Figure 1). The total catchment area of the basins under investigation covers 22 approximately 11,000 km², comprising about one third of the Dutch-German border in 23 length. The rivers are shared between Germany (35%) and the Netherlands (65%). The 24 rivers flow from the western part of Germany, through the eastern part of the Netherlands, 25 into the river IJssel which then discharges through the lake IJsselmeer into the North Sea; 26 varying in length between 60 and 160 kilometers. 27 The transboundary water regime in Deltarhine-East is embedded in a broader socio- 28 economic, historical, cultural and institutional context with sometimes marked differences 29 and discontinuities at the border. Detailed overviews of contextual characteristics and 30 venues of cross-border cooperation are provided in the supplemental online material 31 (Tables S1 and S2). The Netherlands is the downstream and Germany the upstream 32 country for all regional rivers with the notable exception of the Dinkel which meanders 33 between both countries. Since the 1900s, the Vecht and the other rivers have been heavily 34 regulated, channeled and managed to accommodate agricultural water needs and to ensure 35 flood protection.