Regional Mountain Conference

Even when formal structures are in place to support coordination and collaboration, persistent implementation deficits continue to undermine the effectiveness of water governance. Understanding implementation processes is therefore crucial for evaluating governance performance and identifying opportunities for improvement. To guide this evaluation, ‘water governance principles’ have been conceptualised, whose application must account for local contexts and specific environmental and social settings. Against this backdrop, we combine institutional analysis and socio-ecological conflict analysis to examine decision-making structures, actor constellations, and their underlying dynamics. We address the following questions: through which coordination mechanisms are water-related plans developed and implemented at the local-to-regional scale, and how do these mechanisms enable or constrain trust, stakeholder engagement, and consensus-building across diverse water-land uses? The first case study analyses land-water sustainability challenges in the development of coordinated flood risk management and aquatic ecology restoration plans, focusing on the role of agriculture in this process. The second case study investigates the negotiation of trade-offs between nature conservation and hydropower expansion, highlighting challenges around achieving energy system efficiency while upholding existing conservation rights. We analyse planning documents and stakeholder interviews to map formal and informal processes and relevant actors involved, and examine how principles – in particular around trust and engagement – influence stakeholder involvement and create opportunities for collaboration across process stages. Conceptually, the comparative analysis advances the understanding of how governance principles can be applied to analyse different types of water governance challenges within multi-level, cross-sector governance systems, while shedding light on the implementation gap between governance structures and governance outcomes. Findings can inform policy design for participatory planning and management processes, thereby supporting adaptive water resource management and ecosystem restoration.