<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The European Union’s Water Framework Directive introduced a new approach to the system of water management in Europe by nominating the river basin district as the basic unit in water management. While its transboundary character aims to better manage natural resources, its design and implementation carries several challenges due to its weak integration of various bordering effects related to administrative boundaries that strongly affect the directives’ implementation. Based on a comparative document based case study of two river basin districts – the International Oder River Basin District (IORBD) and the International Torne River Basin District (ITRBD) – the paper scrutinizes the effects on the implementation processes of the directive and aims to draw attention to identify the differences that derive from various socio-spatial settings during the first cycles of water management plans from 2009 to 2015. By thematically comparing biophysical characteristics, cross-border cooperation, cultural and administrative bordering processes the study displays a mismatch between the directives aims for transboundary governance and the actual governance processes which are hampered by a variety of conflicting bordering processes.</p></abstract>

The European Union’s Water Framework Directive introduced a new approach to the system of water management in Europe by nominating the river basin district as the basic unit in water management. While its transboundary character aims to better manage natural resources, its design and implementation carries several challenges due to its weak integration of various bordering effects related to administrative boundaries that strongly affect the directives’ implementation. Based on a comparative document based case study of two river basin districts – the International Oder River Basin District (IORBD) and the International Torne River Basin District (ITRBD) – the paper scrutinizes the effects on the implementation processes of the directive and aims to draw attention to identify the differences that derive from various socio-spatial settings during the first cycles of water management plans from 2009 to 2015. By thematically comparing biophysical characteristics, cross-border cooperation, cultural and administrative bordering processes the study displays a mismatch between the directives aims for transboundary governance and the actual governance processes which are hampered by a variety of conflicting bordering processes.

The Transboundary Water Management – Comparing Policy Translations of the Water Framework Directive in the International Basin Districts of the Oder River and the Torne River

Department of Geographical and Historical Studies

Quaestiones Geographicae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The European Union’s Water Framework Directive introduced a new approach to the system of water management in Europe by nominating the river basin district as...

The Transboundary Water Management – Comparing Policy Translations of the Water Framework Directive in the International Basin Districts of the Oder River and the Torne River

Published Online: Mar 29, 2019

Page range: 29 - 39

Received: Jun 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/quageo-2019-0006

Keywords
Water Framework Directive, water management, international river basin district, the Oder River, the Torne River

© 2019 Aleksandra Ibragimow et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Transboundary Water Management – Comparing Policy Translations of the Water Framework Directive in the International Basin Districts of the Oder River and the Torne River

Published Online: Mar 29, 2019

Page range: 29 - 39

Received: Jun 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/quageo-2019-0006

KeywordsWater Framework Directive, water management, international river basin district, the Oder River, the Torne River

© 2019 Aleksandra Ibragimow et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Water Framework Directive, water management, international river basin district, the Oder River, the Torne River