1. Collaboration and the urban nexus: theoretical and practical implications for integrated NRM?
David Benson and Animesh K. Gain
UN-ESCAP, Bangkok, November 2016

2. Overview Governing for the nexus – normative theory
Collaborative governance in NRM
Collaboration in practice: IWRM in Bangladesh and Dhaka
Practical implications for collaboration in the urban nexus
Challenges and opportunities
Conclusions

3. Theorising nexus governance
Four normative features of governing for the WEF nexus:
Integrated approach to natural resource management
Coordinating sectoral policy objectives – water, energy, food production
Consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs
Institutions and instruments for promoting coordination
Integration at multiple scales – global to the local
Collaboration between multiple actors – state and non-state
Benson et al. (2015, 2016)

4. Collaborative governance in NRM
Multiple definitions of ‘collaboration’ in the governance literature
Within NRM studies it is taken to mean:
‘… where power is allocated to multiple stakeholders who engage in negotiation and consensus building within specific institutions… located at [different] scales.’ (Benson et al. 2013)
Paradigmatic shift?
Multi-stakeholder participation in decision-making now a feature of integrated NRM globally, e.g. IWRM
But state agency control still significant in NRM governance

5. Collaboration in policy: Bangladesh and IWRM
The nexus is institutionalised through the National Water Policy (NWP) 1999
Endorses an integrated approach to planning and managing water resources (IWRM)
Sectoral objectives for integrating agriculture, energy and environmental protection
Requirements for stakeholder participation at all levels, including local
Commitment for power sharing
State and non-state actors, including women
Processes and institutions for participation
National and river basin scale

6. Collaboration in practice: the urban nexus in Dhaka
Dhaka – defined by UN-DESA as a ‘megacity’
15.5 million people (2015)
Problems with planning, integrating water, energy and environmental provision (Gain et al. 2017)
Multiple national ministries for water/energy/environmental management, Dhaka City Corporation, government agencies
National and city level planning
Collaboration in IWRM is constrained by:
Limited power sharing
Sectoral decision-making by government/city agencies and industry
Limited institutions for non-state actor participation
Decisions taken at national scale

7. Practical implications for collaboration in the urban nexus
Challenges
Power dynamics and limited subsidiarity – government agencies, industry
Financial and technical constraints
Including state and non-state actors, e.g. industry, NGOs, civil society
Cultural constraints – gender
Opportunities
Collaboration can support nexus integration at local scales in developed countries (UK, USA, Australia, EU) (Benson et al. 2013)
More consideration of how collaboration can support the urban nexus in developing countries through:
Cross-institutional integration, building institutional capacity, supporting collaborative processes and different groups
Scope for lesson-drawing/policy transfer (Benson and Jordan 2011)

8. Constraints in developing countries
Conclusions
Collaboration should (theoretically) be an important component of the urban nexus
Constraints in developing countries
Opportunities for greater promotion of collaboration in nexus governance through lesson-drawing on effectiveness
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