Transforming Water Governance in South America: From Reaction to Adaptation and Anticipation

The GovernAgua project analyzed six watersheds in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay to understand the drivers of water crises and the effectiveness of basin committees. Findings indicate that while crises often improve biophysical monitoring, responses remain largely reactive. The project advocates for inter-institutional cooperation, transdisciplinary practices, and stronger science-policy-society dialogue to build anticipatory governance capacities.

• Water crises in South America are complex issues driven by a combination of governance, economic, climate, and ecological factors, and are closely linked to how land is managed and used.
• A persistent challenge in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay is the fragmented management between institutions tasked with agricultural productivity and those responsible for environmental protection.
• While water crises typically lead to better monitoring of biophysical indicators—such as the development of turbidity measurement platforms in the Chubut case or water demand projections in the PCJ case—most responses remain reactive rather than anticipatory.
• Basin committees with more established histories are generally better equipped to handle water crises; for instance, the PCJ committee in Brazil rapidly established a Drought Working Group to coordinate with local governments during the 2014 drought in São Paulo.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (n.d.). Transforming Water Governance in South America: From Reaction to Adaptation and Anticipation. https://iai.int/pdf/en/SGP-HW 056_merged.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Transforming Water Governance in South America: From Reaction to Adaptation and Anticipation. n.d. https://iai.int/pdf/en/SGP-HW 056_merged.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Transforming Water Governance in South America: From Reaction to Adaptation and Anticipation |url=https://iai.int/pdf/en/SGP-HW 056_merged.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearchndtransforming, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Transforming Water Governance in South America: From Reaction to Adaptation and Anticipation}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, url = {https://iai.int/pdf/en/SGP-HW 056_merged.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }