Instruments and Institutions for Sustainable Water Management

Friday 2 July 2010

Cand. Techn. Soc. Stuart Anthony Lewis Wright defended his thesis.

 

download the full thesis (pdf)

The thesis presents a series of separate empirical studies on aspects of water management in a European context. In general, the thesis concerns itself with recent innovations in policy instruments and institutions, focusing on economic instruments and public participation respectively, both of which have been widely implemented in Europe essentially due to their perceived potential to increase the effectiveness of policy.
The first part of the thesis explores the potential of economic instruments to change the behavior of agents in sustainable directions through economic incentives.
The latter part of the thesis focuses on institutions for sustainable water management and the tension between economic methods i.e. cost-benefit analysis, and deliberative methods or public participation for decision-making. The majority of the articles included are based on semi-structured interviews. 

 

Principal Supervisor:

Associate Professor Alex Dubgaard, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

 

Project Supervisor:

Associate Professor Inge Røpke, DTU, Department of Management Engineering
Innovation and Sustainability, Technical University of Denmark

 

Co-Supervisor:

Assistant Professor Jens Abildtrup, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen

 

Assessment Committee:

Associate Professor Lars Otto, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen (chairman)

 

Associate Professor Anna Charlotta Jonsson, Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Linkoping University, Sweden

 

Professor Peder Agger, Department of Environment, Technology and Social Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark