Integrated Water Governance in the Netherlands

The Netherlands faces increasingly complex water challenges driven by climate change, polluted waterways, soil subsidence, sea level rise, salinization, compounded by growing demands from cities, agriculture, and industry. While the country has a strong tradition of participatory water management, new legal frameworks now mandate that participation be embedded structurally in policy processes, not treated as an afterthought. This RETOUCH NEXUS policy brief, drawing on analysis of all 21 regional water authorities and 11 expert interviews, reveals the critical gaps between participation ambitions and practice, offering concrete pathways to transform tokenistic box-ticking into genuine dialogue that strengthens integrated, adaptive, nexus-based water governance.

Effective participation enables nexus governance: An integrated, adaptive approach to water policy establishment requires, and is supported by, meaningful participation. As water authorities address complex challenges spanning water, energy, food, and ecosystems, participatory processes must be thoughtfully designed to be nexus-sensitive and adequate to the challenge.

Four gaps undermine participation: Major barriers are organizational and cultural (participation not integral to policymaking), knowledge-based (scattered expertise with no clear ownership), procedural (uncertainty about structuring processes), and capacity-related (limited trained staff, time, and resources).

Act upfront, not as afterthought: Participation must be embedded at the start of policy development as a structural, deliberate choice. Early reflection and clear problem framing help determine when participation is needed and guide appropriate design for context-specific challenges.

Build internal capacity and culture: Water authorities should mobilize existing expertise from environmental and area managers, establish internal participation networks, organize training, and create learning platforms for sharing tools and experiences across departments and organizations.

Monitor, learn, and adapt continuously: Effective participation requires tracking both outcomes and stakeholder experiences, recording how input is applied, conducting reflexive evaluations, and sharing lessons across teams to build collective knowledge and improve practice over time.