Criteria for the Assessment of Planning Processes for Sustainable River Basin Management — Illustration by two cases: the EU Water Framework Directive and ongoing water planning processes in Sweden

Abstract

This paper examines a set of criteria for processes that aim to attain sustainable river basin planning at the regional scale. The criteria answer to the lack of deductive methodologies for the assessment and development of participatory approaches to water planning. They are derived from the two concepts and sustainability principles participation and integration. The criteria are here explained and their use is illustrated by presentation of the results and conclusions from two case studies. The first case concerns an assessment of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). - In what ways does the WFD support or obstruct processes for sustainable water management? The second case concerns the ongoing planning processes in Sweden that follow from the implementation of the WFD. The cases show that the criteria work well in achieving their purpose as their use resulted in practicable proposals for taking the studied planning objects closer to meeting the criteria.