Water Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean

To choose better water investments we need to have a better appreciation of what is possible with improved governance, of how to identify improved governance, how to design institutions for it, and how to incorporate it into planning and investments. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical bases for water governance in general and then presents five specific cases from Latin America which highlight different aspects of governance. The studies range from nation-wide and sector-wide cases in Brazil and Chile, to irrigation sector reform in Mexico, the private concession of municipal water supply and sanitation in Buenos Aires, to a very localized experience in Honduras which attempts to integrate all sectors of the local economy to protect and develop a lake ecosystem.