Water Governance Futures in South Asia and Southern Africa: Déjà Vu All Over Again?

This chapter explores the likely trends and outcomes in water governance by about 2030 in two regions: South Asia and Southern Africa. It addresses the question: What are the prospects for developing governance arrangements in the two regions that will lead to more positive outcomes in terms of sustainably improving people’s livelihoods while conserving natural resources? It examines this question through three “lenses”: (1) “beyond disciplines”, (2) “beyond scales” and (3) “beyond ‘institutional’ hardware to ‘human’ software”. The two regions are currently on different trajectories: the Southern African trajectory seems to be moving in a positive direction, in contrast with South Asia. The chapter discusses four factors that go far to explaining this divergence: (1) the contrasting roles of the hegemonic countries, (2) the level of intercountry “trust” that has emerged in the two regions, (3) the roles of civil society and NGOs and (4) the roles of external facilitators. The chapter emphasises the importance of developing the human software – the “soft skills” of communication and shared values complementing technical competence – as the most critical driver of successful water resource governance.