Unfolding the water framework directive implementation at the River Basin District scale: An Italian case study on irrigation measures

Despite that the European Water Framework Directive has attracted scholars' attention worldwide, research is sparse on how its implementation is carried out for the whole River Basin District (RBD). This paper aims to fill this research gap by studying the implementation of this directive in the Italian Eastern Alps RBD. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with both public authorities and the stakeholders engaged with implementation, along with a document analysis, we traced the overall implementation process, from planning to implementation, of measures to increase irrigation efficiency. Our interest was on how coordination mechanisms for the entire RBD were established during the main steps of the implementation process. Moreover, we looked at the effects of the Water Framework Directive at the local level, both in terms of changes in irrigation management practices and in terms of stakeholders' engagement in decision-making processes. We found that, establishing decision-making processes based on a stronger coordination among all the authorities involved was fundamental both in terms of the production of shared decisions and of the participants' satisfaction with the processes. Moreover, if true participation of stakeholders has to be achieved in the decision-making processes, then the RBD could not be the only scale where participation takes place. Actually, interactions among stakeholders and public authorities, in order to consider local interests in the decision-making processes, could be more effective at the sub-RBD level Ultimately, while cross-administrative coordination can be achieved for the whole RBD through specific coordination mechanisms, public participation should find more appropriate spaces at the sub-RBD level.