Browse by: "W"

Improving water quality is consistently ranked as a top environmental concern in OECD public opinion surveys. The key challenges for policy makers in addressing water quality issues in agriculture are to reduce water pollution while encourage benefits, such as maintaining aquatic life. This book examines linking policies, farm management and water quality. It looks at recent trends and prospects for water pollution from agriculture and the implications of climate change. It assesses the costs and benefits of agriculture's impact on water systems, and presents a series of case studies. Finally the report provides a set of recommendations for countries for meeting the challenge of improving agricultural water quality.

Water is abundant in Brazil, but unevenly distributed across regions and users. Remarkable progress to reform the sector has been achieved since the 1997 National Water Law, but economic, climate and urbanisation trends generate threats that may jeopardize national growth and development. The consequences are particularly acute in regions where tensions across water users already exist or are likely to grow. The report is the result of a policy dialogue with more than 100 stakeholders at different levels in Brazil. It assesses the performance of Brazil’s water governance and suggests policy recommendations for strengthening the co-ordination between federal and state water policies and for setting up more robust water allocation regimes that can better cope with future risks. The report concludes with an action plan, which suggests concrete milestones and champion institutions to implement those recommendations.

This publication examines the critical issues surrounding water security (water shortage, water excess, inadequate water quality, the resilience of freshwater systems), providing a rationale for a risk-based approach and the management of trade-offs between water and other (sectoral and environmental) policies.
 
The report sets out a three-step process to “know”, “target” and “manage” water risks: (1) appraising the risks, (2) judging the tolerability and acceptability of risks and weighing risk-risk trade-offs, and (3) calibrating appropriate responses.
 
The publication provides policy analysis and guidance on the use of market-based instruments and the complex links between water security and other policy objectives, such as food security, energy security, climate mitigation and biodiversity protection.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD)  provides information on the
sources, use patterns and release pathways of chemicals used in the treatment of water in a number of areas to assist in the estimation of releases of chemicals to the environment.
 

Agriculture is a major user of water and is responsible for much of its pollution. But the agricultural sector faces increasing competition for scarce water supplies from urban and industrial users and, increasingly, to sustain ecosystems.  This conference proceedings explores how both governments and the private sector can expand the role of markets to allocate water used by all sectors and to get agricultural producers to account for the pollution that their sector generates.

This report focuses on the urban water management challenges facing cities across OECD countries, and explores both national and local policy responses with respect to water-risk exposure, the state of urban infrastructures and dynamics, and institutional and governance architectures. The analyses focus on four mutually dependent dimensions – finance, innovation, urban-rural co-operation and governance – and proposes a solutions-oriented typology based on urban characteristics. The report underlines that sustainable urban water management will depend on collaboration across different tiers of government working together with local initiatives and stakeholders.

This book is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It provides explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the current watermelons standard. This new brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade in watermelons.

Russia’s war against Ukraine and the international sanctions introduced against the former have had an unexpectedly mild impact on Central Asia, despite the region’s deep economic dependence on its northern neighbour. Notwithstanding high inflation, the five Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – have so far shown surprising resilience to the economic headwinds: remittances registered record-high figures in the first half of 2022, national currencies quickly rebounded to pre-war levels after an initial drop, and an influx of skilled workers boosted demand for services and hospitality. However, as the medium-term effects of the sanctions against Russia, the global cost-of-living crisis, and China’s economic slowdown start to unfold, Central Asia is faced with lingering uncertainty. This publication provides an assessment of the short-term effects of Russia’s war on Central Asian economies and the policy responses provided. It also analyses the challenges ahead and formulates policy recommendations to make Central Asian economies more resilient and diversified.

Ireland has made considerable progress in rebounding from the crisis, but, like other OECD countries, continues to grapple with how to address lingering socio-economic impacts and ensure inclusive growth growing forward. Multi-faceted interventions, targeting disadvantaged populations and the places they live, can lead to more effective and inclusive policies. Ignoring the relationship between people and place will, in contrast, lead to further entrenched disadvantage. This report looks at some of the ways in which Ireland can build on an already comprehensive series of reforms to better weave together current policies and practices.

The report provides a comprehensive picture of well-being in the major Danish cities, by looking at a wide range of dimensions that shape people’s lives.  It contains both objective and subjective indicators meant to help policy makers, citizens and other stakeholders to better understand living conditions not only among cities but also among the different neighbourhoods within cities. This information can help policy makers build a development strategy based on well-being metrics, and choose the courses of action that will make the most difference in people’s lives.

This publication reviews migration policies in the main OECD countries receiving West African migrants and analyses the recent discussions within Europe. This report lists common approaches undertaken in Europe, Africa and West Africa and aims to shed light on decision makers’ strategic thinking. It provides the greater public with an objective understanding of this recent dynamic.

West African Perspectives: Resources for Development conducts a cross-cutting analysis of the main development challenges in the region and offers suggestions on how to meet them. It provides an overview of West Africa’s abundant resources , examining not only economic and natural resources but also human, social and cultural capital. Finally, it presents the perspectives of six prominent West Africans involved in the development of their region.

This paper outlines how these different challenges can limit, and sometimes prohibit, donors from working to strengthen the resilience of people, communities, and states and their institutions. The paper also proposes a menu of incentives that could be useful in different contexts to ensure political buy-in for resilience, to drive behaviour change by all actors, and to ensure that the risk analysis actually leads to the prioritization of resilience programming.

On 23 July 2001, negotiators from 178 nations reached an unexpected political agreement on how to proceed with the international struggle against unwanted climate change.Specifically,they set out detailed rules for implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climat Change.Participants and observers in Bonn, Germany quickly dubbed the accord a turning-point in the fight against global warming. But the document enshrining the agreement was so technical and allusive as to be incomprehensible to all but experts.This pamphlet, prepared by analysts in the International Energy Agency ’s Energy and Environment Division, sets out the terms of the Bonn agreement in layman ’s language. As in several earlier publications of this kind, the IEA seeks to inform the public debate and place it in context in a thoroughly dispassionate and objective way.

The report links the results from the OECD PISA 2000 survey to qualitative evidence on important public policy measures in six countries that performed well in PISA. These measures included strategies for educational reform and innovation; issues of governance and resource allocation; national approaches to standard-setting, assessment and system monitoring; the organisation of support systems; the professional development of teachers; and approaches to addressing socio-economic differences in students’ backgrounds. Countries covered: Canada, England, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.