Foreword

This study was delivered as part of the OECD’s programme of work under the GREEN Action Task Force. The Task Force has been supporting the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) to green their economies for more than 20 years and water policy reform has been a key feature of the work programme.

The Water Policy Outlook study aims to compare and contrast existing policy frameworks against the long-term strategic plan and vision for the water sector by respective governments. The outlooks aim to map the future policy challenges and policy reform opportunities required to achieve these long-term strategic objectives.

This innovative work was applied in Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine for the first time in 2019-20. These countries are of particular interest, as many of the long-term strategic objectives are based on Association Agreements with the European Union and time-bound requirements to approximate to EU legislation including the Water Framework Directive.  Multilateral Environmental Agreements including the Sustainable Development Goals also drive strategic targets and focus of the water sector.

The outlooks baseline the country policy framework and current performance and challenges and then define the long-term vision and aspirations to 2030, identifying opportunities for improving policy coherence and reform. These outlooks are intended to be used to stimulate policy discussion at the national level and have potential to be replicated in other countries throughout the EECCA region as methodology is further developed and refined.

This present report is based on three country-level analyses carried out by local consultants in Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Matthew Griffiths (OECD Environment Directorate) drafted the overview chapter (Chapter 1) using material from the three country-level analyses. The three country studies were delivered under the guidance and management of Tatiana Efimova (Georgia and Ukraine) and Alexandre Martoussevitch (Moldova) (both OECD Environment Directorate) who provided advice, comments and expertise throughout the conceptualisation and execution of the project. Douglas Herrick (OECD Environment Directorate) adapted the three country-level analyses and drafted supplementary material to produce Chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the present publication under the supervision of Matthew Griffiths. The lead authors of the country-level analyses were the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University Policy Institute for the Georgia chapter; Svetlana Zhekova, Independent Consultant, for the Moldova chapter; and Volodymir Bilokon, Independent Consultant, for the Ukraine chapter. The studies benefitted from local consultation with key stakeholders. The authors would like to thank the following experts for their comments and input into this publication: Scarlett Crawford catalogued the material in the national draft reports and provided comprehensive suggestions on the present publication’s structure and focus, Xavier Leflaive and Harry Smythe (both OECD Environment Directorate) contributed to the conceptualisation of the country studies and provision of data to inform the analyses. Xavier Leflaive (OECD Environment Directorate) and Takayoshi Kato (OECD Development Co-operation Directorate) provided useful comments on the report, Mark Foss edited the report, and Lupita Johanson (OECD Environment Directorate) prepared it for publication.

The work was delivered with the financial support of the Government of Norway, which is appreciated. The work also benefited from cooperation and synergies with activities under the European Union Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+) project and this support is acknowledged.

The views expressed in this document are those of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union or the Government of Norway.