Abstract

LIZBONA, Alexandra  and  DELBONO, Andrea. The water crisis and the paradoxes of water governance in Uruguay. Institutions, stakeholders and socio-environmental conflicts two decades after the 2004 plebiscite. Rev. Urug. Cienc. Polít. [online]. 2024, vol.33, e203.  Epub Dec 01, 2024. ISSN 0797-9789.  https://doi.org/10.26851/rucp.33.7.

This paper analyzes water governance in Uruguay in light of the country’s worst water crisis, registered in 2023, and from a political economy approach. To this end, it gathers primary data, reviews environmental regulations and systematizes socio-environmental conflicts associated with water resources. The paper argues that, although the Constitution and the law enshrine the right to drinking water and institutionalize citizen participation in its management, water policy has not been prioritized during successive governments. It also argues that the weak performance of formal governance bodies, the collective action problems of social stakeholders, and the weak links between them and political parties result in the weighting of non-institutionalized participation over institutionalized participation to channel socio-environmental conflicts.

Keywords : water governance; environmental policy; socio-environmental conflicts; water crisis; Uruguay.

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