EU Water Framework Directive vs. Integrated Water Resources Management: The Seven Mismatches

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the EU Water Framework Directive complies with the international principles concerning Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) agreed in major conferences. The outcomes of the International Conference on Water and Environment (Dublin, 1992), the Second World Water Forum (The Hague, 2000), the International Conference on Freshwater (Bonn, 2001), and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) (Johannesburg, 2002) were compared with the EU Water Framework Directive. Seven notable mismatches were found, even though several EU countries have played a leading role in those conferences. The question arises whether the outcome of these conferences is not efficient enough to influence EU policies—do the conferences just produce collections of idealistic buzzwords or is there a requirement for different principles regarding IWRM for developing countries and developed countries?