Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations: Questions of Accountability and Autonomy - Governing the Nexus: Water, Soil and Waste Resources Considering Global Change - page 75

World Governance Indicators — WGI (World Bank) and Country Policy and

IDA). 13 There is considerable
room for improvement regarding indicators. The implementation of the nexus
approach to the management of environmental resources and the elaboration of
quantitative trade-off analyses requires the development of indicators that address
sustainable resource use, human well-being and equity, as well as integrated
assessments of water, energy and food sectors (Kurian and Ardakanian 2014 ).

Institutional Assessment — CPIA (World Bank —

10 Implications for the Nexus Approach
to the Management of Environmental Resources

Decentralization of governmental activities and other alternative forms of service
delivery to central government provision have the potential to match better the
supply of goods and services with citizens demands. However, in order to boost

the positive impact of reforms several issues need to be taken into account.
First, decentralization measures should stimulate sound

'

fiscal relations across
government levels. In order to do so, the sharing of policy responsibilities needs to
be clearly de ned to avoid the shifting of responsibilities among layers of gov-

ernment. It is also important that subnational governments have access to a stable

financing system that allows them to ful l the functions assigned to them. This

involves the de nition of a transparent mechanism of tax sharing among levels of

governments for the allocation of intergovernmental fiscal transfers, together with

the establishment of the correct amount of tax autonomy by subnational govern-
ments. The establishment of mechanisms to monitor the behaviour of all levels of
government, to guarantee that public resources are properly used, and that

scal
policy is sustainable is also fundamental to ensure the proper functioning of a
decentralized fiscal framework.

Second, the social, political and economic context should be carefully taken into
consideration in service delivery reforms, as solutions that work well in a country
may lead to disastrous results in another.
Third, active participation and engagement of citizens and the increase of
capacity building among local government units, NGOs and communities are also
key elements for the sustainable and integrated management of water, soil and
waste resources. As suggested by Kurian and Ardakanian ( 2014 ), the development
of multi-disciplinary competencies is essential to address questions of intersec-
tionality correctly among material

financing, heterogeneity and
changes in institutional and biophysical environment,

fluxes, public

relevant to the nexus

13 WGI provides indicators for six dimensions of governance: voice and accountability, political
stability and absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of
law, and control of corruption. CPIA rates 81 International Development Agency (IDA) recipient
countries against a set of 16 criteria grouped in four clusters: economic management; structural
policies; policies for social inclusion and equity; and public sector management and institutions.