ISET Policy Institute aims to develop the policy alternatives to be used for the implementation of economic instruments for water management based on principles of the EU Water Framework Directive.

Several documents have already been produced discussing the challenges faced by the Georgian policymakers with reference to the regulation and the management of the water sector (among others: EPIRB/OECD 2016. Facilitating the Reform of Economic Instruments for Water Management in Georgia Revised Final Report; UNECE 2016. Environmental Performance Reviews Series No. 43. Georgia. Third Review. United Nations Publication; ADB. 2010. Georgia: Developing and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Strategy and Regulatory Framework of Georgia. Final Report. Output 1 – Sector Development Plan) Also the ISET Policy Institute evaluated the expected impact of the implementation of the overall legal framework of the Water Framework Directive During an earlier project (RIA of the draft law on Water Resource Management).

However, none of these documents has yet analyzed at a sufficient level of depth either the challenges associated with the introduction of economic instruments (identified by the international economic literature) in compliance with “user pays” and “polluter pays principles” or the strengths and weaknesses of these instruments in the Georgian context. One of the main reasons for this is that, as of mid-2017, when the last RIA exercise was implemented, no economic instruments had yet been identified and defined in the context of the sub-law that has to be implemented after legislating the draft law.

Currently, the only report discussing (in general terms) a set of possible instruments for water resource management in the Georgian context is the 2016 EPIRB/OECD report (Facilitating the Reform of Economic Instruments for Water Management in Georgia). Our aim is to build on the research findings and recommendations from this report and from the RIA implemented by ISET Policy institute to come up with a much more refined analysis of the suitability of the available economic instruments to the Georgian context and to propose a set of realistic policy options suitable to Georgia’s policy context.

ISET Policy Institute plans to consult stakeholders in the water sector, develop a policy paper and present it as a suggested option for the reform of economic instruments for sustainable water resource management.