ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Water Framework Directive (WFD) as the basis for water management within the European Union and focuses on the democratic requirements of the Directive. It then explains WFD and its requirements of public participation have been implemented very differently in Denmark and Sweden. The chapter also discusses the potential openings and closures provided by the WFD for a more fundamental democratic transformation of natural resource management (NRM). In Denmark, the state took on the responsibility of implementing the WFD, including the development of water plans, while the municipalities were responsible for the implementation of the water plans at the local level. The WFD was internalised into Swedish legislation in 2004 and a new governmental body directly responsible to the Swedish government, called the Water Authorities, was created. The chapter presents an alternative approach to a more democratic water planning based on a seven-year-long Action Research project in Sweden around a particular lake.
