Stakeholder engagement in water governance: an insightful review

Graphical Abstract Source: Personal creation Graphical abstract showing the summary of the review paper. Amid a deepening global water crisis, participatory governance has emerged as a necessity for sustainable water resource management. This structured narrative review examined stakeholder engagement in water policy and practice and identified challenges, including limited local participation, power imbalances, and funding issues. Despite these obstacles, evidence from diverse case studies demonstrates that inclusive engagement yields benefits for equitable water access. The literature confirms widespread recognition of stakeholder engagement's importance, yet reveals a critical research gap, limited guidance on how to design and implement truly effective, inclusive, and context-appropriate engagement processes. This review concludes that moving beyond tokenistic participation towards genuine co-governance involving local communities, private actors, service providers, and end-users is needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 and build water-secure futures. This study calls for further research into scalable, sustainable models of stakeholder engagement, particularly in developing countries and community-led contexts.