摘要：The two cultures theory argues that policy makers and scientists have different cultures and difficulty incommunicating with each other. Others argue that there is increasing co-production of knowledge. This essay aims to assessthe concerns of policy makers based on our policy work, policy-related research work, and our day-to-day experiences in termsof three questions: What are the perceived major issues for water governance. What are the major challenges in the structureof the existing global water governance approach. What is the vision for improving global water governance. This essaycombines views from governmental, hybrid, inter- and non-governmental policy makers. It argues that water covers so manyissues, aspects, and sectors that a key challenge is whether water should be governed as a sector or as a cross-cutting issue. Itlooks at how this challenge plays out within the United Nations system and leads to specific goal setting, while missing anoverall visionary approach and a legally binding system of governance; within the hybrid arena, where it leads to inclusivediscussion but not necessarily triggering consensus decisions; within nation states, where it has led to a loss of focus and amultitude of gaps and overlaps; and within transnational cooperative projects, where it has led to multiple interpretations ofwhat is good practice. It then identifies a series of research questions
关键词：coordination mechanism; drivers; global governance; global water governance; outside water box; world water;scenarios
