IWRM and evolution of ToolBox

Danka J. Thalmeinerova

It has started in Dublin.....

Water use

Water management

Water resources management

Integrated water resources management

1992, Dublin: International Conference of Ministers for

Water and Environment

2012, Rio de Janniero: re-confirmed

IWRM (now called adaptive WRM....)

Why has IWRM been popular

• Achieving MDGs

Addressing recurrent water-related problem hampering national development—such as reducing vulnerability to droughts and floods

Why has IWRM been popular • Remedying unsustainable situations and mitigating environmental costs

of past policies.

Sharing

transboundary

water resources

Progress (reported to Johannesburg, Rio Summits)

• Some countries have made good progress towards

meeting the target.

• But many more need to accelerate their efforts.

Good progress

Some progress

Just beginning.

Why has progress not been greater?

Uncertainty over:

– What IWRM means and how it contributes to

sustainable social and economic development

– What an IWRM strategy is and its role in water

reform

– How to go about developing a strategy

New challenge: Climate Change

Is IWRM a last year fashion?

Providing some guidance

• The GWP handbook

– Purpose: To provide

countries with the tools

and knowledge they

need to act on the

WSSD action target in

the way that is most

useful for them.

IWRM definition

IWRM is a process which promotes the

coordinated development and

management of water, land and related

resources, in order to maximize the

resultant economic and social welfare in

an equitable manner without

compromising the sustainability of vital

ecosystems.

GWP, TEC Background Paper No. 4:

Integrated Water Resources Management

....from that time, many IWRM knowledge produced by many.....

Lessons learnt - captured in GWP publications

Not just about physical resources

IWRM is not just about more efficient management of

physical resources (land, water, forests, fisheries,

livestock)…

…it is also about reforming human systems to enable

people—women as well as men—to reap sustainable and

equitable benefits from those resources.

Risks of fully sectoral approach

Overlooking negative impacts on

environment and other sectors

Inefficient use of resources—natural

and financial

Risks of fully integrated approach

Getting mired in complexity.

Not making good use of

specialist expertise.

Finding a balance

Sectoral

approach Integrated

approach

Each country needs

to decide where

integration makes

sense based on its

social, political and

hydrological

situation.

The basics of integration

When putting IWRM into

practice it is important to

think about where and to

what degree coordination

and new management

instruments are necessary.

Link to other strategies and plans

• An IWRM strategy should link to relevant national and

regional plans and strategies.

Examples:

– National strategies to meet Millennium Development Goals

– Country poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs)

– National Five Year Plans or Sustainable Development Strategies

– National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans

– National Plans to Combat Desertification

– National Plans on women’s development and empowerment

Integrated Water Resources Management concept is

• an empirical concept which is built up from the on-the-ground experience

of practitioners,

• a flexible approach to water management that can adapt to diverse national

and local contexts,

• thus it is not a scientific theory that needs to be proved or disproved by

scholars.

How can this be translated

into education curricula?

How can this all be translated

into education curricula?

Challenge in GWP

Picture from V.Pangare: Global Perspectives on IWRM, 2006

Three pillars IWRM: of Areas of Change

IWRM ToolBox launched

in 2000 (WWF Hague)

- online portal for IWRM

ToolBox products

Activities in SAF

• Project: Unpacking the IWRM ToolBox using the Lower Manyame IWRM Demonstration Project

– Lessons learned in developing IWRM Plan

– Discussion how each tool is applied in the IWRM plan

– Publication disseminated to other basins

• ToolBox training for WaterNet students

– Regular training for MSc IWRM students

Application of GWP ToolBox in national

water planning

• ToolBox used in Eritrea, Malawi, Ethiopia and

Zambia (PAWD initiative)

– as a reference source to improve water

governance

– as a framework for analysis of the water

resources situation

• Training manual for Water

practitioners in Mekong

River Basin

– Using ToolBox

structure and materials

GWP ToolBox on-line IWRM library

56 tools

Tools in ToolBox

Short description & external link

REFERENCES

CASE STUDY

www.gwptoolbox.org