Presentation made by Danka J. Thalmeinerova, GWP Knowledge Management Officer, Toolbox Workshop, 25. August 2012

1. IWRM and evolution of ToolBox
Danka J. Thalmeinerova

2. 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....)

3. Why has IWRM been popular
• Achieving MDGs
 Addressing recurrent water-
related problem hampering
national development—such as
reducing vulnerability to droughts
and floods

4. Why has IWRM been popular
• Remedying unsustainable situations and mitigating environmental costs
of past policies.
 Sharing
transboundary
water resources

6. 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.

7. 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?

8. 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.

9. 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

10. ....from that time, many IWRM knowledge produced by many.....
Lessons learnt - captured in GWP publications

11. 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.

12. Risks of fully sectoral approach
 Overlooking negative impacts on
environment and other sectors
 Inefficient use of resources—natural
and financial

13. Risks of fully integrated approach
Getting mired in complexity.
Not making good use of
specialist expertise.

14. Finding a balance
Each country needs
to decide where
integration makes
sense based on its
Integrated social, political and Sectoral
approach hydrological approach
situation.

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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?

18. How can this all be translated
into education curricula?

19. Challenge in GWP
Picture from V.Pangare: Global Perspectives on IWRM, 2006

20. Three pillars IWRM: of Areas of Change

21. IWRM ToolBox launched
in 2000 (WWF Hague)
- online portal for IWRM

22. ToolBox products

23. 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

24. 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

25. • Training manual for Water
practitioners in Mekong
River Basin
– Using ToolBox
structure and materials

26. GWP ToolBox on-line IWRM library

27. 56 tools

28. Tools in ToolBox

29. REFERENCES
Short description & external link

30. CASE STUDY
www.gwptoolbox.org