Institutional development for IWRM:

Status: Published

Bandaragoda, D. J. and Babel, Mukand S.(2010) Institutional development for IWRM: an international perspective, International Journal of River Basin Management, 8: 3, 215 — 224, First published on: 01 July 2010

Bandaragoda, is the Retired Regional Director for International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI)'s South East Asia Regional Office and Senior Management Specialist for nine years in IIMI's Pakistan program based in Lahore after serving as a member of the Sri Lankan administrative service while MUKAND S. BABEL, is a Associate Professor, Water Engineering & Management at the Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand.   Together they document the development of integrated water resources management (IWRM) through the United Nations Conference on Water in the Mar del Plata (1977), the International Conference on Water and Environment (1992), the Second World Water Forum (2000), the International Conference on Freshwater (2001), the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002, and the Third World Water Forum (2003) which made IWRM central to global politics.  They discussed IWRM’s zenith with “The fourth World Water Forum in Mexico in 2006 dealt with sharing experience and finding ways to further the implementation of IWRM” before Bandaragoda and Babel went back into the concept’s history to note that China addressed water management back in the twentieth century BC.  After completing the historical review the authors reviewed current applications and ambitions attempts in Asia which resulted in critical questions:

1. Why have the water sector institutional reforms failed?
2. Is it necessary to have hydrologically based RBOs [river basin organization] for the promotion of IWRM?
3. Can the developed-country models of RBOs be successfully replicated in developing countries?

Although Bandaragoda and Babel claimed this review represents a “fairly bleak picture” professional water managers can benefit from these recommendations:

1. Pilot projects to establish sub-basin level stakeholder organizations were successful.
2. A clear water policy and related water laws are essential requirements to guide this collaborative arrangement.
3. Expensive institutional device such as RBOs is not necessary.
4. Local stakeholder involvement, an inter-sectoral representation is most essential.

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Author:(c) June 17, 2011 12:37 AM Eric Weaver