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Focus Area Session 6 (FAS6): IWRM Process

for a Water Secure World

 

Tomonobu Sugiura
Water Resources Specialist, Asian Development Bank

 

 

19th, May 2013: Focus Area Session 6 (FAS6): IWRM Process for a Water Secure World

  Focus Area Session 6 (FAS6: IWRM Process for a Water Secure World) was organized by UNESCO in the afternoon of May 19. NARBO supported this session and dispatched two panelists (Dr. Keizrul Bin Abdullah who is the NARBO chairperson and Ms. Dolora N. Nepomuceno who is a NARBO vice chairperson) to share NARBO’s activities.

The program of the session is provided in the following address:

http://www.unesco.or.id/publication/IWRM_ws_100513_HQ.pdf.


The chairperson suggested that the post‐2015 agenda needed to address global water challenges and establish measurable targets on IWRM beyond the present water supply and sanitation targets in the MDGs in the opening remarks. Panelists covered a wide range of issues, such as lack of understanding IWRM and appropriate toolkits for the IWRM progress, IWRM conflict management of the Laguna bay experience, managing river basins for multiple uses, trans-boundary data sharing for IWRM, water management through spatial planning in Pakistan, water security and IWRM with special reference to Post 2015 and challenge to achieve water security. Although we confront so many challenges on improving water security, they recognized that we needed to take those challenges as an opportunity to implement IWRM and that we needed new ways to approach water issues.


According to the presentations and the panel discussion following them, the chairperson summarized the session.

1) We must to advocate for an inclusive approach in order to build transparent and trusted water plans.

2) Real water democracy as well as top down and bottom up approaches are essential for implementing IWRM in river basins and aquifer systems.

3) The IWRM approach must also be translated into easy to understand texts alongside education and capacity building to ensure wide implementation.

4) Spiral approach to IWRM and the bench marking work of GWP, ADB, NARBO and other partners should be adopted at all levels.


In addition, the water planning books, which provides much needed knowledge base

for better management of river basins, was launched by ADB, GIWP, UNESCO and WWF during the session. http://www.adb.org/publications/basin-water-allocation-planning

http://www.adb.org/publications/river-basin-planning-principles

http://www.adb.org/publications/flood-risk-management-strategic-approach