NARBO

　River Basin Study Visit was organized by ADB, ADBI and Government of Spain (Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Environment) on 24-28 May 2010 in Madrid and Zaragoza, Spain. Around 20 senior officials from the NARBO member organizations and water related organizations in Asia took part in the study visit. The objectives of the study visit are to 1) exchange experiences and case studies on IWRM in Asian and European countries, 2) explore ways to improve water security in Asia, and 3) strengthen networking among participants, speakers and partner organizations.

　Participants exchanged experiences and lessons learnt on IWRM and Water Governance of Asia and Spain each other. Representative of Asian countries introduced their situation of river basin by using the IWRM Spiral Model. Lack of institutional capacity and finance was pointed out as common issues in Asia

　Experiences and practices of river management in Spain were introduced, including river management with private sector and through remote sensing. Rivers in Spain are managed by the river basin authority. River management of Spain is based on the EU Water Framework Directive*. Participation of stakeholders in river management is much advanced and better coordinated through systematic consensus building. The history of dialogues on transboundary river between Spain and Portugal serves as a useful lesson for transboundary river management in Asia.

　 Participants also visited Ebro River basin and Tajo River basin. Ebro hydrologic federation is the river basin association (RBA) in the Ebro River basin and is the oldest river basin organization in the world. It was officially established in 1926. The river basin plan is made by the River Basin Water Council under each RBA. This council consists of representative of central and regional government and water users of the river basin and the role of the council is stipulated in the Water Law. In making the river basin plan, the most important thing is to share the common information of the river basin. To meet the terms, RBA improved the observation systems of rainfall, river flow and water quality and disclosed all information to the public to secure the transparency. They saw these systems and learnt how they monitor the rainfall, river flow and water quality by using the state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies.

Ministry of Economy and Finance		Field Visit; Tajo river basin

 

　Participants recognized the importance of establishment of clear legal system in river management for improving IWRM. And they also acknowledged the necessity of the improvement of technical tools such as automatic hydrological system by using remote sensing to collect information for making river basin management plan.

[Box] Comment from Ms. Hang of Red River Basin Organization (RRBO), Viet Nam 　The study visit was an excellent chance for me to learn how Spain manages their not very rich water resources. I found that Spain has achieved a sound legal basis for water resources, a good water governance, a very close and effective of public and private partnership in water resources development, management and protection, an excellent water resources R&D system and well-educated population. I was very interested in their application of technologies to water resources management and their trans-boundary water management, those are very important and relevant to our Red-Thai Binh river basin.

　Study visit became a good opportunity to recognize the importance of legal framework and remote sensing technology on water resources management for improving Water Governance. It was also good opportunity to discuss water governance and IWRM with organizations concerned in Spanish for looking for the possibility of collaboration for improving IWRM and Water Governance in Asia.

　Materials of Study Visit can be available at the following website.

　http://www.adb.org/documents/events/2010/water-basin-study/program.asp

　http://www.tecniberia.es/index.php?option=com_jornadastecnicas&Itemid=264&task=viewcategory&vcatid=128