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Preliminary Report on Seminar "Key for Success
in Implementing IWRM at River Basin Level"

Date: 11th November 2008
Venue: Saitama Culture Center, Saitama, Japan
Participants: approx. 160 people including resource persons
Organized by: UNESCO, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT, Japan) and Japan Water Agency
Presentator
Seminar “Key for Success in implementing IWRM at River Basin Level” was held as a pre-event of 2nd Steering Committee of “Integrated Water Resources Management Guidelines at river basin level.” The Guidelines here refer to the ones which the United Nations has worked on and proceeded with the formulation through UNESCO as a secretariat.
Formulation of IWRM Guidelines is set as one of NARBO Action Plan activities in 2008-2009. Dr. Mochammad Amron, Chairperson of NARBO, included a Steering Committee member, made a presentation on Challenges of Brantas River Basin in the seminar.


The seminar kicked off with an opening remark by Mr. Shuhei Kazusa, Director-General, Water Resources Department, Land and Water Bureau, MLIT, and he started stating with an introduction of the process the Steering Committee have had to formulate the Guidelines.

Mr. William Cosgrove, Former Vice-president of the World Bank, made a keynote speech. In his speech, he pointed out that we should look for examples including an adaptive process where we can see why and how they did work and what were the keys and successful factors. He also mentioned that IWRM would not remain static but would take evolutionary steps, and it would take time but never be brought to an end.

Part 1 of the seminar focused on "From the viewpoint of overall basin and each sector." It means that it is essential for practical IWRM to overview whole basin and to be acquainted with the mind of each sector. In this sense, Tone Canal Project was taken as a case study and panel discussion was held with experts from waterworks sector, irrigation sector, and coordinating side engaged in the project at that time. Also speech on river administration was delivered by MLIT as a good example of viewing and administrating whole river basin.

The theme of Part 2 was "&Overview & Challenge of IWRM." Mr. Shahbaz Khan made a presentation titled "Importance of River Basin Approach for True Stakeholder Participation in Water Management." Three case studies were presented by guest speakers from abroad. Challenges of Brantas River Basin (Indonesia), Murray-Darling River Basin (Australia) and La Plata River Basin were presented by Mr. Mochammad Amron, Mr. Tony Jakeman and Mr. Victor Pochat respectively.


At the final stage of Part 2 of the seminar, Mr. Shinsuke Ota, Executive Vice President of JWA, gave us some explanations for an overall structural design of the Guidelines, and the user-friendly tools such as extraction of key-for success and pentagram. Besides, there was an encouraging and optimistic comment on the Guidelines from Mr. Wouter T Linklaen Arriens, Lead Water Resources Specialist, ADB.


Eventually, the seminar was summed up by Mr. Toshiki Aoyama, President of JWA, which continued working on overtime than expected, and ended successfully.


Programme

 

 

Opening Remarks       

Shuhei Kazusa,
  Director-General, Water Resources Department,
  Land and Water Bureau, MLIT

Key Note Speech

"Key for Success in Implementing IWRM at River Basin Level"
  William Cosgrove,
  Former Vice-President of the World Bank,
  World Water Development Report (WWDR) Content Coordinator,
  World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
Mr.Kazusa
Cosgrove
 

Part I: Case Study in Japan

"From the viewpoint of overall basin and each sector"

[Panel Discussion]

Breakthrough in solving "water stress" of Tokyo and its suburbs - Tone Canal Project -
   
Facilitator
♦  Kenzo Hiroki,
  Director, Water Resources Strategy Unit, Water Resources Planning Division,
  Water Resources Department, Land and Water Bureau, MLIT
 Panelists
♦  Hiroshi Ugata, former Tokyo Prefecture Official
♦  Shigemaro Nishina, former Saitama Prefecture Official
♦  Tetsuya Ishii, former director of Tone Canal Control Center
panel
 

[Speech on River Administration in Japan]

River Basin Management in Japan - Flood Control Measures, Water Resources Management -
  Hitomi Godou
  Director of River Information Office, River Bureau, MLIT


godou

[Comment]

       
Tsuneaki Yoshida, Professor, University of Tokyo
yoshida
 

Part II: Overview & Challenges of IWRM

   

[Presentation]       

Shahbaz Khan,
  Chief, Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management
  section, UNESCO-IHP
  Importance of River Basin Approach for True Stakeholder
  Participation in Water Management
Shahbaz
   
Mochammad Amron,
  First Advisor to Minister for Development Integration,
  Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia (NARBO Chairperson)
  Challenge of Brantas River Basin
Amron
   
Tony Jakeman,
  Director, Integrated Catchments Assessment and Management
  Centre, Australia
  IRBM: The Murray-Darling Basin
Tony
   
Victor Pochat,
  Professor, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentine
  Challenge of La Plata River Basin
Victor Victor

[Wrap-Up]

       
Shinsuke Ota, Executive Vice President, JWA
 
 
   

[Comment]

       
Wouter T. Lincklaen Arriens
  Lead Water Resources Specialist, Asian Development Bank
Victor
 

Closing Remarks

       
Toshiki Aoyama,
  President, JWA
Aoyama