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Newsletter 34th Issue 6 August, 2018

1. Reports

1. NARBO IWRM Training (Integrated Water Resources Management for Sustainable Development) -NARBO Secretariat-

2. Report of the 8th World Water Forum

1.Outline of the 8th World Water Forum
The 8th World Water Forum was held in Brasilia, Brazil from 18 to 23 March, 2018. Over 100,000 people including citizens of Brasilia joined the forum, and over 200 sessions were held under the common theme on ´Sharing Water´. The forum had four processes for discussion consisted of 1) Thematic, 2) Political, 3) Regional and 4) Citizen's Forum with Sustainability Focus Group as a cross-cutting group. The Thematic process had 6 themes and 3 cross-cutting themes as follows. The Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) contributed to the forum as a regional coordinator in Asia-Pacific region, and the 3rd Asia-Pacific Water Summit (3APWS) was one of the regional process activities of the forum. NARBO has focused on the discussion on Ecosystem and contributed to the activities led by UNESCO Jakarta Office. More information and achievements are available at the following website.

[Photo 1] Venue of the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia
On behalf of NARBO secretariat, Japan Water Agency exhibited NARBO's activities at the Japan Pavilion and shared our achievements by posters and flyers. Over 3,000 people visited the Japan Pavilion and exchanged opinions on water. Ir. Hj. Abdullah bin Isnin, Deputy Director General, Department and Irrigation and Drainage, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Malaysia visited JWA booth and exchanged opinions on current situation of IWRM in Asia. Also, JWA contributed to the discussions on Ecosystem and Governance one of the resource speakers and introduced "IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level (Part 3)" and exchanged information and opinions with participants. Many NARBO members contributed to make "IWRM Guidelines at River Basin Level (Part 3)" by offering case studies which applied applicable and appropriate approach with sustainable water management based on local conditions. It was well welcomed and received by the forum participants.

[Photo 2] Japan Pavilion
Process Name of Session Session Convener NARBO's contributions
Regional Mobilizing science for the SDGs through enhanced freshwater ecosystem management in Asia and the Pacific UNESCO Mr. Sasahara, Vice-Secretary General of NARBO joined as one of the speakers and introduced NARBO's IWRM guideline with audience.
Thematic SMART Implementation of IWRM (9.a.2) UNEP/DHI Mr. Kawasaki, secretariat of NARBO joined the session and shared NARBO's achievements on IWRM in the region and shared NARBO's IWRM Guideline.
Thematic Urban land and water use : can natural system thrive in unnatural environments (5.c.1) Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) Mr. Sasahara, Vice-Secretary General of NARBO joined as one of the speakers and shared experience of NARBO by sharing IWRM guideline and introduced experience of Japan on water resources management
Special Integrated Freshwater Management for Sustaining Humanity and Environment: Addressing the Socio-Economic and Scientific Challenges Shiga-Prefecture and ILEC Mr. Tomioka, Secretary General of NARBO contributed to the discussion as one of the panelists and shared NARBO member's activities by sharing NARBO's IWRM Guidelines.
Thematic How is Water Governance in Your Country? Indicators to Assess Institutional Performance (9.c.2) OECD Mr. Kawasaki contributed to the discussion as one of the moderators of the breakout session.
Regional Interfederative relationship in the management of river basin water transfer projects in the regions Ministry of National Integration (Brazil) &ANA - National Water Agency (Brazil) Mr. Sasahara shared Japan's experience on water resources management and NARBO's experiences through introducing NARBO's IWRM Guideline as one of the speakers.
Regional Crisis Management : strategies for River Basin in Americas and Asia-Pacific ANA(Brazil) Mr. Kawasaki shared JWA's experience and NARBO's experiences through introducing NARBO's IWRM Guideline as one of the speakers.
Thematic What's Your Water Governance Story? Identifying and scaling-up best practice across cities, basins and countries (9.c.3) OECD Mr. Kawasaki contributed to the discussion as one of the moderators of the breakout session.
[Figure 1] NARBO's contributions at the sessions on water resources management
2. NARBO's achievements
As one of the achievements of NARBO activities, good practices which had been shared by NARBO members are now shared at OECD’s website. NARBO has been contributing to OECD Water Governance Initiative since 2013. As the second phase, OECD has collected good practices on water governance from all over the world and developed ´Water Governance Indicator´ by pilot-testing to 11 organizations including LUAS. "Implementing the OECD Principles on Water Governance" with over 50 good practices and "OECD Water Governance Indicator Framework" developed by pilot-testing have been launched at the 8th World Water Forum as summary of the second phase actions of OECD WGI. You can see good practices and result of pilot-testing at OECD’s following website, and case studies of Indonesia and Japan and result of pilot-testing by LUAS can be seen. We can download publications and see innovative practices on water through following OECD's website.

[Figure 2] OECD's Publication and Wensite on Water Governance
Mr. Tomioka, Secretary General of NARBO joined the session on ´International Management of Lakes and Their Linked Water System : the Socio-Economic and Scientific Challenges to Sustainable Ecosystem Service´ convened by Shiga-Prefecture, Japan and the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation (ILEC) and contributed to the discussion as one of the panelists by introducing NARBO activities especially case studies which were introduced at "IWRM Guidelines (Part 3)". Mr. Tomioka concluded the presentation by stressing the necessity of (1) Applying and introducing appropriate measures which fit local socio-economic conditions, (2) Development of local industry for self-sustaining of necessity materials and (3) Improvement of literacy by sharing knowledge. It was well received by the panelists and floor and contributed to add value to NARBO among water sector people in the world.

[Photo 3] Mr. Tomioka at Special Session
3. Way forward
NARBO secretariat is now preparing for launching "IWRM Guidelines (Part3)" jointly with UNESCO and collecting additional case studies. The guideline is a visualized and incorporated the ideals of ´The Voice of Asian Water Management Practitioners´ which was released to guide the members for materializing sustainable water management in Asia. It will be launched this autumn and available at NARBO's website. In this way, NARBO would like to contribute to achieve SDGs 6.5 by boosting implementation of IWRM in the field by making use of sharing NARBO member's valuable and effective methodologies.

[Photo 4] APWF session at the forum

3. The International Workshop on RBO Performance Benchmarking
-NARBO Secretariat-

2.NARBO Activity Plan - Late 2018

Date Type Event Name Venue Contribution by NARBO
2-4 October, 2018 Forum Asia Water Forum 2018 Manila, Philippines Exhibitor
12-13 November, 2018 Meeting 11th Water Governance Initiative meeting of OECD Zaragoza, Spain Presenter

3. From the Secretariat

By secretariat of NARBO

NARBO Newsletter aims to be a tool for sharing good practices, lessons learned from practice and IWRM-related activities, etc. Therefore, we highly welcome articles from you, about good practices, lessons from practice, activities relevant to IWRM. In addition, the article such as topic providing, and fresh voice, etc is also very welcomed. The articles you will contribute to NARBO Secretariat will be put in newsletters to share experience and lessons and so on.


NARBO Network of Asian River Basin Organizations
Headquarters of the secretariat: International affairs Division. Japan Water Agency (JWA)
Land Axis Tower, 11-2 Shintoshin, Chuo-ku, Saitama City, 330-6008, Japan
TEL:+81-48-600-6553 / FAX:+81-48-600-6509 / E-mail:info@narbo.org

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