Roadmapping for Advancing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Processes

Abstract

"The goods and services provided by water play a central role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000. Good water governance – in an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) framework – is a critically important contribution to the achievement of the MDGs. IWRM improves cross-sectoral efficiency and cooperation at all levels on sustainable water resources development and management, including specific sector interventions. The importance of water management has been further highlighted by the recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others that have warned that climate change will have extensive impacts on water resources. The IWRM approach facilitates mainstreaming water issues in the political economy of a country, and as such in all societal sectors. It focuses on better allocation of water to different water user groups and in so doing stresses the importance of involving all stakeholders in the decision-making process. It also calls for gender mainstreaming in land and water management decision making. And it supports the integration of water supply and use with the management of waste, sewage and groundwater protection, while recognizing that the protection and quality improvements of water are preconditions for sustaining both human livelihoods and natural ecosystems. This approach is also recognized as a framework for the adaptation of water management to climate change and the management of floods and droughts."