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Conference Paper Towards Design Principals for Nesting in Australian Watershed Management(2004) Marshall, Graham R."Despite the complexity of watershed management, policy-makers in Australia and other countries have given little systematic attention to the challenge of learning how to organise it effectively. Meanwhile, evidence has emerged that community-based organisational systems with enduring success in addressing complex problems of natural resource management are likely to consist of ‘multiple layers of nested enterprises’. This paper considers the contribution that organisational nesting of this kind could make to improving the performance of watershed management programs, particularly in Australia. After reviewing the theoretical advantages of the organisational nesting concept for complex problems, the focus of the paper shifts to identifying on the basis of a literature review a set of preliminary design principles that, after an appropriate process of ‘ground-truthing’ and refinement, might be used to guide application of the concept to watershed management, at least in Australia. The set identified contains 24 preliminary design principles. This includes 10 structure-related principles organised under four headings (i.e., base-level units, boundaries, rules, and subsidiarity) and 14 process-related principles organised under 12 headings (i.e., catalysing voluntary cooperation, formalising organisational processes, pacing organisational growth, purposefulness, recruiting leadership, learning, participation in decision-making, monitoring and enforcement, conflict resolution, government recognition, deliberative decision-making, and leading by example). The value of this set for actual watershed management programs in Australia is to be explored over the next few years through case studies of three such programs."Conference Paper Resolving Water Conflicts through Participatory Decision Making: A Case Study from the Nakanbé River Basin, Burkina Faso(2004) Kibi, Nlombi"Water's importance for socio-economic development cannot be over emphasised. Not only is it key for human survival and welfare, but it is also an essential resource in agriculture (land irrigation, farming, breeding), health, hydroelectricity and industrial production for which there are no substitutes. Unfortunately, in Burkina Faso divergent economic, political, and social interests, the absence of adequate rules governing its use, and the lack of dialogue between the different players and stakeholders, have resulted in frequent conflicts between water users. "Over the course of the last two decades, it has become clear that managing conflict is essential to the sustainable management of common-pool resources, such as water. One approach towards managing water conflicts is the Integrated Water Resources Management Approach by Watershed Basin (IWRMA), which uses participatory approaches to help resolve conflict. The IWRMA refers to a system of decisions and actions about water restoration and conservation. Recent research supports the notion that the IWRMA is perhaps the only approach that is able to efficiently integrate all stakeholders, as well as structural (economic, social, legal) and environmental factors, into the decision-making process (McNitt and Kepford, 1999; Petersen, 1999; in Black, P.E., 1996). "This paper present the main results of a project, sponsored by IDRC from 1998 to 2003, which employed a participatory methodology for resolving water conflicts in the case of 19 villages in the Nakanbé River Basin, Burkina Faso. In these villages, especially at handpumps, intense water conflicts arose between women and girls or between women, girls and stockbreeders because of the waters insufficiency for all users. These conflicts often resulted in disputes or quarrels between two or more end- users. The Participatory Decision-Making Aid Approach divided the conflict resolution process into ten steps and involved all stakeholders in mediation activities such as informal discussions, roundtable discussions, meetings and forum discussions, and theatrical representations. The solutions, proposed and implemented with the involvement of all stakeholders (mainly grassroots stakeholders) fell into three distinct categories: 1) technical solutions, 2) solutions aimed at changing mentalities, behaviours and taboos of the local population about water use and water conflicts, and 3) solutions related to restructuring water management committees. The result of these grassroots-initiated interventions has been fewer water conflicts between users around water handpumps in the majority of villages and the increasing of the villagers' autonomy with regards to the management of the water supply. The Participatory Decision-Making Aid Approach holds promise as a conflict resolution mechanism for managing conflict in different circumstances and with other common-pool resources such as land and forests."Conference Paper Tale of Two Islands: An Evolution of Coastal Resources Management in the Philippines(2004) Ferrer, Elmer M."This paper is an attempt to trace the evolution of coastal resources management, and community-based coastal resources management (CBCRM) in particular, in the Philippines. It begins with reviewing written accounts of two marine reserves considered to be pioneering experiments in coastal resources management. The paper then proceeds to distinguish key features between integrated coastal management (ICM) and CBCRM as two distinct tracks/approaches to coastal resources management (CRM). The paper ends with key challenges that we face in pursuing CBCRM."Working Paper The Use of Remote Sensing Data for Drought Assessment and Monitoring in Southwest Asia(2004) Thenkabail, Prasad; Gamage, M. S. D. N.; Smakhtin, Vladimir"Droughts are recurring climatic events, which often hit South Asia, bringing significant water shortages, economic losses and adverse social consequences. Preparedness for drought should form an important part of national environmental policies. At present, countries of the region have limited institutional and technical capacity to prepare for a drought and to mitigate its impacts. Information on drought onset and development is not readily available to responsible agencies and to the general public. This report describes the first results of the development of the near-realtime drought-monitoring and reporting system for the region, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and western parts of India. The system is being developed using drought-related characteristics (indices), which are derived from remote-sensing data. The indices include a deviation from the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from its long-term mean and a vegetation condition index (VCI). "The study first investigated the historical pattern of droughts in the region using monthly time-step AVHRR satellite data for 1982-1999. Droughts in recent years were studied using 8-day time-interval MODIS satellite images available from year 2000 onwards. The unique feature of the study is the development of regression relationships between drought-related indices obtained from MODIS and AVHRR data, which have different pixel-resolution and optical characteristics. These relationships were established for each month of the year separately, as well as for the pooled data of all months, and explained up to 95 percent of variability. The relationships were validated in randomly chosen districts outside the study area. The results ensure the continuity of the two data sets and will allow the reports on drought development in the region to be made in near-real time with a spatial resolution of 500 meters and at 8-day intervals. A continuous stream of MODIS data is available free of charge, on the Internet, from the USGS EROS data centre. The operational mode for the MODIS-AVHRR-based droughtreporting system is currently being developed. The goal is to make the system available, via Internet, to all stakeholders in the region, including government agencies, research institutions, NGOs and the global research community. It may be used as a drought-monitoring tool and as a tool for decision support in regional drought assessment and management."Conference Paper Investing in Water for Food, Ecosystems and Livelihoods(2004) Molden, David; de Fraiture, Charlotte"Sustainably meeting the food and livelihood needs of a growing population will require some very difficult choices about how water is developed and managed in the next 25 years. More food will be necessary, and more food translates into more water for agriculture. More water for agriculture will in many cases mean less for the environment. So how do you manage water for food and the environment? And how do you do so in a way that also reduces poverty? In the following pages we review several policy and water investment options—along with their livelihood and environmental implications. This paper presents issues being addressed by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, an international research program that brings together scientists, development professionals and stakeholders from around the world. This is the first time science has been focused at this level and intensity on answering questions related to water, agriculture, poverty and environmental conservation. The Assessment is at the mid-way mark and won’t be complete until 2006, but already we have evidence to suggest which approaches are the most promising. Our intention in sharing these preliminary findings is to raise awareness that water in agriculture is a pressing issue, that business as usual is not an option, and that there are potential solutions, but they are not necessarily the ones that have received the most attention."Working Paper Formal Water Rights in Rural Tanzania: Deepening the Dichotomy?(2004) Van Koppen, Barbara; Sokile, Charles S.; Hatibu, Nuhu; Lankford, Bruce; Mahoo, Henry F.; Yanda, Pius Z."In the past decade, the Tanzanian Government designed and implemented a new administrative water rights system, with the aim of improving basin-level water management and cost-recovery for government water-resource management services. Contrary to expectations, the new system has failed as a registration tool, a taxation tool, and a water management tool, and has also contributed to aggravating rural poverty. However, the taxation of a the few private large-scale water users, according to negotiated rates, appeared to be feasible. The paper attempts to identify the root of these paradoxical results, and suggests adaptations in the water rights system to better service all users, and improve cost-recovery for government services."Conference Paper Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal(2004) Regmi, Ashok"Despite many valuable lessons that have been learnt regarding resource and resource user attributes there are some relationships that have yet to be understood. One such confounding issue has been the impact of heterogeneity among the users of a community-based natural resource. Traditional commons research has mostly assumed the prevalence of homogeneity among resource users, however, it is known that differences (e.g. in socio-economic attributes, natural resource endowments, physical circumstances etc) can be present. It is mostly under assumptions of homogeneity that researchers have been able to collect evidence that shows that groups have been able to successfully self-organize. What impact does heterogeneity have on collective action is an issue that is not yet fully understood and is the focus of much contemporary research in the common pool resource area. Similarly, the relationship between the nature of the resource and the ease with which users are able to organize around it is also not straightforward. This paper is an attempt to explore these issues with respect to Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems in the Chitwan Valley of Nepal."Working Paper Encouraging Them to Come to Us: Changing the Way that Information is Made Available to Farmers(2004) Support to Regional Aquatic Resources Management (STREAM); Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia Pacific (NACA)"Recommendations for changes to service provision and fisheries policy in support of poverty alleviation emerged recently in India from a process know as facilitated advocacy that helped to negotiate and support a role for poor people and their service providers, to contribute to changes in services and policies. Two of the key recommendations to emerge from farmers and fishers, which were prioritized by Fisheries Departments, were 'to change the way that information is made available' and 'to simplify procedures for accessing government schemes and bank loans.' "This case which identifies the origin of these recommendations to change the way that information is made available, shows how different models of the concept have emerged, and follows the development of the One-stop Aqua Shops (OAS) in the eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, that represent a new and vital tier in communications in aquaculture."Journal Article Inter-linkages Characterise Future Urban Water, Food Security Needs(2004) Stockholm International Water Institute"The 2004 Stockholm Water Symposium showed that the world finds itself in the middle of a period of rapid change, characterised by great and increasing complexity – a complexity that continues in raising the expectations on water-related professionals. The Symposium has had its focus on the drainage basin and in particular the internally linked issues of both urban security and food security. The Symposium has analysed these inter-linkages and discussed issues of governance within that biophysical framework."Working Paper An Assessment of Small-scale Users' Inclusion in Large-scale Water Users Associations of South Africa(2004) Faysse, Nicolas"The management of water resources is being transformed in South Africa. All water users, especially the small-scale ones, are now invited to participate in this management. At the local level, the former whites-only Irrigation Boards (IBs) are to become more inclusive Water User Associations (WUAs), incorporating all water users. The actual outcomes of small-scale user involvement in the already accepted WUAs are not obvious. This report reviews the process of inclusion of small scale users in the new large-scale WUAs. The analysis presented here uses information from previously published case studies. In order to assess the potential benefits of having small-scale users on board, the research investigated the possible overlap between water-related problems of small-scale users and the functions of the WUAs. The presence of small-scale users in the WUA is always beneficial, even though they are faced with the problem of lack of funds for operation and maintenance. The possible benefit of the presence of drinking water users (rural communities and farm workers) stumbles on a lack of clarity when it comes to the responsibility of the WUA with regard to water quality and drinking water supply. It appears that the lack of internal organization of small-scale users such as farm workers and rural communities is a major stumbling block. While the presence of small-scale users at the management committee helps them in terms of capacity building and enables them to voice their problems, such a practice has still proved to be insufficient. This report recommends external monitoring of small-scale user inclusion after the transformation of an IB into a WUA. The problem oriented approach of this research may also facilitate assessment of the inclusion of small scale users in the catchment management agencies of South Africa, as well as in water resource management organizations in other developing countries where large- and small scale users share water from the same source."