IWRA EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
(Montpellier, France, 5-6 June 2010)
International Water Resources Association is a non-governmental international organization of over 300 members from 48 countries, representing mainly scientific, educational and professional organizations and individuals that focus their attention in accordance with the statute on the following issues:
- Development of science-based areas of the global water policy and strategy;
- Development and implementation of methodological approaches and tools for assessing, recording and integrated use of water;
- Improving the planning, management, development, technologies, researches and education at the international, regional and scientific level;
- Implementation of multidisciplinary forum, aimed and dedicated to water issues;
- Generate, inventory and distribute knowledge and information on key issues of water and associated resources, as well as the environment.
In accordance with these directions, the IWRA Board organized their meeting immediately after the the 6th World Water Forum's Kick-off meeting, which was to a certain extent, the specific aspect of the elaborating the principal directions of the global water strategy and policy. According to the submitted report, the IWRA Board was not prepared for a particular focus of the Forum on the set of practical guidelines that should unite the world in their efforts to survive in the current volatile situation (Unlike the past Forum, which mainly focused on the problems rather than solutions oriented to the future).
Therefore the IWRA Board has devoted considerable attention to elaborating essential propositions that may reflect the global interests of water users, water management organizations, environmental centers, decision-makers, academics and practitioners in ensuring the survival of humanity in the face of future challenges.
Four main directions should be recognized and developed as fundamental within universal measures on water crisis overcoming.
Water governance was recognized as determinative in creating the base and platform ensuring sustainable governance and development of water management. Board members reviewed the determinative document "Water Governance" submitted by Prof. V.A. Dukhovny and in principle agreed to it as a subject for further thinking and development. The scheme of water governance (WG) influence on IWRM and simultaneously on adaptation to the destabilizing factors was discussed in detail. At the same time water governance (WG) is considered as the complex of long-term strategic views (strategy and policy), organizational base, legislative, financial and ethnic aspects along with ecological and social principles defining regulation and rules of interaction of all stakeholders, decision makers and entities defining the possibility of stable satisfaction of social and environmental demands of water. Herewith It is important that public participation is recognized as equitable water management and use.
Integrated water resources management (IWRM) - annual and operational, long-term and perspective - is the united approach to improvement of water resources management and use. These management principles are known as: hydrographical method, public participation, water and land resources integration, intersectoral integration, water hierarchy integration of all levels, recording of all kinds of waters, direction to achieving the potential water productivity of various water uses. IWRM per se is the sufficient universal tool because it allows to consider impact of the destabilizing factors such as climate change, demographic and industrial growth, increase of certain hygroegoism etc.
Indeed IWRM is nothing like governance, which is always balancing, managing resources and managing demand for water. That is why it is adaptive, because, given the fluctuations - increasing or decreasing the water resources - it contrasts the resources variation to uses management (decrease of drainage water and groundwater use in dry years, and in contrast to it, the use of excess water in dry years; over-year regulation by reservoirs; and planning of area for repeated harvesting in wet years), etc. Moreover it is adaptive because it has the risk management, water allocation in wet years by water circle, increase of water delivery to deltas in dry years, and determining the ecological minimal releases in dry years.
This IWRM in the development of which the IWRM and GWP have played an important role, unfortunately, is often replaced by fragmented projects, which sometimes mislead public opinion in regard to the recognition of IWRM.
The IWRM base is mobilization of efforts, skills, experience, financial and human resources at all levels, in combination with use of main tools of water governance which allows to negotiate interests of the whole water hierarchy and horizontal users on the basis of mutual benefit and "no damage" principle. Proper upward implementation of IWRM shows an enormous impact on the achievement of reasonable use of water, on reducing the costs per unit, and especially on demonstration of possibility (and necessity) to apply the absolutely new approaches.
The third key direction of improvement is development and capacity building of water management. It includes a wide spectrum of preserving the existing infrastructure potential by means of appropriate financial support and capital allowances, reconstruction, and also innovations and modernization by implementation of SCADA, GIS, computerization and modern technologies. Information system development, information exchange, "know-how" transfer and acquirement of communication and information technologies are also important for capacity building.
This capacity building should concern not only water management organizations but all water users who should be involved in both creating and developing the WUAs’ potential, and their owner. In this context, IWRA Board's members were suggested to consider these proposals and submit them jointly with the IWRA President at the next Board meeting in the beginning of July in Beijing.
The Board also considered several other issues:
- the procedure for 4 IWRA awards nomination, which should be awarded during the previous Congress and the announcement at the end of the current year;
- preparation for the IWRA Congress in Brazil;
- increasing the IWRA members;
- about printing publications by IWRA.
The Board also considered the budget.
Prof. V.A.Dukhovny,
Director of SIC ICWC
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