The Water Scarcity Program is led by FAO for the Asia Pacific region. The program has been implemented in several countries in Southeast Asia, and this year is planned to be implemented in Indonesia from August 2023 onward. The program in Indonesia started with a background study (scooping) in 2021 and then followed up with training on Real Water Saving (ReWAS) in March-April 2022, co-organized by Future Water in collaboration with GWP-SEA regional secretariat. The ReWAS training introduced the basic concept of water accounting and its application for the agriculture sector for different scales and scenarios. The training material is also available as an e-learning platform hosted by FAO.
In 2023, GWP-SEA regional secretariat has continued to support FAO in engaging the Ministry of Planning (BAPPENAS), thus allowing fund-raising activity (through the Water Stewardship Indonesia) and will take a considerable role in establishing the National Multidisciplinary Team (NMT), consisting of the high-level person from different Ministries or government agencies.
The coordination meeting (kick-off meeting preparation) was held on 18 July 2023 in BAPPENAS. Opened by a remark from the director of Water Resources, Mr. Mohammad Irfan Saleh explained the underlying water resources problem in Indonesia is undistributed water in seasons and in spatial. Another challenge is polluted surface water (50%) affecting the population who lives in a high level of water stress. In his presentation, GWP-SEA Regional Coordinator, Mr Fany Wedahuditama explained that phase 2 of the program is to establish the NMT, water accounting training and roadmap, including the pilot project. The project will be executed by GWP-SEA, Future Water, and Alluvium, under a supervisor from FAO for Asia Pacific and the Ministry of Planning.
The presentation was followed by Mr Hugh Turral representing FAO/Australian Aid. He shared information that the objective of the Water Security Program is to provide the technical and policy support required to help countries ensure that water use is managed sustainably and productively through progressively more accurate water accounting and clear and transparent water allocation policies and processes. The program includes several steps:
- Stakeholder analysis and coordination
- Form National Multi-disciplinary Team
- Conducts training for NMT
- Form Water Accounting Team
- Pilot river basin water accounting capacity building
- Water Accounting Roadmap through a series of workshops
- Water Scarcity Action Plan (with feedback from Water Accounting Roadmap and NMT)
To facilitate the discussion, Mr Fany explained the overall schedule and let the participants asked questions.