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The Costa Rican government decided to revise its system of water use levy when it became evident that it was disproportionately low. Action was taken by key stakeholders to reconstruct a design of the water use levy to reflect two basic elements of water charge: water use rights and environmental water services. From this experience, the most important lesson is that political will must support legal and technical works when reforming economic instruments.  

Activities such as horticulture and tourism around the Great Barrier Reef create sediment, nutrient and pesticide runoff, placing increased pressure on the ecosystem. The World Wildlife Fund has taken action, predominantly by raising awareness. The key lesson is how a carefully orchestrated campaign can convince decision-makers of the importance of integrated river basin management as a means of reducing land-based marine pollution.

The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) is an implementing partner for SADC providing programmatic support to the implementation of the RSAP III and is providing support to increasing engagement of stakeholders within the Phase III of the Transboundary Water Resources Management Programme. In the RSAP III, GWP SA is included as an implementing agent in delivering components of the SADC/ GIZ“Mainstreaming Climate Change in the SADC Water Sector”. The programme aims to ensure that more investments are made in the management and development of shared water courses and is being implemented under three work packages, namely:Work Package 1 (WP1) – Increasing and harnessing knowledge for us, Work Package 2 (WP2): Increasing stakeholder involvement; and Work Package 3 (WP3): Increasing Investments. 
In this regard, GWPSA is facilitating four studies within the SADC region, under work package 1 – “Increasing and harnessing knowledge for use”, with the following objectives:

Changing the behaviour of water users towards more sustainable practices is a necessary step in achieving water security. One way to promote such change is through economic instruments. Economic incentives involve the use of prices and other market-based measures to improve the way water is managed and used. They provide incentives to water users to use water carefully, efficiently, and in a manner consistent with the public interest. They have both positive and negative effects, rewarding users that recognise the true value of water and penalising profligate and anti-social use.

With the introduction of IWRM, South Africa has shifted the design and implementation of water management to local institutions. This has created a demand for innovative methods for local stakeholders’ participation. Action was taken to introduce the participatory process Companion Modelling that is based on the use of simulation models and role playing games. Consequently, this case study illustrates new methods and tools that facilitate dialogue and improve decision-making skills of local stakeholders.

What differentiates IWRM from traditional water management approaches is the idea that water security can only be reached if different sectors that use water resources share information and collaborate on management issues. Another major difference is the meaningful involvement of stakeholders in the decision-making and implementation process. Both of these are impossible to achieve without communication. But the more diverse the actors are, the more likely they are to misunderstand each other or to pursue different kinds of interests, and the more communication specifically for conflictive situations might be needed. Communication is fundamental to any kind of success in IWRM.

In the River Basin District of the CEE region, the countries are cooperating to develop transboundary management, using the International River Basin Commission as a platform. The aim is to address national IWRM priorities, strengthen cooperation with major stakeholders and initiate changes in policies and legislation. This case illustrates the difficulties to balance national priorities in a transboundary context. 

To increase awareness about key critical issues related to climate change challenges that Bangladesh is likely to face in the future, a training on “Climate Change Adaptation” was organized by the Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) and GWP Bangladesh, on 23-25 September 2012 in Dhaka.