The United Nations Development Programme/Global Environment Facility project, completed at the end of 2012, mainstreamed integrated ecosystem management principles and practices in land and water management.
The Murray-Darling Basin was subjected to widespread environmental degradation. In response to this problem, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission was established in January 1988 under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement, focusing on protecting and improving water quality. The key lesson is that the participatory approach used with its Community Advisory Committee has helped the Commission to be successful in winning and maintaining community interest, involvement and support.
Groundwater depletion is a serious issue in India. The government has approached the issue of declining groundwater levels largely through regulatory means. For the policy to be successful, it is crucial that users understand groundwater occurrence, cycle, and limited availability. Much effort has thus been placed on engaging farmers and communities. This case study demonstrates the importance to work with capacity building and social mobilization rather than physical solutions.
The Upper Guadiana Basin provides a classic example of conflict caused by the intensive use of water resources in a semiarid region. Since the 1960s, uncontrolled abstraction of groundwater to provide water for crop irrigation in the area has lowered the water table in places by up to 50m, causing the main river channels to run dry and some wetlands to become desiccated. On the other hand, the abstraction has also supported a booming agricultural economy.
The Mekong is the longest river in Southeast Asia, beginning its 4,200 km journey in the mountains of the Tibetan Plateau, passing six countries and reaching the South China Sea. Policy reforms to adopt integrated water resources management had been initiated and water related laws had been developed. However, there were still major gaps in the supporting knowledge and information. IUCN and its program Water &Nature Initiative (WANI) supported to scale up so called Tai Baan research (villagers’ research) that enabled local communities to represent their own social reality and through media and public forum, this knowledge can be mainstreamed into water management research and implementation.
In order to meet new demands, the Jordan Valley Authority was in need for reform. Action was taken to initiate a public strategic planning process led by a steering committee composed of all relevant stakeholders and various working groups. The case consequently illustrates how an integrated strategic planning process can create conditions under which all stakeholders can be involved in the proposed institutional reform.
The pivotal role of water cooperation in sustainable development was in focus at a high-level event arranged by the Government of Tajikistan in cooperation with other UN Member States and UN-Water.
A case study on GWP ToolBox presents experiences from construction of reed bed waste water treatment plant in Vidrare village, central Bulgaria.
The DRC Country Water Partnership (DRC-CWP) was established in November 2004. The Partnership was established to assist government and other actors to promote Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) principles in the water sector and related sectors. The Partnership is hosted by The National Committee of Water and Sanitation.
To stimulate new thinking to improve Sri Lanka’s natural resources management, the first Young Water Professionals Symposium for the country was organized by GWP Sri Lanka in association with IWMI and Unilever on 22-23 November in Colombo with the participation of the Hon Minister of Water Supply and Drainage Dinesh Gunawardene and Prof Mohan Munasinghe, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2007 (IPCC), and over 150 participants.