New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 1 - Fall 2014 | Page 35

New Water Policy and Practice

facto solution for many water issues” making
IWRM look as a lofty initiative, not appropriate for all times and circumstances, hard
not only to convert its noble concepts into
practice, but “sometimes results in negative
outcomes, policy failure and has shut out alternative thinking” (Giordano 2012).

It has been argued by several water
experts and specialised institutions that water problems of the world are neither homogenous, nor constant or consistent over
time and often vary very considerably from
one region to another. Solutions to water
problems depend not only on the physical availability of water, but also on many
other socio-economic and policy factors.
Some of these factors include management
processes, institutional competence and
capacities, prevailing socio-political conditions that dictate water planning, technical
processes and practices, appropriateness
and implementation statuses of the existing
legal frameworks, availability of investment
funds, social and environmental conditions
of the countries concerned, stakeholder
perceptions, modes of governance including issues like political interferences, transparency, corruption, the educational and
development conditions, and status, quality and relevance of research that are being
conducted on the national, sub-national
and local water problems (Biswas 2004).

Much criticism of the design and
implementation of IWRM policies and programmes is not about the lack of technical
solutions, but on the poor institutional organisation and/or to the insufficient legislation, the enforcement of water laws and regulations. Institutional and legal frameworks
are key elements of IWRM, however, in
many developing countries, water institutions remain too weak or too young to adequately carry out IWRM and need therefore
to be strengthened in the domains of policy, research and monitoring. International

programs have to play a significant role for
the establishment and/or strengthening of
IWRM institutions, as a fundamental element for a water secure future for all.

III - Some I