New Water Policy and Practice Volume 1, Number 1 - Fall 2014 | Page 36

New Water Policy and Practice

stream and downstream stakeholder issues
and for bringing consensus among competing water users. The Ecohydrology initiative aims to enhance ecosystem services
through dual regulation of flow and biota
in fresh water and estuarine environments.
The ecosystem services approach also offers
an adaptable tool to river basin managers
who are struggling to implement IWRM for
better balance between consumptive and
environmental uses of water. In this regard
UNESCO IWRM Guidelines at the River
Basin level can benefit from practical case
studies which should be invited to be published in this new journal. This will also increase IWRM database of keys for success to
implement integrated solutions through an
upward spiral approach which maximises
the triple bottom line. Experiences gained
through previous UNESCO IHP phases
have shown that freshwater availability will
become a major concern if no immediate
actions are taken to restore and enhance the
associated ecosystems.

UNESCO has been collaborating
with the Network of Asian River Basin Organizations (NARBO) to develop the IWRM
Guidelines at the River Basin Level to address practical implementation of IWRM.
IWRM is essentially a user-friendly and cooperative approach that invites each sector
to meaningfully participate and cooperate in
the implementation, with a practical roadmap so as to contribute to achieving both
private and public benefits in a sustainable
manner (UNESCO 2009; Nakajo 2010).
As part of these guidelines UNESCO’s has
been promoting a Spiral Model (Figure 1)
for integrated water resources management
which involves several repetitions of fourstage (recognizing, conceptualizing, coordinating and implementing) water resources
development in a river basin. It recognizes
that management principles and objectives
evolve over time as new demands and needs

emerge, and innovative solutions are added
at each stage. The development stage changes when recognition of the need for change
arises among stakeholders. Moving up the
spiral is a participatory management process, which requires reaching agreements
with stakeholders and building new consensus. While the ‘spiral model’ is a convenient
graphical conceptualization of the iterative,
evolutionary, and adaptive management
process, for adjusting to new needs, circumstances, and societal goals there is a need for
a clear understanding of the approach by all
stakeholders. The institutional and policy
frameworks need to be adapted over time to
the evolutionary nature of the spiral model
for progressive positive changes in water resources development and management.

IV - Synthesis of obstacles to the implementation of IWRM principles

S

ome obstacles to wider adoption of
IWRM practice identified through
international initiatives are described
below.

Lack of knowledge of water balance
and its interactions with water quality: the
impacts of biophysical changes in catchment hydrology on water quantity and
quality remain less well defined (Khan,
Rana and Hanjra 2010a). A better understanding of the fate of contaminants and
pathogens passing through the water cycle
remains only desirable knowledge in most
situations.

Missing understanding of the Ecohydrology of river basins: there is still poor ecohydrology knowledge at the landscape level.
Specialists in IWRM need to improve understanding of water-landscape level management of the environment, taking full account of the interactions among ecosystems
and their dependent habitats. Inter-linkages between agro-biodiversity and land and

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