• DEFINITION
• IWRM is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land
resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable mann
compromising the sustainability of vital eco-systems (future generation with its eco-systems).
• IWRM is a process of change which seeks to shift water development and management systems from th
unsustainable forms (conventional water development and management).
• IWRM has no fixed beginnings and will probably never end.
• The global economy and society are dynamic and the natural environment is also subject to change, IW
will, therefore, need to be responsive to change and be capable of adapting to new economic,
environmental conditions and to changing human values.
• IWRM is not an end in itself but a means of achieving three key strategic objectives.
Efficiency to make water resources go as far as possible;
Equity, in the allocation of water across different social and economic groups;
Environmental sustainability, to protect the water resources base and associated eco-systems.
,INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
• The world faces many challenges at the beginning of the new century.
• An increase of nearly 2.6 billion in the world population within the first quarter of the cent
implications on the economic development, basic health, and food production seriously threatens
stressed and fragile ecosystem of the planet (Current world population is estimated to be 8.2 billi
• Water has emerged as one of the most vital issues facing the society and is moving up the global a
• Other issues, such as public health, poverty, climate change, biodiversity, deforestation, and de
are closely linked to water, its use, and management.
• The current rate of increase in water withdrawal is twice the rate of growth in population.
• Water on the global agenda
• As stated in Agenda 21 and adopted by the United Nation’s Conference on Environment and Deve
de Janeiro, 1992, "Integrated water resources management is based on the perception of water a
part of the ecosystem, a natural resource and a social and economic good, whose quantity
determine the nature of its utilization.
• To this end, water resources have to be protected, taking into account the functioning of aquatic
and the availability of the resource, in order to satisfy and reconcile needs for water in human acti
• " The Conference further stated "The holistic management of freshwater as a finite and vulnerab
and the integration of sectoral water plans and programs within the framework of national ec
social policy, are of paramount importance for action in the 1990s and beyond."
,INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
• The threats and the urgency for action were reaffirmed in the Second World Water Forum and
Conference, March 2000 at The Hague.
• The process continued at the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn in Dece
("Dublin+10"), through the 10-year review of implementation of Agenda 21, and beyond.
• Efforts are being made to give water a prominent place on the World Summit on Deve
Johannesburg in 2002.
• The Third World Water Forum, March 2003 in Kyoto, will further facilitate vision to action.
• The goal of providing water security in the 21st Century is reflected in the unprecedented proce
participation and discussion by experts, stakeholders and government officials in many reg
world.
• This process has profited from the important contributions of the World Water Council, who la
World Water Vision process at the First World Water Forum in Marrakech, from the formation o
Commission on Water in the 21st Century and from the development of the Framework for Ac
Global Water Partnership.
, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
• Six programme areas for freshwater sector were adopted by the Intern
Conference on Water and Environment held in Dublin, Ireland in Januar
which are:
• Integrated water resources development and management:
• Water resources assessment:
• Protection of water resources, water quality and aquatic ecosystems:
• Drinking water supply and sanitation:
• Water and sustainable urban development:
• Water for sustainable food production and rural development