１．パキスタン（Daily Times ０８年１２月３０日）
Scarce Resource: India cannot stop water flow to Pakistan: PARC
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Dr Zafar Altaf on Monday said that India could not stop the flow of water to Pakistan.
No body could stop the flow of water and Pakistan would get its due share in water from Indian, he added while chairing a National Roundtable Conference, organised by the Pakistan Water Partnership at a local hotel to discuss Pakistan's water issues in the IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) framework on Monday.
During discussion trans-boundary issues and water efficiency plan for the country also came under discussion where the seriousness of situation with India regarding Pakistan's water rights was highlighted and options for appropriate actions were considered.
The discussion covered a broad range of issues ranging from water degradation, pollution, disposal, scarcity to ageing infrastructure and more that were impeding country's economic growth and sustainability of this vital resource. Added to this was the complexity of climate change and its affect on irrigated agriculture in the country, which it was feared would seriously affect the future way of life in this part of the world.
It was said that at a time when the country was approaching the limits of its water resources availability, and its water use infrastructure was rapidly ageing, the previous approach of adding more infrastructure alone (supply side) was not realistic but a more wholesome and integrated approach was needed. It was suggested that future strategy should be IWRM oriented, that would seek better integration between irrigation, hydropower, agricultural and other water use sectors through modernised institutional and governance arrangements with clear focus on demand management. The future socio economic and environmental framework was also to be participative and transparent to create ownership and make the best of limited water resources.
It was pointed out that in the planning process the past practice where federal and provincial water agencies invariably proposed projects from their un-financed portfolios as per their own priorities, irrespective of their strategic importance for collective benefit of the whole country was not the best way forward in the given situation of a resource constrained economy. staff report
‘State ready to talk on the Kalasa Banduri canal issue’
BANGALORE: Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai said that the state government is ready for an open dialogue with the Goa government on the Kalasa Banduri canal issue.Bommai was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an international seminar on ‘Reforms in the irrigation management for effective IWRM’ organised by the Central Board of Irrigation and Power here on Thursday. When asked about the Goa government’s allegation that the state had violated the Supreme Court order on Kalasa Banduri, Bommai said that the state had neither utilised the canal nor diverted water for other purposes. He said that a study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has debunked Goa’s apprehensions over the ecological impact. “Their allegations are baseless. Political conflicts in Goa are the cause of such statements,” he added.No politics over waterEarlier inaugurating the three-day conference, Bommai said that there is a need for proper integration of water management. “But unfortunately, many projects get entangled with politics and vested interests. The project design changes due to this. This is one of the reasons why we don’t get good results,” he said. Bommai said that concept of river basins has been interpreted wrongly. One needs to look at them beyond geographical barriers, he said. Saying that if international disputes like the tussle over river Sindhu between India and Pakistan and the one over the river Ganga between India and Bangladesh, could be solved, inter-state issues could be tackled too.Soil health cardBommai said that as a pilot project they have distributed soil health card to farmers of Tunga Bhadra, Cauvery and Krishna river basins. The card will will check the quantity of water in a particular kind of soil. Minister for Minor Irrigation Govind Karjol, principal secretary to Water Resources L V Nagarajan, secretary M RKamble and Kaveri Neeravari Nigam Limited MD M A Sadiq were present on the occasion.
３．南アフリカ（Southern African News 08年12月17日）Southern Africa: Groundwater Key to Managing Water Resources
Groundwater must be included in all management initiatives for regional water resources, and should be managed through a multi-stakeholder framework.
This was the conclusion of national water experts, who met in Botswana for a two-day conference on groundwater management.
They acknowledged the processes and successes already achieved by the region, but agreed that more can be done to manage water resources in a holistic manner.
Participants at the conference, jointly organised by SADC and the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), agreed that groundwater management continues to have many impediments such as poor appreciation of the trans-boundary role of groundwater and availability of information, which together have a region-wide impact on social and economic development.
It became evident during the conference that some of these challenges stem from a widespread lack of understanding of the role of groundwater in national and regional development objectives, resulting in limited attention and focus.
However, the SADC Executive Secretary, Tomaz Salomão, said the centrality of water to SADC in terms of addressing the region's overarching objectives is not in question, but groundwater remains little appreciated despite being a source of potable water for about 70 percent of the region's 250 million people.
"[Groundwater is] an important resource that although less understood due to its occurrence underground should be well managed and conserved to ensure its availability for future generations," Salomão said, in a speech read on his behalf by the Director for Infrastructure and Services (I&S) at the SADC Secretariat, Remmy Makumbe.
"The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourses recognises groundwater as an integral part of Integrated Water Resources Management [IWRM], which is one of our key programmes," he said, adding that the management of groundwater is being incorporated into river management programmes as part of SADC's Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).
"Our resolve to meet the Millennium Development Goals as a region is a must and this conference is one of the means to an end in an attempt to achieve these. Our scorecard suggests that we are on track but we need to do more," he said.
Salomão added that there is need for greater understanding of groundwater, its management, use and protection to prepare for challenges ahead in the availability of water.
The senior programme manager for water in the SADC Directorate for Infrastructure and Services, Phera Ramoeli, said groundwater remains largely undervalued and should be placed on the regional agenda in this regard.
"Economic valuation of water is still a process that will take a long time and we need to be able to demonstrate to policy makers that water is a basic resource that we can't do without."
Ramoeli also reminded the participants about the gender dimensions of water supply, as women and children continue to bear the burden of limited access to water.
The conference stressed the importance of coordination at a regional level, as a key to ensuring proper implementation of the groundwater initiative, and encouraged member states to share information on groundwater management.
Participants strongly recommended a more aggressive approach in bringing groundwater into river basin agreements and addressing the institutionalisation of groundwater at regional level.
They resolved to take advantage of 2009, which is the year for Transboundary Water Management, to strengthen groundwater management and confront the persistent lack of capacity for groundwater resources management at all levels through the building of strategic partnerships and emphasising groundwater's social and economic role.
SADC Ministers responsible for water met in November in Tanzania where they called for the scaling up of programmes to improve water access for SADC citizens as a priority.
They registered the recognition of water as a prerequisite for socio-economic development and as a key catalytic factor in the regional integration process.
The SADC region is characterised by a large number of shared watercourses (15) and a number of transboundary groundwater bodies (shared aquifers). Aquifers account for over 70 percent of the region's renewable water resources.
Although the occurrence of these resources varies both spatially and in duration, groundwater accounts for almost 60 percent of water sources to which the majority of the rural population depends, in particularly in times of drought.
Sustainable use of groundwater therefore has the potential to provide alternative strategies in the fight against poverty in a region where the demands for water continue to rise. sardc.net
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