５５：開発途上国でのIWRM実践の難しさ

IWMIはTATAの協力を得てWater Policy Briefingを随時発行しているが、中々面白いものもある。

下記はそのシリーズの２４号の要旨である。

”IWRM Challenges in Developing Countries: Lessons from India and elsewhere”

Developing countries like India are actively being encouraged to move from the traditional supply-side orientation towards proactive demand management under the broad framework of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a sound philosophy which is hard to disagree with. However, in developing countries, what usually gets passed-off in the name of IWRM at the operational level takes a rather narrow view of the philosophy and has largely tended to include a blue-print package including:

[1] A national water policy;
[2] A water law and regulatory framework;
[3] Recognition of River Basin as the appropriate unit of water and land resources planning and management;
[4] Treating water as an economic good; and
[5] Participatory water resource management.

Several of these mark a significant shift from current paradigms and making this transition is proving to be difficult. Drafting new water laws is easy; enforcing them is not. Renaming regional water departments as basin organizations is easy; but managing water resources at basin level is not. Declaring water an economic good is simple; but using price mechanisms to direct water to high-value uses is proving complex.

As a consequence, the so-called IWRM initiatives in developing country contexts have proved to be ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.

Converting a philosophy into practice is a challenge. Recent IWRM experiences in developing countries present a case in point. At the operational level, they take a rather narrow view of the concept and have largely tended to be introduced as a blueprint package. The key to successful IWRM implementation is integration—of the local resources and in the local context.

こういう論文を載せるIWMIが気に入った。著者の視点もインド人らしい。