Integrated Water Resources Management Iwrm In Canada

This volume provides readers with an opportunity to learn from front line water managers of watershed-based agencies across Canada about integrated water management (or integrated water resource management). In common with practice in much of the world, the responsibility for implementing integrated watershed management in Canada is fragmented. Each province and territory in Canada has developed unique approaches or governance models to guide decision making in that regard. Thus, this edited volume enables readers from around the world to gain insight on the best practices in Canada for achieving success and addressing barriers to implement IWM. Although there remains non consensus about how to "best" approach river basin management, some of the main observations include: There is a need to balance a focus on "the big picture", with scoping the scale and scope of planning activities in order that feasible and effective solutions can be implemented Three types of integration are popular among the agencies included in the book: (i) among environment, economy and society, (ii) interactions between people and the environment and (iii) integration (or coordination) of administrative activities. Much more attention is required to achieving effective engagement from Indigenous communities The chapters were originally published in a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

While there is no single accepted definition of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), the international community, including key organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has widely accepted the Global Water Partnership's definition of IWRM as a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Practitioners agree that this requires a highly consultative process, engaging the watershed communities as well as stakeholders.

Better water management will be crucial if we are to meet many of the key challenges of this century - feeding the worlds growing population and reducing poverty, meeting water and sanitation needs, protecting vital ecosystems, all while adapting to climate change. The approach known as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely recognized as the best way forward, but is poorly understood, even within the water sector. Since a core IWRM principle is that good water management must involve the water users, the understanding and involvement of other sectors is critical for success. There is thus an urgent need for practical guidance, for both water and development professionals, based on real world examples, rather than theoretical constructs. That is what this book provides. Using case studies, the book illustrates how better water management, guided by the IWRM approach, has helped to meet a wide range of sustainable development goals. It does this by considering practical examples, looking at how IWRM has contributed, at different scales, from very local, village-level experiences to reforms at national level and beyond to cases involving trans-boundary river basins. Using these on-the-ground experiences, from both developed and developing countries in five continents, the book provides candid and practical lessons for policy-makers, donors, and water and development practitioners worldwide, looking at how IWRM principles were applied, what worked, and, equally important, what didn‘t work, and why. Published with the Global Water Partnership

This volume presents a selection of the main contributions made to the international conference on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) entitled ‘Management of Water in a Changing World: Lessons Learnt and Innovative Perspectives’ that was held from 12 to 13 October 2011 in Dresden, Germany. The book summarise the main messages issuing from the conference and contains selected papers which were presented during the conference, either as keynote lectures in plenary sessions or as submitted papers in one of the thematic sessions. The key themes of the book are: Water resources in changing environments Groundwater management Technologies and implementation Water management indicators at different scales Information and decision support systems Water governance: actors and institutions The book provides an overview on important issues concerning the conceptual framework of integrated water resources management (IWRM). All presentations and abstracts and the corresponding PowerPoint presentations as well as a video recording of the panel discussion are available at the conference website http://www.bmbf.iwrm2011.de. Readers are encouraged to complete their review of the conference and its messages by consulting this interesting on-line source of accompanying scientific material.

This book reviews the concept, contemporary research efforts and the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The IWRM concept was established as an international guiding water management paradigm in the early 1990ies and has become a vital approach to solving the problems associated with the topic of water. The book summarizes fourteen comprehensive IWRM research projects with worldwide coverage and analyses their motivations, settings, approaches and implementation of results. Aiming to be an up-to-date interdisciplinary scientific reference, this book provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of contemporary IWRM research, examples of science based implementations and a synthesis of the lessons learnt. It concludes with some major future challenges, the solving of which will further strengthen the IWRM concept.

Water data and information are essential to support efforts to understand, manage, allocate, utilize and protect water resources. The linkages between Water Information Systems and needs of decision makers are complex, but can be encapsulated in a Driving Force (Policy Needs) – Monitoring – Data Management – Reporting framework. The rapid development in water policy reforms in many sectors and growing emphasis on demand-side policy solutions to water resources management has created an information imbalance. This imbalance can be characterised in terms of an inverted pyramid with implementation of many water policy initiatives supported by little data and information, especially related to economic and financial elements, to help guide decision makers toward more effective and efficient water resources management strategies. Additionally, as stress and demands on water systems increase and water becomes a more valued resource, this tends to increase the value of water information both for water providers and users. Nevertheless, many countries are reporting that the capacity to collect water information is being undermined by a lack of resources, while expertise to collect, analyse and interpret water data for decision makers is being lost. Finally, the impact of climate change on hydrological regimes represents a key potential stress on water systems. This issue could be the catalyst for adapting policies to provide more efficient and effective use and management of water resources and advance institutional and governance reforms in the water sector. This book is based on a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.