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From IWRM back to integrated water resources management

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  • Mark Giordano
  • Tushaar Shah

Abstract

Integrated water resources management provides a set of ideas to help us manage water more holistically. However, these ideas have been formalized over time in what has now become, in capitals, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), with specific prescriptive principles whose implementation is often supported by donor funding and international advocacy. IWRM has now become an end in itself, in some cases undermining functioning water management systems, in others setting back needed water reform agendas, and in yet others becoming a tool to mask other agendas. Critically, the current monopoly of IWRM in global water management discourse is shutting out alternative thinking on pragmatic solutions to existing water problems. This paper explains these issues and uses examples of transboundary water governance in general, groundwater management in India and rural-urban water transfer in China to show that there are (sometimes antithetical) alternatives to IWRM which are being successfully used to solve major water problems. The main message is that we should simply get on with pragmatic politics and solutions to the world's many individual water challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Giordano & Tushaar Shah, 2014. "From IWRM back to integrated water resources management," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 364-376, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cijwxx:v:30:y:2014:i:3:p:364-376
    DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2013.851521
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Molle, Francois, 2005. "Irrigation and water policies in the Mekong region: current discourses and practices," IWMI Research Reports H037466, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Molle, Francois, 2005. "Irrigation and water policies in the Mekong region: Current discourses and practices," IWMI Research Reports 53062, International Water Management Institute.
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    Cited by:

    1. Davison Saruchera & Jonathan Lautze, 2018. "Measuring Transboundary Water Cooperation: Learning from the Past to Inform the Sustainable Development Goals," Working Papers id:12845, eSocialSciences.
    2. Clement, Floriane & Suhardiman, Diana & Bharati, Luna, "undated". "IWRM Discourses, Institutional Holy Grail and Water Justice in Nepal," Papers published in Journals (Open Access) H048330, International Water Management Institute.
    3. V. Re & J. Rizzi & C. Tuci & C. Tringali & M. Mancin & E. Mendieta & A. Marcomini, 2023. "Challenges and opportunities of water quality monitoring and multi-stakeholder management in small islands: the case of Santa Cruz, Galápagos (Ecuador)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 3867-3891, May.
    4. Badir S. Alsaeed & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Soroosh Sharifi, 2022. "Sustainable Water Resources Management Assessment Frameworks (SWRM-AF) for Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-31, November.
    5. Sandra Ricart & Sylvie Clarimont, 2017. "Qualifying irrigation system sustainability and governance by means of stakeholder perceptions: the Neste Canal (France)," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 935-954, November.
    6. Kuzdas, Christopher & Wiek, Arnim & Warner, Benjamin & Vignola, Raffaele & Morataya, Ricardo, 2015. "Integrated and Participatory Analysis of Water Governance Regimes: The Case of the Costa Rican Dry Tropics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 254-268.
    7. Valérie Nicollier & Marcos Eduardo Cordeiro Bernardes & Asher Kiperstok, 2022. "What Governance Failures Reveal about Water Resources Management in a Municipality of Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-30, February.
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    10. Susana Torres López & Maria de los Angeles Barrionuevo & Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos, 2023. "A new operational approach for understanding water-related interactions to achieve water sustainability in growing cities," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 122-137, January.
    11. Megan Mills-Novoa, 2020. "Making agro-export entrepreneurs out of Campesinos: the role of water policy reform, agricultural development initiatives, and the specter of climate change in reshaping agricultural systems in Piura,," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 667-682, September.
    12. Admire M. Nyamwanza & Krasposy K. Kujinga, 2017. "Climate change, sustainable water management and institutional adaptation in rural sub-Saharan Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 693-706, April.
    13. Jeanne PERRIER, 2019. "Les lois palestiniennes de l’eau : entre centralisation, décentralisation et mise en invisibilité," Working Paper f2757814-3bd9-4fc1-970d-2, Agence française de développement.
    14. Roger Bär & Albrecht Ehrensperger, 2018. "Accounting for the Boundary Problem at Subnational Level: The Supply–Demand Balance of Biomass Cooking Fuels in Kitui County, Kenya," Resources, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, February.
    15. Van Herzele, Ann & Ceuterick, Melissa & Buizer, Marleen & Leone, Michael, 2019. "Ecosystem Services as (Co-)performative Practice: Experiences from Integrated Water Management in Flanders," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 29-38.
    16. Andrea Gerlak & Farhad Mukhtarov, 2015. "‘Ways of knowing’ water: integrated water resources management and water security as complementary discourses," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 257-272, September.
    17. Tong Xu, 2023. "Depicting Rubin’s Vase or Faces: Clarifying the Practical Value of Integrated Water Resource Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Woodhouse, P. & Muller, M., 2017. "Water Governance—An Historical Perspective on Current Debates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 225-241.
    19. Felix R. B. Twinomucunguzi & Philip M. Nyenje & Robinah N. Kulabako & Swaib Semiyaga & Jan Willem Foppen & Frank Kansiime, 2020. "Reducing Groundwater Contamination from On-Site Sanitation in Peri-Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: Reviewing Transition Management Attributes towards Implementation of Water Safety Plans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-21, May.
    20. Hassan Tolba Aboelnga & Lars Ribbe & Franz-Bernd Frechen & Jamal Saghir, 2019. "Urban Water Security: Definition and Assessment Framework," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-19, November.
    21. Herrfahrdt-Pähle, Elke & Scheumann, Waltina & Houdret, Annabelle & Dombrowsky, Ines, 2019. "Freshwater as a global commons: International governance and the role of Germany," IDOS Discussion Papers 15/2019, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    22. Kaize Zhang & Juqin Shen & Ran He & Bihang Fan & Han Han, 2019. "Dynamic Analysis of the Coupling Coordination Relationship between Urbanization and Water Resource Security and Its Obstacle Factor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-16, November.
    23. Daxue Kan & Xinya Ye & Lianju Lyu & Weichiao Huang, 2022. "Study on the Coupling Coordination between New-Type Urbanization and Water Ecological Environment and Its Driving Factors: Evidence from Jiangxi Province, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-16, August.
    24. Onesmo Z. Sigalla & Madaka Tumbo & Jane Joseph, 2021. "Multi-Stakeholder Platform in Water Resources Management: A Critical Analysis of Stakeholders’ Participation for Sustainable Water Resources," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.

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