Third World Centre for Water Management

MEETINGS 2007

International Hydropower Association (IHA) World Congress on Advancing Sustainable Hydropower, Antalya, Turkey, 29-31 May, 2007 - Dr. Cecilia Tortajada is a member of the IHA Executive Board. Following is a Summary of the World Congress on Advancing Sustainable Hydropower. Summary

International Expert Meeting: 30 years of Mar del Plata: achievements and expectations, Zaragoza, Spain, 12-14 March, 2007 - The United Nations Water Conference was organized in Mar del Plata in March 1977. Its main objective was to promote a level of preparedness, nationally and internationally, of the problems of the world in relation to water.
One of the main achievements of this Conference was that the period 1981-1990 was proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Decade for Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation. The objective of this Decade was not only to try that all the people of the world could have access to clean water and sanitation, but to transmit the message to the world that millions of people did not have access to these basic services, and that the political will and investments were essential to improve this unacceptable situation.
This year is the 30th Anniversary of the Conference of Mar del Plata. The Government of Aragon, through the Ministry of Environment, the Aragon Water Institute and the International Centre for Water, in collaboration with the Third World Centre for Water Management and with the support of the International Water Resources Association, organized an International Experts Meeting 12-14 March in Zaragoza.
The objective of this meeting was to look back to the past 30 years and objectively and critically assess what were the expectations at Mar del Plata, what we have achieved and what we have not achieved. We shall review the reasons for the successes and the failures, and attempt to identify ways through which the various constraints could be overcome. We shall then look forward to the next 30 years and collectively analyse what needs to be done and how we can achieve it.
Participation to this workshop was by invitation only and included ministers, key individuals from the Mar del Plata Conference, and leading international water, environment and development experts from different parts of the world.

International Workshop on Reservoir Inundation Related Issues, Cairo, Egypt, 12-13 February, 2007. Information, Programme, List of Participants, Conference Report

International Workshop on Hydropolitics and Impacts of the Aswan High Dam, Cairo, Egypt, 14 February, 2007. Information, Conference Report

MEETINGS 2006

Workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management in the Americas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 9-11 January 2006 - Integrated water resources management (IWRM) has become an all-embracing slogan at present. Donor agencies and international institutions are pushing the IWRM concept consistently and very hard, even though no one is exactly sure what is meant by IWRM, and how the concept of IWRM can be implemented in the real world to improve water management processes and practices. In many instances, funding is simply not available at present from international organizations for water-related activists unless a project is very specifically couched in IWRM terms.
The concept is not new: it has been around for some six decades in one form or another. Even then, no serious and objective analysis has ever been done in terms of to what extent IWRM practices have improved water management practices, where, and under what conditions. In addition, would water resources management at present be any different if the word “integrated” was not used? These and many other important questions are not being asked at present, let alone answered.
Because of this somewhat unsatisfactory situation, a workshop was organized in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to objectively, critically, comprehensively analyse the status of implementation of the IWRM in Latin America in particular and the developing world in general, and assessments of the results of such implementation and their impacts. Case studies of the current status of application of IWRM policies, programmes and projects, and their overall impacts, were commissioned from various Latin American countries in order to see to what extent IWRM has been actually implemented and with what results. Selected IWRM case studies from other parts of the developing world were also commissioned to determine to what extent these experiences can be used in the Latin American context.
Some 25 leading experts from Latin America and other parts of the world were very carefully selected for their knowledge and objectivity to reliably assess the status of implementation of the concept. They were then invited in their personal capacities in order that their experiences could be discussed frankly without any institutional constraints.
Following the discussions of the case studies, the participants collectively attempted to answer the following five questions:

What is meant by IWRM in operational terms in the Latin American context?

Identify successful cases of implementation of IWRM in Latin America, including reasons for the successes.

Identify bottlenecks and failures for implementing IWRM in Latin America, and the reasons for such bottlenecks/failures. Can these constraints be realistically overcome in the foreseeable future? If so, how? If not, why not?

Identify potential alternatives to IWRM within the Latin American context.

Assess the overall situation in Latin America and define key issues for a road map for efficient water management in the region for the future.

The authors of the case studies are at present modifying their contributions in the light of the Rio comments and discussions. These papers will then be edited and published as a book, along with the findings and conclusions of the workshop. Conference Report

Workshop on Water as a Human Right for the Middle East and North African countries, Cairo, Egypt, 11–12 February, 2006 - Access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation is essential for human survival and for maintenance of a decent quality of life. Currently, more than a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and more than 2 billion people lack proper sanitation. In 1992, the United Nations proclaimed that water should be considered to be a human right. This position, however, has not been accepted by many developed and developing countries. The workshop analyzed the legal development of the concept of water as a human right; implications for the national governments, and international and national organisations for the implementation of this concept; progress made in different Middle East and North African countries to provide every individual access to clean water and sanitation, constraints faced to assure universal access to water-related services and how these constraints can be overcome, and an overall research agenda in areas where more knowledge is necessary. Leading experts from the MENA region, as well as a few well-known international experts from outside the region, participated in this workshop. The meeting was organized under the joint sponsorship of the Middle East and North African Regional Office, International Development Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt, and the Third World Centre for Water Management, Atizapán, Mexico.

First Partners´ Forum on Water Governance for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, Sanaa, Yemen, 16-20 July, 2006 - The Forum was held at Sanaa, Yemen, 16-20 July, 2006. The objectives of the Forum include the analysis of the meaning of water governance and of the current governance situations in various MENA countries. Special papers were commissioned on governance-related issues from international experts, as well as from specialists from the MENA region. Water professionals from the region representing governments, academia, private sector and NGOs were carefully selected and were invited to participate in this event. Following the Forum, the commissioned papers will be peer reviewed. The selected papers will result in a definitive publication which will also include a summary of the discussions, conclusions and recommendations of the Forum.

International Workshop on Economic Instruments for Water Management, Stockholm, Sweden, 22-23 August, 2006 - This Workshop was sponsored by the Centre with the International Water Resources Association. Abstracts for oral and poster presentations were invited. Water services have largely been determined through decisions in national, municipal and other political and administrative bodies. The amounts of water and levels of service provided have been based on a supply-oriented perspective. Restrictions in provision and withdrawals have been attempted primarily through permits and quotas.
To influence water use and improve performance in the water sector, many countries have introduced various incentives and sanctions. Economic and other related instruments are more effective at making water management efficient than are flat rates, heavy subsidies or toothless punitive measures for unauthorised water use.
A combination of economic instruments, e.g. bulk and other water charges, tradable permits, polluters-payprinciple, etc. and command and control systems may often provide an efficient approach to water management.
This workshop explored the range of incentives and sanctions that have been applied to improve performance in the water sector, both to reduce undue resource pressure and to stimulate a more worthwhile use within and across sectors and geographical areas. It also analysed the roles and the effectiveness of economic instruments in managing water quality.

International Workshop on Safe Water Storage and Regulation During Floods and Droughts, Stockholm, Sweden, 22-23 August, 2006 - This Workshop was sponsored by the Centre with the International Water Resources Association. The frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts are affected by climate change and extreme meteorological events, with human activities as amplifying or moderating factors. Coastal areas with a high concentration of population and economic activity are particularly vulnerable. Floods are sudden and dramatic events grab the headlines. The inertia to implement mitigation measures is probably due to the need for a combination of technical and social measures. In technical terms, the principle is to disperse flow components to reduce superimposition on peak flows. At the same time, flow retention is important to allow for groundwater infiltration and surface storage to overcome problems of erratic rainfalls and droughts. Social measures include a scrutiny of the norms for settlement patterns and how to cope with impacts.
This workshop focused on strategies for mitigation measures to reduce the consequences of floods and droughts. What kind of technical and social measures are required to mitigate the consequences of these vagaries of nature? How should these two measures be balanced to reduce risk while ensuring water availability for society? How should physical infrastructure, e.g. reservoirs and water supply systems be managed with regard to safety considerations, especially under climatic change conditions and extreme meteorological events?

International Workshop on Water Management in 2020 and Beyond, Zaragoza, Spain, 8-10 November, 2006. - This meeting was organized by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Aragon, through its International Water Centre, CIAMA-Alfranca, with the support of the Aragon Water Institute, and in collaboration with the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation in Japan.
Prof. Asit K. Biswas, President Marcelino Iglesias, Minister Alfredo Boné and Mr. Keiji Iwatake World’s leading experts in the fields of water, population, development, economics, agriculture, energy and health, among other fields, participated in this meeting. This included consideration of how developments in seemingly unrelated sectors like globalisation, free trade, energy, information and communication revolutions, and HIV, as well as emerging developments in traditionally considered areas like population, urbanisation, agriculture, water supply and water quality management, are likely to affect water management in the future.
The objectives of this 1st Experts Meeting not only looked at the future of global water development scenario beyond the post 2020-period seriously and comprehensively, but also a research and action agenda was formulated for the organizing institutions.

Report