IWRM policies in Africa fail to consider local needs – Report

The report, “Flows and Practices: The Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa,” was funded by the Research Council of Norway. Its findings were presented at the 15th WaterNet, Water Research Fund of Southern Africa and Global Water Partnership: Southern Africa (GWP-SA) Symposium in Malawi this week. The researchers found that IWRM, touted as […]

The report, “Flows and Practices: The Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management in Africa,” was funded by the Research Council of Norway. Its findings were presented at the 15th WaterNet, Water Research Fund of Southern Africa and Global Water Partnership: Southern Africa (GWP-SA) Symposium in Malawi this week. The researchers found that IWRM, touted as the key to solving the global water crisis, has fallen short when it comes to long-term development outcomes.
“For the past two decades, integrated water resources management has been considered the dominant paradigm in water resources,” the report said. IWRM has been promoted by international organizations, multilateral and regional development banks and donor agencies “that make it out to be panacea to address the water management crisis in the global south.”
However, the approach is critically flawed, according to the report, because it has “obscured the political nature of water resources.”