Action Plans
Action Plans
On Thursday afternoon, participants were divided into six groups. Initial action plans were formulated for the five countries involved in IWMI’s study. Those involved in the IFPRI studies in Vietnam and Indonesia spent time learning about each other’s activities, analyzed
the differences between the basins and discussed opportunities for further collaboration between IFPRI and IWMI.
The action plan for Indonesia made short-term recommendations that management in the Ombilin basin be discussed in the province, that persons from Jasa Tirta give briefings
on management in the Brantas basin, that key decision makers visit Brantas and that provincial policy and regulations be drafted with public consultation, and then submitted to the provincial parliament. In the medium term over the next 5 years, a provincial water-resources committee should be established, information systems developed and a basin-level committee prepared for the Ombilin basin.
The action plan for Sri Lanka stressed the need for an integrated approach to the basin, additional studies of river management and water quality, educational efforts and institutional changes.
The action plan for the Philippines recommended dealing with water shortage with more storage, efficient and equitable management and watershed conservation. Deterioration of irrigation facilities should be addressed by more subsidies, increased irrigation service fees,
adjustments to fee collection incentives, strengthening of Irrigators’ Associations and reorganization of the National Irrigation Administration. Better enforcement and more measurement were needed to improve the water quality. Integrated water-resources
management should be developed through better coordination, but since allocation problems are not urgent, basin planning was not felt to be a pressing issue.
The action plan for Nepal covered the need for better institutions at the national level, and basin-level efforts for water allocation, appropriate groundwater development and
watershed conservation.
Panel
On Friday morning, panelists briefly proposed their main recommendations on the topics covered by the workshop:
• Integrate diagnosis of institutional reforms in the short and long term with economic and hydrological analysis, and with best practices.
• Clarify and assess water-resource problems and issues thoroughly before formulating IWRM strategies and actions.
• Consider institutional sustainability, from the viewpoints of owners, operators and users of water facilities, with coordination and guidance from a national apex body.
Strengthen the capacity through human-resources development programs that address technical, economic, social and political issues.
• Cooperate among water users to develop arrangements to share scarce water resources.
• Establish an appropriate balance between centralized arrangement for integrated river-basin management and decentralized arrangements for water allocation based on water rights and economic incentives.
• Generate local and private-sector investments, involving the nonagriculture sector and applying pricing mechanisms that encourage water conservation.
• Recognize the effectiveness of a strategy that, like Jasa Tirta’s, promotes a single objective, expands tasks incrementally, invests heavily in staff, manages existing water infrastructure, establishes financial sustainability through cost recovery, maintains long-term technical assistance partnerships and pursue the highest standards.
The active discussion following the panelists’ presentations noted the importance of water rights, participation, need for additional information on institutional strategies in agricultural water use, poverty and water conservation. The action plans identified during the workshop need to be developed further in consultation with stakeholders.