The session on ‘Sustainable Paddy Water Use and its Multi-functionality with Better Governance’ was convened by International Network for Water and Ecosystem in Paddy Fields (INWEPF) and Asian Regional Working Group of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ASRWG- ICID). The session was chaired by President Hon. Keizrul bin Abdullah. Dr. N. Hatcho (Japan), the Coordinator of the Work Team on ‘Multiple roles and Diversity of Irrigation Water’, presented the background of the theme and actual practices of supporting the manifestation of multifunctioality, including support for agro-environmental farming practices, landscape conservation, environmental education, and multiple uses of irrigation facilities. Dr. Molden (IWMI) focused on managing paddy fields for ecosystem services. Mr. Nakajo (INWEPF, Japan) then introduced the concept of multifunctionality and paddy water use, together with Dr. Hoon and Mr. Gil-Young (INWEPF, Korea). The eight panelists (Dr. Molden (IWMI),

Mr. Ghazalli (ICID), Dr. Hoon (Korea), Mr. Booniue (Thailand), Dr. Yamaoka (National Institute for Research & Environment, Japan), Dr. Trong (Mekong River Commission), Dr. Groenfeldt (Indigenous Water Initiative), and Dr. Bridgewater (Ramsar Convention on Wetland), discussed the issues related to sustainable paddy water use and presented the experiences of their countries or organizations on handling these issues.

In his remarks, Ir. Keizrul, conveyed several key messages: (i) The multiple use, roles, values, services and other aspects of agricultural water in paddy farming regions should be recognized, evaluated and incorporated into water resources development plans and management strategies; (ii) The traditional wisdom and experiences of local communities and the value of their participation in water planning and management should be fully acknowledged; and (iii) It should be recognized that governmental assistance is important and often necessary for adequate investment, modernization and management of rice water systems, in order to achieve food security, to alleviate poverty and to conserve ecosystems. For more information, please contact Dr. N. Hatcho (Japan) at <hatcho_n@yahoo.co.jp>.

The Keynote Speakers were Mr. Peter Sutherland / Shahbaz Khan (Australia), Dr. Safwat Abdel-Dayem (Egypt), and Ms. Angulo Alvarez Maria Del Rosario (Mexico). Three local actions from Austrial, Egypt and Mexico were presented.

Irrigation practices in arid and semi-arid regions are often associated with rising water table and salt accumulation in the root zone. Globally, about one third of the irrigated 270 million hectares producing 40% of the world food are affected by these problems. It is estimated that about 30 millions hectares of what used to be a part of the world’s most fertile lands are severely affected and turned unproductive. Agricultural drainage proved to be extremely useful in controlling water logging and salinity and enhancing crop productivity. Three local actions in agricultural drainage development in Australia, Egypt and Mexico offer experience, lessons and success stories for sharing with the global community.

The session recommended that (i) governments and developing agencies should give attention to investments in land drainage, (ii) funds and financing mechanism should be made available to irrigators at affordable and socially equitable manner, and (iii) education and training programs should be implemented to build capacity and skills for planning, design, and implementing of drainage projects. For more information, please contact : Dr. Safwat Abdel-Dayem, Vice President Hon. ICID; E-mail : safwat_eid@hotmail.com; safwat@mwri.gov.eg

FT1.34 :
Water Infrastructures for sustainable and equitable development

IWRA & ICID together with other Water Related Organizations
17 March 2006 : 11:15 - 13:15 Hours
4th World Water Forum, Mexico City, Mexico

The session on ‘Water Infrastructure for Sustainable and Equitable Development’ was chaired by Mr. John Pigram (Australia). The Basic paper was presented by Dr. Chandra Madramootoo (Canada) identifying the role of water infrastructures in the sustainable and equitable development. Representatives of major scientific societies outlined the role of science and state-of-the-art in their respective fields in support of sustainable and equitable development. Among others, Mr. Peter S. Lee, President, ICID emphasized on the important role played by storages for sustainable development. The triple role of storage, blue, green and virtual was the highlight of his presentation. Mr. Aly Shady, President IWRA focused on infrastructure development in past and challenges ahead. Country representatives presented actual policies and practices from Egypt, China, Former Soviet Union, Turkmenistan, and Uganda. Prof. Victor Dukhovny (Uzbekistan) discussed sustainable irrigation and drainage management issues of transitional economies of Central Asia. A series of key recommendations were made stressing on (i) the importance of robust and stable financing system in support of developing countries, (ii) strengthening the capacity of national and local institutions, (iii) sustained political will, (iv) the need for innovative mechanisms for technology transfer, (v) modernization of management and financing, (vi) promotion of universality of access to food, clean water and sanitation and electricity for all. For more information, please contact Mr. Aly Shady, President, IWRA. E-mail : Aly-Shady@acdi-cida.gc.ca; president-2@iwra.net

This exclusive session was convened by UNESCO-IHE (The Netherlands), IPTRID (Rome), ICID (India) and Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa.

After opening remarks from Prof. Richard Meganck (UNESCO-IHE), Dr. Jan Luijendijk (UNESCO-IHE) elaborated on the theme of the session. Case studies from Chile, Nicaragua and South Africa were then presented followed by panel discussion.

All presenters in the session, maintaining a high respect for the poor local actors in the field, elaborated on several advantages of building up on their local knowledge, skills, and capabilities. The notion that people without an academic degree are incapable was repeatedly challenged. All presenters gave a detailed account of what is needed to respectfully and effectively engage with local actors which gives rise to the issue of replicability: (1) - Which part of the intervention can be replicated without having to reinvent every time. (2) Live with the people (L); Overlook weaknesses (O); Voice a message of hope (V); and Extend a helping hand (E); altogether stand for LOVE.

Regarding the water-rights, it was clarified that working at local level alone is often useless if the problems are not considered from a larger perspective. Many issues at local level need decisions at regional or national level to ever become effective.

Pertinent to the chain management, it was noted that it is useless to work on one single issue from the chain only. There will be parts of the chain that also need to be taken into account for the single-issue work ever to become successful. Water is crucial to development and this is an element dearly missed in the MDGs, which is a task and challenge for all of us. For more information, please contact Dr. Krishna Prasad (UNESCO-IHE), E-mail : k.prasad@unesco-ihe.org.

The session on ‘IWRM as a Basis for Social and Economic Development in Central Asia’ was convened by Prof. Victor Dukhovny, Vice-President ICID, Director of Scientific-Information Center (ICWC) and Dr. Vadim Sokolov, Chairman, GWP-CACENA.

Mr. M. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary General, ICID in his welcome address informed the participants on ICID-IPTRID initiative on Aral Sea Basin and stressed on the need for continued action on IWRM for Socio-Economic Development in Central Asia.

There were eleven keynote speakers who covered various issues of IWRM in Central Asia. They emphasized the strengths, weaknesses and peculiarities of the Central Asian region in relation to the IWRM implementation (unique institutional arrangements, legal regulations, management tools, etc.).

Local actions presented during the session focused on ‘Testing of the Practical Ways to Implement IWRM Concept in Central Asia within the Pilot Projects’. The real IWRM implementation could be achieved if proper transition as below would be followed: (i) from administrative boundaries to hydrographic ones (within basin or system); (ii) from sector governance to inter-sectoral; (iii) from authoritarian principle “top-down” to more democratic two-fold principle: “bottom-up” (water requirements and participation) and “top-down” (restrictions and support); (iv) from administrative-command method to corporate approach with water users and other stakeholders participation at all levels; (v) from resource management to demand management; (vi) from closed professional systems of water managers to open and transparent system with water users and stakeholders involvement.

Almost in all countries of Central Asia the concept of IWRM is officially recognized as a base of state policy in the field of development of water sector. For more information, please contact : Prof. Victor A. Dukhovny, E-mail : dukh@icwc.aral.uz; or Dr. Sokolov Vadim, GWP-CACENA Chair, E-mail : vadim@icwc-aral.uz

The session on ‘Managing Drought Risks - Role of Improved Preparedness and Management’ was convened by World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Geneva, Switzerland; National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska, USA; and Regional Center of Meteorological Applications for Development (AGRHYMET), Niger.

The keynote speakers were :

Dr. Sivakumar (WMO), Dr. Wilhite (USA), Dr. Ray Motha (WMO) and Dr. S. Nairizi (Iran) from ICID. The general opinion in the session was that droughts were by far the most damaging but least understood of all natural disasters. Because of its slow-onset characteristics and lack of structural impacts, the concept of drought management was only slowly emerging and drought risk management as an important component in disaster reduction programs was likewise in its early stage of development. This session focused on risk-based management of droughts and how better preparedness and management strategies could help cope with drought risks.

Strategies for effective preparedness and management of droughts were critical for sustainable development, especially in the developing countries. Variability of climate, if encompassing more intense and frequent extremes, may result in the occurrence of droughts that are beyond our socio-economic planning levels. This may stretch national response capabilities beyond their capacity and may require new preparedness and management strategies. The local actions presented in this session illustrated clearly the need for continued research and applications for drought preparedness and management, the necessity for operational planning and drought risk management in sectors such as urban water supply systems, the role of environmental education and gender roles in such preparedness and management strategies.

Managing drought risks requires a holistic approach and should involve all the important actors starting with the local communities and moving upwards to all ministries and agencies involved with drought management. The role of women in drought risk management at the village level needs greater attention. Informing the local communities about effective drought risk management and involving them at all stages in the mitigation of drought impacts is crucial. For more information, please contact : Dr. M.V.K. Sivakumar, Chief – Agrometeorology Division, WMO. E-mail : msivakumar@wmo.int.

The session on ‘Adequation of Water Users Right and Productive Reconversion of Irrigation Districts’ was held under the theme ‘Water Management for Food and Environment’. In this session, local actions from Mexico, Brazil and China were presented.

From México, the presentation suggested to reduce the irrigated area through the modernization of the infrastructure of the district and to change to crops of lower demand of water and higher value of production per unit of cultivated area and water extracted.

From Brazil, the plans of rational use of water for the irrigation in the valleys of the Rivers Jaguaribe and Banabuiú, were presented. The objectives of the implementation of this plan were : (i) the improvement of the management of water resources, (ii) increasing the efficiency of use of water in agriculture.

In the Gansu province in China, a project for saving irrigation water was developed consisting of the improvement of irrigation equipments, construction of pipe, drip and sprinkler irrigation systems and the development of grass-root irrigation associations.

The conclusions of the session were : (1) financing required for the modernization of the irrigation systems, (ii) the reduction of irrigated areas, (iii) the change to crops of less demand of water and higher profitability, (iv) increasing the efficiency of the water use in agriculture, (v) self-sufficiency in food production for the population, and (vi) contribute to diminish the deterioration of the environment. For more information, please contact : Dr. Benjamin de Leon (Secretary, MXCID), E-mail : cnm@mxcid.org; bleon@tlaloc.imta.mx