Is normative integrated water resources management implementable? Charting a practical course with lessons from Southern Africa

At the seventh Waternet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium, Lewis Jonker described the “perceived failure of implementing IWRM in South Africa.” This paper starts from Jonker’s observation – which can certainly be defended – and argues that attempts to implement full Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) are doomed to failure and disappointment. The paper therefore offers a more practical ‘expedient’ solution. The paper is based on research done in Tanzania (Ruaha Basin) and South Africa (Olifants Basin) that is further informed by a growing literature critical of the IWRM paradigm as currently understood and practiced. As a guide to actual policies and their implementation in developing countries, IWRM has led to mis-guided priorities and paralysis of development programmes. An alternative approach is one in which basin managers identify priority problem areas, and focus specifically on finding solutions to these problems within an integrated framework, rather than starting with a broad set of principles and trying to implement these. The paper proposes that a shift away from IWRM as a normative concept is now overdue, and argues for realism and action by focusing attention on and prioritizing the critical needs of poor people in Africa. People cannot wait forever.