IWRM in Myanmar

Prof. Dr. Khin Ni Ni TheinVisiting Professor, Civil Engineering Department, YTU

~~~Secretary of Advisory Group,

National Water Resources Committee~~~

Steering Committee Member, Global Water Partnership

Local, Regional, National, Fluvial, Global

Ancient

1200 AD

1900

1900s

Future

Communities

Basic management of water quantity

Sectoral management of water quantity &quality; institutional fragmentation; spatial fragmentation, local co-ordination

Integrated multi-functional use River Basin as Unit; Institutionalized Cooperation

Multi-level Comprehensive Governance

Reforms in Myanmar – including Water Reform2011 ---- 2015

Basis of IWRM – from GWP Tool Boxand what we are doing in Myanmar• The basis of IWRM is that different uses of water are

interdependent

• Integrated management means that all the different uses of water resources are considered together

• If we were to summarize the numerous efforts of the National Water Resources Committee and its Advisory Group in only one word, it can be said as “Integration”, i.e. integration of many isolated water resources managements in Myanmar to become IWRM – means to achieve Sustainable Development in Myanmar.

WATER CYCLE

Driving forces on water resources

• Population growth: demands for more water and producing more waste water and pollution

• Urbanization: migration from rural to urban areas which increases the current level of difficulty in water delivery and waste water treatment

• Economic growth: mainly in developing countries with large populations contributes to increased demand for economic activities

• Globalization of trade: production is relocated to “labor-cheap” areas that takes place without consideration for water resources

• In Myanmar, especially in YTU, our postgraduate level water engineering courses include IWRM and Water Footprint. . .& Climate Change

• Climate variability: more intense floods and droughts increase vulnerability of people

• Climate change: increase uncertainty about water cycle regimes

IWRM concept is• an empirical concept which is built up from the on-the-ground experience of

practitioners, • a flexible approach to water management that can adapt to diverse national

and local contexts, • thus

• it is not a scientific theory that needs to be proved or disproved by scholars.

• and (but)• it requires policy-makers to make judgments about which set of suggestions,

reform measures, management tools and institutional arrangements are most appropriate in a particular cultural, social, political, economic and environmental context.

In Myanmar – IWRM has been introduced theoretically since 2003. But gaining Political Will only in 2011.

President H.E. U Thein Sein’s quotation for National Water Policy Book, 3rd Edition, Aug 2015

“The smooth transition to democracy is the government’s first priority among its reforms. The second priority is far-reaching reforms in politics, administration, economy and further encouragement to the private sector. The success of these reforms relies on good water governance and implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management. The National Water Policy is the first step in making water reform happens in Myanmar. It will eventually lead to sustainable economic development without taxing the environmental sustainability while ensuring people's participation as genuine social inclusiveness.”

IWRM definition

IWRM is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital

ecosystems.

GWP, TEC Background Paper No. 4: Integrated Water Resources

Management

Water is a natural Legacy, we received from our ancestors. We must also leave behind us natural Legacy to our future generations, clean and potable water guarded by National Water Policies and Lawful practices.

U Ohn Myint, Chairperson of Advisory Group (AG)Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation (MOAI)

IWRM:What does it really mean?• More coordinated development and management of:

– Land and water– Surface water and ground water

– Upstream and downstream interests

Discussion questions in Myanmar under current floods

Who should propose measures to protect against floods?

Who should bear a cost to implement measures to mitigate floods?

Key water resources management functions

• Water allocation• Pollution control• Monitoring• Financial management• Flood and drought management• Information management• Basin planning• Stakeholder participation

IWRM

Three pillars of IWRM

• Implementing IWRM process is a question of getting the “three pillars” right:

1. Moving towards enabling environment of appropriate policies, strategies and legislation

2. Putting in place the institutional framework (through which policies can be implemented)

3. Setting up the management instruments required by these institutions to do their job

Areas of Change

A. Enabling environmentA1. PoliciesA2. LegislationA3. Financing & incentive structures

B. Institutional rolesB1. Creating an organization frameworksB2. Institutional capacity building

C. Management instrumentsC1. Water resources assessmentC2. Plans for IWRMC3. Demand managementC4. Social change instrumentC5. Conflict resolutionC6. Regulatory instrumentsC7. Economic instrumentsC8. Information management

CHANGE AREAS

Environmental Sustainability

Economic Efficiency

Social Equity

CHANGES ARE MADE TO SEEK

TO REACH SUSTAINABILITY

Managing competing uses

Water for people

Water for food

Water for nature

Water for otheruses

Cross-sectoral integration

• Enabling environment

• Institutions• Management instruments

Myanmar: Thematic Working Groups 1 to 6, which include Climate Change Mititation and Adaptation

Integrating across levels and sectors

National

Basin

Local

Fisheries

Environment

Tourism Industry

Finance

Agriculture

Energy

Water

IWRM PRINCIPLES• Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain

life, development and the environment.• Water development and management should be based on a

participatory approach, involving users, planners and policymakers at all levels.

• Women play a central part in the provision, management and safe-guarding of water.

• Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good as well as social good.

Dublin, 1992

IWRM Principles• Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain

life, development and the environment.

Respecting the basin

IWRM Principles

• Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policymakers at all levels.

Difficult to ensure “active involvement”

50 decision

200 work

2 000 participation

200 000 information

2 500 000population

How to m

ake it?

Pitfalls in putting IWRM into practice

Trying to establish management relations between too many variables risks getting mired in complexity at the expense of effectiveness.

When putting IWRM into practice it’s important to think strategically about where and to what degree coordination and new management instruments are necessary.

IWRM Principles

• Women play a central part in the provision, management and safe-guarding of water

ေေ ေေေေေေေေေ ေေေေေ

Water Mothers Organization

Putting Principle into Practice: Women play a central part in the provision, management and safe-guarding of water

IWRM Principles

• Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good as well as social good

– Water is becoming scarcer and its value rising– Recognition that costs should be borne by those who benefit

Source: The Economist

Putting Principle into Practice: Multi-stakeholders platformsCreating the Culture of River Basin Organisations in Myanmar

River Basin Organizations are needed to be establishedIn order to enable the active participation of all peoples of Myanmar in the implementation process of Integrated WaterResources Management (IWRM).

U Htun Lwin Oo, Secretary of the National Water Resources Commiittee (NWRC)

…in order to understand better “integrated” approach…

• Traditional approach

– One sector

– Limited institutions involved

– Decision making at one sector

– Specific issues addressed

– Specific interests solved

– Sectoral allocation of funds

• Integrated approach

– Multi sectors

– Various institutions involved

– “collective” decision making

– Complex issues addressed

– Overriding interests solved

– National allocation of funds

In order to understand better “integrated” approach

Traditional approach:

• Hydrological/hydraulic

– What is expected yield of the

catchment?

• Engineering

– How much water leaks from

the system?

– How can leakage be reduced?

• Management

– What is the economic level of

leakage?

Integrated approach:

• How will new investment be agreed

upon?

• How can local management

structures balance competing

uses?

• How will stakeholders negotiate

water rights in different conditions

of water availability (scarcity)?

• How will consumers respond to

periodic water shortages or to

increasing environmental

concerns?

Lessons learnt

IWRM is not a fixed prescription but an iterative process.

This means that the specific form IWRM takes will vary from country to country and from region to region.

It also means that IWRM is an inherently adaptive approach – one that can accommodate emerging challenges, constraints and changing social priorities.

What tools from the IWRM are appropriate in our context of Democratising Myanmar and its Water Sector: context-specific.

Tools such as water pricing and river basin organisations have come to be seen as pillars of IWRM, they are needed and appropriate in every situation and many of the successful examples of IWRM in practice do not include either.

The nature of IWRM: Lessons from IWRM in practice

How water is developed and managed must reflect country priorities (including environmental standards) and governance approaches.

Water management will not be successful if it is set up as a stand-alone system of governance and administration, separate to the rest of government.

The nature of IWRM: Lessons from IWRM in practice

IWRM includes both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ components: the infrastructure needed to harness water for productive use and protect from droughts and floods and the institutions and management interventions needed to ensure its efficient use, safeguard the resource and the ecosystems that depend on it, and mediate between competing users and uses.

IWRM is linked to key development issues in Myanmar (also elsewhere)

Key development issue How IWRM helps Example

Securing food production Assists the efficient production of food crops in irrigated agriculture

FAO round table (2003, Rome) agreed that all African countries should improve efficiency in irrigated agriculture for food production by adopting IWRM approach

Reducing health risks Better management of water quality

UNECE Protocol on Water and Health (2007) requires to set health targets. Progress towards IWRM has been chosen as an indicator for improved water management

Freshwater and coastal water IWRM recognizes freshwater and coastal zone as a continuum

Integrated Coastal Area and River Basin Management (ICARM) is endorsed by GWP as a basic concept for the GEF projects portfolio

Critical elements for successful IWRM approach• Political will (at highest possible level)

• Knowledge (not science alone, but through multi-sector sources of information and expertise)

• Institutional arrangements (start with existing institutions, but (re)-define mandates clearly)

• Community involvement (it takes time to put it in place and it is a long-term, investment)

• Economic prosperity (difficult to manage without financial support; it is not only direct project funding; it is about mobilization of whole range of economic and financial incentives)

Lessons from IWRM in practice

IWRM is a means not an end. None of the successful case studies analysed set out to achieve IWRM. Rather they set out to solve particular water-related problems or achieve development goals by looking at water holistically within larger physical and development contexts.

IWRM

Equity Sustainability

Efficiency

Myanmar Water Framework Directive (NWRC)National Water Policy (NWRC)IWRM Strategic Study (NL Gov. support)(NWRC)Water Law drafting process (WB support)(NWRC)