THEME 3 MANAGING AND PROTECTING WATER RESOURCES AND THEIR SUPPLY SYSTEMS TO MEET
HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS
SESSION SUMMARY SHEET
# & Title of The Session
Session 3.3.2 Spreading the wealth: How to share the
benefits of nature?
Session Coordinators
Mark Smith and Katharine Cross, International Union for
Name/Organization/Email
Conservation of Nature ( IUCN)
Mark.smith@iucn.org
Katharine.cross@iucn.org
Brief Description of
The session had approximately 100120 participants,
Session
although the second part had less people. The session
A brief explanation of the
was introduced by the session convener, followed by
session such as the number of
the participants, the name of
keynote speakers, and a subconvener who set the
the speakers, panelists,
scene. The sessions were not traditional presentation
moderators etc. And also the
and question format, instead there were discussions
aim of the session in
statements that were discussed by the session
addressing the overall Topic
participants at roundtables where reccomendations
based on the discussions tatemnets were drafted.
Partcipanst then voted on the reccomendations and
these were taken to the wrapup session of Topic 3.3.
The key questions was "How can rural and (peri)urban
livelihoods prosper through/ benefit from sharing
responsibility to preserve ecosystems for water and
life?", and the session aimed to address this by first
examining how ecosystem services are imperative to
different sectors and the steps needed to coordinate
benefit sharing. Then the session focused on on flows in
rivers and how maintaining flows for the envvironment
benefits both people and nature, as well as contributes
to development.
Part 1 14:3016:30
Keynote speakers:
Mrs. Annemarie Moons (Regional minister of the Dutch
province of NoordBrabant) Balancing competing water
claims in the Dutch South Western Delta
Dr. Hussein El Atfy (Head of the Egyptian Irrigation
Department) Problem Facing Nile Delta and the
Challenges
SubConvener Frank Wagemans, Dutch Province of
Noord Brabant
Panelists:
Discussion statement 1 Water for poverty reduction
needs healthy rivers
Ganesh Pangare, IUCN
Discussion Statement 2 Sharing water across
boundaries to sustain downstream ecosystems
Engr (Ms) Reba Paul, Executive Secretary, Bangladesh
Water Partnership
Discussion Statement 3 Managing freshwater and
coastal areas to meet human and environmental needs
Gonzalo Cid (NOAA) and Miriam Balgos (GFOCI)
The Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands
GFOCI (Working Group on Linking the Management of
Freshwater, Oceans, and Coasts)
Discussion statement 4 Mechanisms for the re
allocation of water to the environment in river basins
Brian Richter, The Nature Conservancy
WWF, The Nature Conservancy and IUCN
Discussion statement 5 Impacts of pollution on water
resources and ecosystem good and services
Presented by Prof. Dr. Dr. KarlWerner Schramm
(Helmholtz Zentrum München) and Burak Karacik
(stanbul Technical University)
Part 2 17001900
Keynote speakers
Stanley Liphadzi, Water Research Commission
Harrison Pienaar, Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry
Water Resource Protection in South Africa
Subconvener Thomas Chiramba, UNEP
Panelists:
Discussion statement 1 Environmental flows and
human wellbeing
Anna Forslund, WWF and Birgitta Renöfält, Swedish
Water House
EFlowNet
Discussion statement 2 Environmental flows for the
sake of conservationutilization balance...
Ceren Ayas WWF Turkey
Discussion Statement 3 Civil society action to mitigate
the impact of river sand mining on flows
Dr.Champa M. Navaratne, Dept. of Agricultural
Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna,
Mapalana, Kamburupitiya, Sri Lanka
NetWwater
Discussion statement 5 Water for ecosystems:
Application of environmental flows for the restoration of
ecosystems in the lower Senegal Delta.
Amadou Matar Diouf, Coordonnateur des programmes,
UICN Sénégal
Session Outcomes
The format of the session bridged divides by allowing all
Provide a summary of the
participants the chance to actively participate and
session outcomes/conclusions contribute to the outputs of the session. The key
and how did it advance a
recommendations for the session for balancing
bridging of divides.
competing water needs across sectors were:
ˇ Water allocation must be based on adequate data
and information on water quantity, quality, timing
,and ecological and public use needs
ˇ Allocation of water must involve a participatory
watershed/basin approach where the ecological
needs of the region and people are determined from
ridges to reefs (including delta and coastal areas)
ˇ Sharing knowledge and promoting better
understanding for integrated land and water use in
transboundary river basins through dialogues
ˇ Build water governance capacity to have
institutional arrangements in place to manage water
resources across all sectors
ˇ Include valuation, assessment of values, tradeoffs,
knowledge on links between water and lifestyles,
etc.
ˇ Monitoring of the environment to identify and
reduce the source of pollution, and to provide
information to raise public awareness
And for sharing environmental flows across ecosystems,
the key recommendations were:
ˇ Include environmental flow indicators within
countries' work to alleviate poverty, eg. PRSPs.
Indicators can include fish stock, agricultural
products, human population, biodiversity, tourist
numbers, sediment/nutrient data, etc.
ˇ Financial mechanisms must be created which take
environmental requirements into account
ˇ Use IWRM to ensure sector coordination and proper
impact assessment before issuing licenses to mine
sand; and better enforcement of legislation for
illegal miners
ˇ Diversify water resources management agencies
with multidisciplinary teams
ˇ Continuous monitoring of the river ecosystem health
to apply adaptive flow regimes especially with a
changing climate
ˇ Exchange experiences and best practices across
basins, sectors and levels of government
Two resolutions came out of the sessions which were
derived from the above recommendations.
1. Resolving conflicting needs for water resources
demands political commitment as well as leadership that
champions use of participatory dialogues to negotiate
water allocations throughout a basin among sectors
(including the environment), supported by enabling
actions including: (i) building of water governance
capacity, (ii) monitoring and sharing information and
data, and (iii) assessment of values for water resources
and tradeoffs
2. Water for socioeconomic development and poverty
reduction needs healthy rivers (from mountains to deltas
including coastal areas), requiring action to encourage
application of environmental flows in development,
including: (i) employing multidisciplinary teams within
water resources management agencies; (ii) using
environmental flow indicators within countries' work to
alleviate poverty (eg PRSPs); (ii) developing financial
mechanisms which take environmental requirements
into account; and (iv) enforcement of legislation through
building water governance capacity
Remarks
Another parallel event can contribute to the outputs of
Please include a note here if
this session. A daily discussion series on environmental
anything needs to be
flows and human wellbeing took place at the World
considered in the Topic
Water Forum, and expands on one of the discussion
Synthesis or the Theme 3
statements. A summary of this discussion series has been
Wrapup
attached as reference.
Prepared by & Date
Katharine Cross
April 12, 2009