A training workshop in integrated management of natural resources with a focus on water and coastal resources was organized by SWIM-SM jointly with H2020 CB/MEP.
24 participants from Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia attended the workshop. They represented ministries dealing with water, environment, agriculture, interior issues, land use planning, integrated coastal zone management, etc. Research centers, basin agencies, and the Algerian National Federation for the Protection of the Environment (an NGO) were also amongst the trainees.
The training focused on the concepts, planning principles and tools of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and how these two concepts are interlinked.
As integration in both ICZM and IWRM is taking place across similar systems (same geographical areas, governance issues, sectors, stakeholders, etc.) emphasis was given on how to enhance the operational linkages between these two management modalities and how to overcome more effectively the ‘silo’ effect, by promoting a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral, multi-level and inter-generational approach.
Academic and practical knowledge were conveyed to participants and successful integrated planning cases from Lake Bizerte in Tunisia, the Buna/Bojana river in Montenegro and Albania and Rhodes Island in Greece, served to demonstrate that integrated management of resources involving the key stakeholders from the design phase to the decision making process is feasible and ensures the maximum success possible. The Algerian experience in ICZM and IWRM was also presented.
Participants were also engaged in an exercise session consisting of work on three main topics related to integrated management, namely: 1.Building the vision; 2.Governance; and 3.Tools and methodologies and in a field visit to a water distribution pump station in the commune of Mahlema and a wastewater treatment station in Beni Messous in order to expose participants to the actual tools that can be used in IWRM and ICZM.
The managers and staff of both stations presented their facilities in the context of water allocation for different uses, sourcing and protection of the coast from pollution and reduction of fresh water consumption with the treatment and reuse of wastewater in agriculture and landscape irrigation, firefighting in forests, street washing and leisure.
A study carried out in the framework of SWIM-SM is intended to provide guidance to stakeholders at the national level on how to review their water plans and integrate no-regret actions in order to facilitate their adaptation to potential climate change conditions.
The study identifies the level of integration of adaptation actions in their plans and proposes some major steps to mainstream adaptation measures into these plans, with focus on no-regret actions.
A survey, realized in the framework of the study, reveals that the water-related legislations in the region are often inadequate, technically inappropriate and/or economically unaffordable, and they are not effectively enforced. Stakeholders’ involvement and participatory management approaches have been facing many constraints and challenges in the region due to lack of coordination amongst major water-related institutions.
Four major steps to mainstream climate change adaptation measures into IWRM plans, with focus on no-regret actions, are described in the study as follows:
1-A situational analysis of the policy and legislative framework,
2-Creating an enabling environment,
3-Planning and policy structures and finally
4-Developing institutional structures conducive to mainstreaming climate change adaptation into IWRM.
Finally it was also suggested that a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) study supports mainstreaming/introducing climate change considerations into sectorial policies.
Two studies to evaluate the cost of degradation of water resources at the level of the Oum Er-Rbia (Morocco) and Mejerda River Basins (Tunisian side of the Basin) have been recently concluded and their findings have been discussed during two National consultations organized on 4 and 7 December 2012, respectively in Rabat and Tunis, with the participation of relevant stakeholders from the concerned National and local authorities, academia and research centers, donor agencies, NGOs, etc.
The Cost Of Environmental Degradation (COED) is a measure of the lost welfare of a nation due to environmental degradation and includes, among others, the loss of healthy life and well-being of the population (e.g., burden of disease), economic losses (e.g., forgone revenues) loss of environmental opportunities (e.g., loss of tourism, fisheries, biodiversity), etc.
The main objective of the studies is to help decision makers at the national and local levels to identify and prioritize concrete actions to improve the management of these basins through the potential funding of projects that will reap environmental benefits and reduce externalities.
This, by providing them with the necessary tools to interact, on the basis of cost figures, with the relevant authorities, particularly with the Ministries of Finance, on the policies needed to reduce these costs.
Based on the findings of the studies several intervention areas are proposed for the integrated and sustainable management of water resources in these River Basins, including policy shifts, more efficient investments, additional emphasis on monitoring and assessment of the basins environment and natural resources.
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Understanding the status of IWRM planning, particularly in the wake of the political changes in the region, is the purpose of the analysis undertaken by SWIM-SM. A desk study covers all the PCs and is followed by an in depth review, including the conduct of missions, in three countries, namely Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
Issues such as the enabling environment, management instruments, financing, impact and priority challenges are evaluated at the regional level. For this part, the Review benefitted by the input and cooperation with UNEP-DHI Centre for Water and Environment regarding the global IWRM assessment that was prepared in view of the Rio+20 Conference. At the country level, the evaluation focuses on a) progress and achievements, b) gaps, shortcomings and constraints, and c) challenges. The review shows that while progress in IWRM planning is highly evident, there is still a big potential for improvement in specific issues such as the enabling framework, financing, ecosystem services, water allocation to nature, cross-sectoral planning, water governance, etc. The report does not stop at identifying barriers, but it also puts forward policy options and highlights current and upcoming opportunities to support sustainability and IWRM.
A regional workshop was organized on 13-14 June 2012 to discuss the findings of the Review and agree on actions to be addressed at the policy level by SWIM-SM. Moreover, linked to this activity and utilizing the Review’s findings, a training of Government Officials on the Preparation of Water Plans was also organised on 10-11 September 2012.
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