1. Home > 
  2. Topics > 
  3. Preliminary Report on Seminar "Key for Success in Implementing IWRM at River Basin Level"

Preliminary Report on Seminar "Key for Success in Implementing IWRM at River Basin Level"

Seminar "Key for Success in implementing IWRM at River Basin Level" was held on 11th November 2008 at Saitama Culture Center, Saitama, Japan. It was jointly organized by UNESCO, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT, Japan) and Japan Water Agency and was attended by approximately 160 people including resource persons.

The seminar was held as a pre-event of 2nd Steering Committee of "Integrated Water Resources Management Guidelines at river basin level." The Guidelines here refer to the ones which the United Nations has worked on and proceeded with the formulation through UNESCO as a secretariat.

The seminar kicked off with an opening remark by Mr. Shuhei Kazusa, Director-General, Water Resources Department, Land and Water Bureau, MLIT, and he started stating with an introduction of the process the Steering Committee have had to formulate the Guidelines.
Mr. William Cosgrove, Former Vice-president of the World Bank, made a keynote speech. In his speech, he pointed out that we should look for examples including an adaptive process where we can see why and how they did work and what were the keys and successful factors. He also mentioned that IWRM would not remain static but would take evolutionary steps, and it would take time but never be brought to an end.

Part 1 of the seminar focused on "From the viewpoint of overall basin and each sector." It means that it is essential for practical IWRM to overview whole basin and to be acquainted with the mind of each sector. In this sense, Tone Canal Project was taken as a case study and panel discussion was held with experts from waterworks sector, irrigation sector, and coordinating side engaged in the project at that time. Also speech on river administration was delivered by MLIT as a good example of viewing and administrating whole river basin.
The theme of Part 2 was "Overview & Challenge of IWRM." Mr. Shahbaz Khan made a presentation titled "Importance of River Basin Approach for True Stakeholder Participation in Water Management." Three case studies were presented by guest speakers from abroad. Challenges of Brantas River Basin (Indonesia), Murray-Darling River Basin (Australia) and La Plata River Basin were presented by Mr. Mochammad Amron, Mr. Tony Jakeman and Mr. Victor Pochat respectively.

At the final stage of Part 2 of the seminar, Mr. Shinsuke Ota, Executive Vice Presiden of JWA, gave us some explanations for an overall structural design of the Guidelines, and the user-friendly tools such as extraction of key-for success and pentagram.Besides, there was an encouraging and optimistic comment on the Guidelines from Mr. Wouter T Linklaen Arriens, Lead Water Resources Specialist, ADB.

Eventually, the seminar was summed up by Mr. Toshiki Aoyama, President of JWA, which continued actively over the scheduled time, and ended successfully.

Programme

Opening Remarks

Shuhei Kazusa,Shuhei Kazusa,
Director-General, Water Resources Department,
Land and Water Bureau, MLIT

Key Note Speech

"Key for Success in Implementing IWRM at River Basin Level"
William CosgroveWilliam Cosgrove,
Former Vice-President of the World Bank,
World Water Development Report (WWDR) Content Coordinator,
World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)

Part I: Case Study in Japan

"From the viewpoint of overall basin and each sector"

[Panel Discussion]

Breakthrough in solving "water stress" of Tokyo and its suburbs - Tone Canal Project -

[Panel Discussion]Facilitator

  • Kenzo Hiroki,
    Director, Water Resources Strategy Unit, Water Resources Planning Division,
    Water Resources Department, Land and Water Bureau, MLIT Panelists
  • Hiroshi Ugata, former Tokyo Prefecture Official
  • Shigemaro Nishina, former Saitama Prefecture Official
  • Tetsuya Ishii, former director of Tone Canal Control Center

[Speech on River Administration in Japan]

River Basin Management in Japan - Flood Control Measures, Water Resources Management -
Hitomi GodouHitomi Godou
Director of River Information Office, River Bureau, MLIT

[Comment]

Tsuneaki YoshidaTsuneaki Yoshida, Professor, University of Tokyo

Part II: Overview & Challenges of IWRM

[Presentation]

Shahbaz KhanShahbaz Khan,
Chief, Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management section, UNESCO-IHP
Importance of River Basin Approach for True Stakeholder Participation in Water Management

Mochammad AmronMochammad Amron,
First Advisor to Minister for Development Integration, Ministry of Public Works, Indonesia (NARBO Chairperson)
Challenge of Brantas River Basin

Tony JakemanTony Jakeman,
Director, Integrated Catchment Assessment and Management Centre, Australia
IRBM: The Murray-Darling Basin

Victor PochatVictor Pochat,
Professor, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentine
Challenge of La Plata River Basin

[Wrap-Up]

Shinsuke OtaShinsuke Ota, Executive Vice President, JWA

[Comment]

Wouter T. Lincklaen ArriensWouter T. Lincklaen Arriens Lead Water Resources Specialist, Asian Development Bank

Closing Remarks

Toshiki AoyamaToshiki Aoyama,
President, JWA

PageTop