Transcript IWRM and Disaster Reduction

Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM) and
Disaster Reduction
Chris Hartnady & Rowena Hay
Umvoto Africa (Pty) Ltd
Africa Regional Consultation on Disaster Reduction
Johannesburg, 2-3 June 2004
Water Cycle Science
Understand fluxes and storage of water as it
moves through the hydrologic cycle &
associated fluxes of solutes, sediments, and
energy
 Monitor and understand change, if any, in the
quantity and quality of water
 Test hypotheses and models, formulate new
hypotheses (traditional scientific use)

Water-related (Geo)Hazards

Floods (“Hydrometeorological” hazard)
Extreme precipitation events and/or river flooding
 Coastal storm surge
 Dam failure


Ground Instability
Landslides and mass-wasting (water-induced)
 Subsidence and collapse

Carbonate dissolution
 Fluid withdrawal

Earthquakes (fluid pressure-triggered)
 Droughts and desertification
 Global climate change (effects on hydrological cycle)

Flood cause and consequence
Sudden-onset wide area event
triggered by extreme
weather - river flooding at
Ashton, Western Cape, RSA
March 2003
Integrated Water Resources
Management
 IWRM (inception at 1992 Dublin conference)
 people- and environment-focused, holistic paradigm by
which to regulate and manage water
 breaks down boundaries of sector, scale and discipline to
ensure that water is managed
 at the most appropriate level
 by the most appropriate people
 in a manner that acknowledges the rights of other uses
and users
(“Whiskey is for drinking, but water is for fighting over”)
Eight Dublin principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Conserve and protect water sources and catchments as
essential to life, health and socio-economic productivity
Agree on fair and equitable water allocations between
stakeholders within broad national framework
Manage at lowest appropriate level
Build human capacity as key to resource sustainability
Involve all stakeholders actively at all stages
Use water efficiently (often an important “source” in itself )
Value water as both economic and social good
Strike a gender balance in water management
IWRM philosophy
 “IWRM
is a philosophy of co-ordinated
management of an area’s water, land and
other resources to maximize economic and
social welfare in an equitable manner without
compromising the sustainability of the
resource and vital ecosystems”
South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) brochure
Disaster Reduction
 World
Conference on Natural Disaster
Reduction (May 1994, Yokohama Japan)
adopted “Yokohama Strategy and Plan of
Action for a Safer World”, based on ten
principles
 2nd WCDR (Kobe, Japan, January 2005)
provides opportunity for a comprehensive
review of the Yokohama Strategy
Principles of Yokohama Strategy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Risk assessment a required step for DR
Disaster prevention and preparedness (DP&P) of primary importance
DP&P integral aspects of development policy and planning all levels
Capacities to prevent, reduce and mitigate disasters a top priority
Early warnings of impending disasters, effective dissemination, key
factors
Effective community participation at all levels
Vulnerability reduced by proper design and patterns of development,
appropriate community education and training
International community to share necessary technology, freely available
in timely manner, as integral part of technical cooperation
Environmental protection as component of sustainable development
consistent with poverty alleviation, imperative
Each country bears primary responsibility for protecting people,
infrastructure, other national assets. International community should …
mobilize adequate … resources, bearing in mind needs of developing
countries, particularly least developed countries
Linking IWRM and Disaster
Reduction
 Dublin
(D) and Yokohama (Y) intersections
 Integration
of (resource) development-planning
and risk-assessment processes (D1, D7, Y1, Y3, Y7, Y9)
 Prioritization of prevention and preparedness
(D1,Y2-Y7)
 Emphasis
on cooperation and communication at
all levels (D1, D2, D5, D8, Y6, Y8)
 Importance of building human capacity (D4, D8, Y4,
Y7)
 Implicit
need for conflict resolution (D2, D5, Y6, Y7)
Possible Flagship Project(s)

Link to IGOS-P Geohazards Theme
Precipitation / geosphere moisture content related to
climate change, provides triggering mechanism for
landslides and other ground deformations
 Deep groundwater infiltration triggers strong earthquakes
in Southern African neotectonic zones (e.g., Kariba)
 Integration of Southern African weather, climate,
hydro(geo)logical, space-geodetic & seismological
observing systems, along with satellite remote-sensing and
geo-informatics technologies, is required
 Cross-cutting collaborations possible with IGOS-P Water
Cycle Theme (floods) and Ocean Theme (tsunamis and
coastal flooding)

Existing platform?

SA Dept of Land Affairs
TrigNet Array
 Continuous
GPS
 often co-located
with weather
stations
 can monitor
 crustal
motions to
mm/yr precision
 water vapour in
troposphere
GEO initiative
 Ad-hoc
Group on Earth Observation
 Co-chaired
by South Africa (DST), with
“developing nation” interests, following WSSD
 Aims to establish a Global Earth Observation
System of Systems
 UN/ISDR is observer member of GEO
 “Water” and “Disasters” are among 9 focus topics
in current activities of GEOSS Implementation
Plan Task Team (IPTT)
 Flood forecasting and an integrated (satellitebased, ground-calibrated) global monitoring
system for droughts – among priority requirements
Flood forecasting
“… the costliest and deadliest hazards worldwide …”
 Warning and protection systems incorporate
geostationary satellite precipitation fields in
conjunction with hydrological models, statistically
calibrated to particular locations
 Maximizing effectiveness of precipitation
observations in flood prediction

near real-time instantaneous microwave and auxiliary
(microwave-calibrated geosynchronous–infrared, etc.) rain
products at the sensor resolution
 uncertainty characterization of instantaneous microwave
precipitation products

IWRM and Groundwater
Groundwater resources provide alternative
decentralised approaches to water supply, which
 generally
existed before big (surface-water)
schemes and projects involving large-scale
damming of river systems
 were often replaced and rendered dysfunctional
by major surface-water supply projects
 are now finding their way back into the
mainstream of water supply options
 often are the last resort or relief under drought
conditions
Groundwater & Climate Change





Underground reservoirs (aquifers) are evaporation free and
therefore will have increasing marginal advantage under
conditions of global warming
Most are recharged annually (artificially in rare cases)
Some aquifers have potentially large, natural storage volume,
well in excess of annual recharge
Many can be managed conjunctively with surface water
reservoirs (an “excellent example of IWRM in practice” –
DWAF, South Africa)
UNESCO/WMO-IGRAC - General lack of information about
groundwater resources should stimulate national and regional
efforts in monitoring and assessing aquifer systems
GRACE for Southern Africa
 Gravity
Recovery And Climate Experiment
satellite mission – co-PI: Byron Tapley (UT Austin)
“GRACE's trump card is its ability to measure the changes
in gravity caused by the movements of water. The
satellites can detect changes in groundwater and river
basins, which are crucial for farmers and environmental
scientists. GRACE should be able to measure a 4millimetre change in water height across the 32 million
square kilometres of the Mississippi river basin”
 “Eventually,” says Tapley, “we will be able to let countries in
Africa know how their aquifers are changing”.

National Geogaphic Magazine quote
Water-related conflict

“Water is one of the most important ingredients for
development and stability. Without access to basic water
supplies, disease and ill-health, poverty, environmental
degradation and even conflict may be the result – all of which
lead, in turn, to greater water stress. Water-related conflict
does not have to take on the attributes of war in order to be
debilitating – it can fester between groups, ignite between
neighbouring farmers or industrialists, and can cause loss of
trust between people and their governments. When water
conflict erupts between sovereign states, the victims may not
perish on any clearly discernible battlefield, but the people
and the watercourse itself will suffer the consequences of the
absence of either co-operation or communication between
those sharing a basin.”
Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green Cross International
End
“Better water storage monitoring on a
global scale should also help scientists
improve our ability to predict, plan for, and
respond to extreme events, such as floods
and drought”
Alan Ward
NASA Earth Observatory
2003 December 23
 Thank
you
Dublin challenges 1-2
1.
Inadequate frameworks to ensure
communication and cooperation in water source
and catchment conservation between different
sectors and levels. Focus remains on limited
interventions close to source
2.
Reality of conflict between competing uses and
users often glossed over. Stakeholders
a.
b.
involved mostly at information, not decision making level
lack good, appropriately presented hydro(geo)logical
information essential to informed decision making.
Dublin challenges 3-4
3.
Unavailable / unclear / confusing frameworks
for management at lowest appropriate level.
Community-based approaches now accepted as norm, but
do local governments & user association have necessary
structures and capacity?
4.
Uneven / ineffective / unmonitored capacity
building. Proper monitoring essential to effective CB
programmes
a.
Do they pay sufficient attention to lower and intermediate
levels within decentralised support agencies?
b.
Are they able to fulfil role in facilitating user decision
making?
Dublin challenges 5-6
5.
Limited / narrow-focus / uninterested stakeholder involvement in wider IWRM, because of
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
6.
high transaction costs
lack of genuine decision-making power
purely consultative form of community involvement
multiple perspectives and agendas of water users
ineffective mechanisms for conflict resolution
Low emphasis on efficient water use
Important to integrate demand management into projects
and decisions. Water generally valued most highly where
scarcest, or where tariff structures make waste expensive
Dublin challenges 7-8
7.
Poor perspective on role of water as social
good. Principle of paying for water widely accepted and
many projects introduce user charges, but rights of
vulnerable, poverty-stricken groups still need protection in
planning for cost recovery
8.
Striking absence of women within staff of
support agencies. Do we understand how gender
encompasses other important aspects of community
dynamics such as age, wealth, class, cast, etc.?
Principles of Yokohama Strategy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Risk assessment a required step for adoption of
adequate and successful disaster reduction
policies and measures
Disaster prevention and preparedness (DP&P) of
primary importance in reducing need for disaster
relief
DP&P integral aspects of development policy and
planning at national, regional, bilateral, multilateral
and international levels
Development and strengthening of capacities to
prevent, reduce and mitigate disasters a top priority
Yokohama Strategy Principles (2)
5.
6.
7.
Early warnings of impending disasters and
effective dissemination using telecommunications,
including broadcast services, key factors to
successful DP&P
Preventive measures most effective when involving
participation at all levels, from local community
through national government to regional and
international level
Vulnerability reduced by application of proper
design and patterns of development focused on
target groups, by appropriate education and
training of the whole community
Yokohama Strategy Principles (3)
8.
9.
10.
International community to share necessary
technology to prevent, reduce and mitigate
disaster; made freely available in timely manner as
integral part of technical cooperation
Environmental protection as component of
sustainable development consistent with poverty
alleviation, imperative in prevention and mitigation
of disasters
Each country bears primary responsibility for
protecting people, infrastructure, other national
assets from impact of natural disasters
International Community Role
10.
(cont.) International community should
demonstrate strong political determination to
mobilize adequate and make efficient use of
existing resources, in the field of natural disaster
reduction, bearing in mind needs of developing
countries, particularly least developed countries