Creating Synergy and ADB s Water Policy

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL WATER CONFERENCE Hanoi, Vietnam, October 14-16, 2002 Creating Synergy and ADB s Water Policy By: Pieter M. Smidt

2 CREATING SYNERGY AND ADB S WATER POLICY Pieter M. Smidt 1 Water for All is ADB s vision and policy for the water sector. This includes water for people, for food, for environment, for industry, and for other uses, as well as the impact of water on health, poverty, leisure, and a host of other things. The current Dialogue is focused on the potential conflict between water for food and water for environment because of the perception that water for people takes priority over all other uses. Competition for the residual water, after deducting the amount of water for people, is thus the potential source of conflict between water for food and water for environment. The task that has been assigned to me is on finding ways to create synergy between the various stakeholders in water resources development and management and to present Win-Win solutions. We at ADB, however, have up to now only a few case study results on which to present Win-Win solutions. The river basin initiatives that are being promoted as an effective mechanism for promoting integrated water resources management (IWRM) are only just getting underway. Moreover, the "conflict" between agricultural and environmental perspectives on water use is not always prominent in the case studies. My presentation would therefore focus more on policy directions within the context of ADB's water policy, and approaches to initiate integrated water resource management within three specific river basins in the region. However, let me first briefly present ADB s Water Policy. ADB s Water Policy - Water for All The water policy is premised on the Asian and Pacific Region s urgent need to formulate and implement integrated, cross-sectoral approaches to water management and development. It seeks to promote the concept of water as a socially vital economic good that needs increasingly careful management to sustain equitable economic growth and to reduce poverty. A closer look at the seven elements of ADB s water policy would indicate that there are many opportunities for creating synergy among the various stakeholders in water resources development and management. The conservation and protection of water resources in the region through a participatory approach are at the heart of the policy. (i) Promote a national focus on water sector reform. ADB supports its developing member countries as they develop and adopt effective national water policies, water laws, and sector coordination arrangements; improve institutional capacities and information 1 Vietnam Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank 1

3 management; and develop a national action agenda for the water sector. Throughout, the needs of the poor will be specifically factored into legal, institutional, and administrative frameworks. ADB will support its developing member countries in ensuring that water projects are guided by effective national water policies that link water to national development goals and protection of the environment. While no single, common policy can serve as a model for all, it is clear that national water policies should address both resource management and service delivery aspects. (ii) Foster the integrated management of water resources. Integrated management will be based on conducting comprehensive water resource assessments, and concentrating interlinked water investments in river basins. In some countries, this involves further investments in the development of water resources infrastructure, including dams, while in others, the focus of investments is on improving the management of existing infrastructure. Integrated water resources management is a process to improve the planning, conservation, development, and management of water, forest, land, and aquatic resources in a river basin context, to maximize economic benefits and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems The active participation of all stakeholders at all levels of the decision-making process is a major factor in the implementation of IWRM (iii) Improve and expand the delivery of water services. Focusing on water supply and sanitation (both rural and urban), irrigation and drainage, and other subsectors, ADB supports autonomous and accountable service providers, private sector participation, and public-private partnerships, emphasizing equity in access to water for the poor and underserved. Experience has shown that irrigation and water supply services are most efficient when delegated to autonomous and accountable service providers. Details for such a program will be developed through dialogue with stakeholders and will include community participation, corporatization, commercialization, and privatization where appropriate. (iv) Foster the conservation of water and increase system efficiencies. ADB supports improved regulation, packages that combine water use and resource management charges to recover costs, increased public awareness, and provisions to ensure that the poor are not excluded. ADB will promote wide-ranging public awareness and community education programs especially among women, youth, and farmer groups to broadcast the message of water no longer being a gift from the gods but a resource that needs prudent management. In particular, education that helps communities understand the linkages between water, sanitation, health, and productivity will be encouraged. 2

4 (v) Promote regional cooperation and increase the mutually beneficial use of shared water resources within and between countries. Our primary focus will be on the exchange of information and experiences in water sector reform. ADB provides support to enhance awareness of the benefits of shared water resources, create sound hydrologic and socio-environmental databases relevant to the management of transboundary water resources, and implement joint projects between riparian countries. By assisting with water sector assessments in riparian countries, and helping with the exchange of data, ADB will promote awareness and understanding of water resource issues and needs within each country. This will have positive effects on sub regional and regional cooperation, and on broader economic development by improving river management for flood control, irrigation and drainage, energy, inland transport, and food. (vi) Facilitate the exchange of water sector information and experience. ADB advocates socially inclusive development principles that promote stakeholder consultation and participation at all levels, increase access to basic water services by poor consumers, and enhance water investments in its developing member countries through public-privatecommunity-ngo partnerships. Given water s unique life-sustaining characteristics, participation is a key ingredient in its conservation and management. Over time, ADB has recognized that communities are at the heart of effective water management. They are the de facto resource managers and protectors of the environment. (vii) Improve governance. ADB supports decentralization, building capacity, and strengthening monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning at all levels, particularly in public sector institutions. We also promote accountability, participation, predictability, and transparency, the cornerstones of ADB s governance policy. ADB will invest more systematically in governance and capacity building programs to support water sector operations, and we expect our developing member countries to do the same. The promotion of participation involving public, private, community, and NGO stakeholders is a key element of this policy. River Basin Initiatives In the past, few projects were derived from a comprehensive water resource strategy. Even fewer took account of other water uses in the project area. The emphasis was mainly on the productive use of water resources, with little attention paid to the increasing challenges of water scarcity, pollution, and degradation of watersheds and ecosystems. It is typical for integrated water resources management to be undertaken in a river basin context because river basins or, in some cases, groundwater basins, form the natural unit to manage water resources. ADB supports the establishment of river basin organizations (both formal and informal) to facilitate stakeholder consultation and participation, and to help improve planning, information gathering, monitoring, and advisory services to local and national 3

5 authorities. Community involvement in resource monitoring and management on a river basin basis is encouraged. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present the three examples of the river basin initiatives supported by ADB. The first example is for the Red River in Vietnam, the second one for the Nam Ngum River in Lao PDR, and the third example is the initiative for the Haihe River in the People s Republic of China. The three river basins are very significant in that they include the capitals of their respective countries, Hanoi in Vietnam, Vientiane in Lao PDR, and Beijing in PRC. The initiatives provide a mechanism to promote synergy between all stakeholders in the basins to arrive at a consensus on the sustainable management of water resources. Red River in Vietnam The Red River basin in Vietnam is an example of a basin that has a long history of irrigated agriculture that is now confronted with major problems on the sustainability of its water resources. The total area of the Red River Basin is about 169,000 square kilometers of which the upper half is in the People s Republic of China. The population of the Red River delta that includes Hanoi and Haiphong is about 20 million while 8 million are in the uplands. The delta has flood control, irrigations and drainage systems that were among the first to be developed in the country, several centuries ago. As many of these systems are in need of rehabilitation and upgrading, the Government with assistance from ADB and other international organizations has embarked on major rehabilitation and upgrading programs since the early 1990s. The forest cover in Vietnam has declined by an alarming 65 percent between 1981 and 1996 to about 25 percent, which is among the lowest in Asia. In the case of the Red River basin, the forest cover is only 15 percent in the delta and about 17 percent in the upland areas. Degradation of the watershed has increased the vulnerability to flooding. The recently started Second Red River Basin Sector Project aims to (i) increase agricultural productivity in poor communities in the basin and thereby increase the income of poor farmers, including women, (ii) reduce farmers vulnerability to unreliable water services and to floods, (iii) improve planning and management of water resources in the basin by introducing water allocation and reducing water pollution, and (iv) improve conditions in the degraded watershed. This Project has one part focusing on resource management and the other part on improving water service delivery. The resource management part includes (i) capacity building for the Red River Basin Organization, (ii) public awareness and education programs for water resources management, (iii) pilot water licensing and wastewater discharge permit systems, and (iv) water quality monitoring network.. There are many opportunities for creating synergy among all stakeholders in the implementation of the resource management part of the Project. Once the Red River Basin Organization is fully operational, it will manage a comprehensive and participatory river basin planning process. The public awareness and education programs will encourage public 4

6 participation in the decision-making process related to the basin s water resource management. The regulatory system for water allocation will provide opportunities for evaluating the needs of water for people, for food, for the environment and for other uses. Wastewater regulations and the water quality monitoring will contribute in maintaining the sustainability of the basin s ecosystem. Improvement of water service delivery includes (i) subprojects to improve irrigation systems and watershed protection in the uplands, (ii) subprojects to improve delta irrigation and drainage systems, and (iii) subprojects to strengthen flood protection systems in the delta. The subprojects need to be consistent with the Red River basin framework plan In addition, support will be provided to research. Nam Ngum River in Lao PDR The Nam Ngum River Basin project is an example of fostering and institutionalizing the IWRM approach in the mainstream planning process of the Government both at the central as well as at provincial levels. The NNRB covers a large area, about 10,400 square kilometers in north central Lao PDR, including the capital Vientiane. It is the first among the large river basins in the country where the water resources are already being utilized significantly through diversions, reservoir management, hydropower generation, and irrigation. Several prospective hydropower projects have been identified in this river basin. A number of donors are assisting with projects in NNRB covering a variety of activities. Moreover, being close to the capital, the new approach of IWRM can be effectively developed in close coordination with all the relevant stakeholders. A major institutional problem in the water sector in Lao PDR is the lack of coordination between key agencies within the sector. To address this, at the national level, the Water Resources Coordination Committee (WRCC) is to act as an inter-agency coordinator for sustainable use of water resources based on IWRM approach. It is to facilitate the implementation of the Water Law and other resource legislations necessary to support its objectives, such as the Land Law and various pieces of planning legislation. At the river basin level, WRCC is to foster and support the development of river basin committees. The NNRB Committee (NNRBC) was established in mid However, the WRCC and NNRBC so far have not been able to effectively play their respective roles, as envisaged in their mandates, due mainly to weak technical capacity and allocation of inadequate resources. Two major objectives of the Project are to (i) foster and institutionalize the IWRM approach in the mainstream planning process of the Government both at the central as well as at provincial levels, and (ii) support investment interventions in relatively degraded parts of the NNRB to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for poor and ethnic minority communities. The Project will afford a first real opportunity to both central and provincial departments to implement the IWRM approach through hands-on activities that are closely interlinked. It is 5

7 also envisioned that there would consultation and participation of all stakeholders at all levels in the decision-making process. In particular, investments are planned in the upper part of the river basin where most of the poor people and ethnic minority communities are located. Their active participation in the planning process will provide them with opportunities for sustainable livelihood and assistance in environmental management. Although there are no projects planned that have direct impact on health in the way that water and sanitation projects do, the discussions among all stakeholders may indicate the need to plan for such projects in the future. Haihe River in the People s Republic of China The Haihe River Basin technical assistance project is an example whose major objective is to develop the appropriate methodology to determine the carrying capacity of the river to maintain the existing ecosystem and environment within and along the rivers. Water scarcity is intensifying in many regions of the People s Republic of China, which not only constrains socio-economic development, particularly in areas of high economic activity, but also deteriorating its ecosystem and environment. The Haihe river basin is located in the North/Northeast Region of PRC and encompasses parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Liaoning provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The area which includes Beijing is not only one of the three major crop-producing basins in PRC, but recent economic development in the basin makes it increasingly difficult to allocate water on an environmentally sustained basis. The project will include the following activities: (i) To develop mechanism/methodology to accurately estimate water requirements to maintain the ecology and environment of the basin, and determine the river s carrying capacity; (ii) develop management information system to monitor and assess the status of water allocation and use against the estimated carrying capacity; and; (iii) apply such methodology/mechanism to the Haihe river basin on a pilot basis. The evaluation of the results of the pilot study will provide the first opportunity for all stakeholders in the Haihe River Basin for a dialogue on the allocation of water for people, for food, for the environment, for industry and for other uses. Conclusions Ladies and Gentlemen, the three examples illustrate the different circumstances under which the potential for creating synergy between all stakeholders in a river basin context is possible. The watershed in the Red River is severely degraded after a long history of irrigated agriculture. The Nam Ngum River provides an opportunity for improvement of the institutional framework for IWRM in a river basin context. The carrying capacity of the Haihe River would provide the basis for an equitable allocation of scare water resources among various users for sustainable development and management. The discussions of all stakeholders in a river basin context will clarify the issues on the allocation of water for people, for food, for the environment, for industry and for other uses. The 6

8 discussions would also provide opportunities to assess the impacts of the planned projects on health, poverty, leisure and a host of other things. For instance, excessive withdrawals of groundwater to supplement surface water for irrigation in order to increase food production may result in a drastic lowering of the water table. This makes the groundwater, a common source of water supply for the poor in the area, susceptible to pollution and contamination from agricultural pesticides and other sources, and therefore detrimental to heath. It may be worth mentioning that ADB has also supported other basin studies where there are concentrations of poor people in the coastal zone, such as in Viet Nam, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. These people in the coastal zones often depend on fragile brackish water ecosystems for their livelihood. Investments in the sustainable management of these ecosystems can help to sustain livelihoods of these poor communities. The Hue lagoon is one such example in Viet Nam. Ladies and Gentlemen, I shall look forward to the next opportunity to inform you of the Win-Win solutions that may have been developed through the foregoing river basin initiatives of ADB. Thank you. 7