(Source: IUCN)
The topic of this week’s post will be the integrated water
resource management method and the potential it has to improve water management
in Tanzania, drawing from an example where the method has been implemented.
Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a process
which encourages “the coordinated development and management of water, land and related
resources in order to maximise economic and social welfare in an equitable
manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems and the
environment” (Global WaterPartnership, 2011). Although the individual parts of IWRM have been used for
many decades, it was only during 1992 World Summit on Sustainable Development
that it became an approach that was heavily discussed.
Water is an essential component of economic and social
development and many stakeholders must make decisions regarding water
allocation. The success of IWRM depends on many factors, such as emerging
conflicts and the way they are resolved. The aim of IWRM is to carry out
sustainable ways of using water while using multi-disciplinary and
interdisciplinary approaches (Dungumaro etal, 2003). Figure 1 shows the different planning and implementation stages in
IWRM whereby national goals must be established in order to achieve successful
IWRM.
Figure 1: Stages in
IWRM planning and implementation
(Source: UN.org)
One key challenge that IWRM brings about is finding the balance
between the demand and supply of water and ways to optimise the usage among
different groups while maintaining sustained availability. With rising
increasing population, poverty and the use of poor technologies, the role of
IWRM becomes even more crucial in ensuring the equitable and efficient
distribution of water.
Background in Tanzania
Tanzania is an East African country with a total population
of 57 million. Around 64% of Tanzanians are poor and 31.3% live in extreme
poverty, which is particularly bad in rural areas where 73% of the Tanzanian population
live. In 2006, 77% of the population were employed in agriculture with the
majority being smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers are typically the
largest water users in Tanzania (Van Koppen etal, 2016). Water resources in Tanzania are plentiful from wetlands and
swamps to groundwater and surface water but they are yet to be developed. Irrigation
has not been utilised to its full potential either. The total irrigated area is
currently around 500,000 ha but the total area suitable for irrigation amounts
to 29.4 million ha (Van Koppen etal, 2016). The vast amount of unirrigated land calls for a scheme to
help irrigate and improve the efficiency of Tanzanian farmers.
(Source: ippmedia)
The Lower Moshi Rice Project
The Lower Moshi Rice Project put large areas of land which
were owned by the locals under a modern irrigation scheme with hydropower
plants in order to control flood rates (Van Koppen et al, 2016). This was completed in 1987 and the resulting farmland
was ploughed jointly where farmers worked on their allotted plots. However, due
to insufficient knowledge, the farmers ended up boycotting the project which resulted
in a considerable amount of financial loss (Dungumaro et al, 2003).
Fortunately, the project was rescued and new approaches were
taken and initiatives were restricted. Investments were also extended into
services for the local communities which supported the farmers into resuming
production to achieve high yield (Dungumaro etal, 2003).
In the case of the Lower Moshi Rice Project, the initial
method did not take into consideration the knowledge of the locals and the
irrigation scheme was just implemented onto them. This proved to be a bad
choice as the local farmers were not accustomed to the new technology and just
gave up. This example reflects the need for local knowledge to be implemented
into management schemes as they can be a solution to solving local problems. In
some situations, the locals have a voice but it is not implemented into the
final decision – this is something that should not be overlooked and local
communities should be seen as equal as the stakeholders who are ‘higher up’ in
order to execute a successful project.
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