Global Perspectives on Integrated Water Resources Management

Making IWRM everybody's business is the underlying philosophy of this publication. IWRM literature is normally aimed at academics, leaving out most of the stakeholders without whose participation there can be no implementation of IWRM. These are a large section of development professionals, the civil society, local communities, government officials and even the private sector. IWRM also involves professionals from many different fields, such as engineers, economists, and social scientists who also need to understand IWRM if they are to make effective contribution to the reform and implementation process. Publications by different organisations focus on their own definitions and programmes. There needs to be better exchange of information, methodology and coordination between the different organisations that promote IWRM. Through this document the authors have tried to introduce the concept of IWRM and bring together various definitions prevalent today, without any particular focus on any one definition or organisation. They try to explain the normative, strategic and operative dimensions of IWRM in a way that is easy to understand even for the least knowledgeable. The language and terminology used is simple and the authors avoid the use of 'jargon' and 'rhetoric'.