Ecosystem Approaches in IWRM - International Institute for ...

Transboundary river basin case studies 

Water-Energy-Food Security

Presentation Outline 

• Importance of transboundary basins 

• IWRM—Integration 

• State of IWRM implementation study 

• Case studies—ES offers a “benefits sharing” 

approach 

• Lessons and Framework 

• Evolution of IWRM for W-E-F integration

Transboundary Watersheds 

Source: Revenga et. al. 2003. IUCN, IWMI, Ramsar Convention Bureau and 

WRI.

Integrated Water Resources Management 

• IWRM—Coordinated management of water, land and 

related resources to equitably maximize the resulting 

economic and social welfare without compromising 

the sustainability of vital ecosystems. 

• Main Hypotheses: 

• IWRM is the practical means for advancing large-scale ecosystem 

management. 

• However, institutional capacity and instruments for IWRM are weakly 

developed and are complex at the transboundary level. 

• Communicating ecosystem service benefits and harnessing ecosystem 

markets are promising ways to strengthen IWRM.

Integrated Water Resources Management 

Principles 

Economic 

Performance 

Social 

Performance- 

Equity 

Environmental 

Performance- 

Sustainability 

Structure 

Management 

Instruments 

• Assessment 

• Information 

• Allocation 

Enabling 

Instruments 

• Policy 

• Legislation 

• Economic 

Incentives 

Institutional 

Framework 

• Scale 

• River Basin 

Organization 

• Partnerships 

and resources 

Water for livelihood, water as resource, Water as ecosystem 

good 

Source: Adapted from Global Water Partnership IWRM Framework

IWRM Commitments and Adoption 

Source: UN-Water

Transboundary Case Studies 

• Red River Basin (North America) 

• Jordan River Basin (West Asia) 

• Mekong River Basin (Asia Pacific) 

• Danube River Basin (Europe) 

• La Plata River Basin (Latin 

America and the Caribbean) 

• Okavango River Basin (Africa) 

• Congo River Basin (Africa)

Red River Basin Case Study 

• Basin area: 116,550 km 2 

• Basin countries: Canada, 

United States 

• Primary issues for 

management: Floods, 

droughts, nutrient 

management 

Source: Schindelka, R. 1999. 

http://www.rrbdin.org/data/redriverbasin.pdf

Lake 

Winnipeg 

Winnipeg 

Saskatchewan 

Manitoba 

Red River and 

Basin

Red River Sub-Basin Ecosystem Service 

Analysis—changing the discourse 

• Pre-settlement to 

present comparative 

analysis 

• Value of ES lost: 

CAD$0.2b– 

CAD$2.05b/annually 

• ~80% climate and 

water regulation 

• Policy Shift to 

Sustainable 

Agriculture and 

Wetlands 

Protection

Red River Sub-Basin Ecosystem Service 

Analysis—changing the discourse 

• Pre-settlement to 

present comparative 

analysis 

• Value of ES lost: 

CAD$0.2b– 

CAD$2.05b/annually 

• ~80% climate and 

water regulation 

• Policy Shift to 

Sustainable 

Agriculture and 

Wetlands 

Protection

Jordan River Basin 


• Basin countries: Syria, Israel, 

Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon 

• Primary management issues: Water 

quantity, water quality and 

equitable sharing of the resource 

Source: UNEP/DEWA/GRID~Europe

Jordan River Basin 

• Long history of political and waterbased 

conflict 

• No institutional mechanism for basinwide 

management 

• IWRM strengthening led by Scientific 

and NGO communities—notably: 

• GLOWA project emphasizing mgmt 

tools, and 

• FoEME conservation and trustbuilding 

projects among municipal 

leaders 

• Recommendations for incorporation of 

ecosystem services approach (Al- 

Jayyousi and Bergkamp, 2008) 

Photographer: Bryan Oborne

Mekong River Basin Case Study 


• Basin countries: China, 

Myanmar, Lao PDR, 

Cambodia, Thailand and 

Vietnam 

• Primary management 

issues: Flood management, 

fisheries, agriculture, 

navigation, hydropower and 

environment 

Source: Revenga, et al. 1998, 2-92

Mekong River Basin Case Study: 

Key IWRM Agency: Mekong River Commission 

• Fragmented basin management amongst MRC 

and upper riparians—although probably not the 

critical management issue 

• Economic goals—largely hydropower 

development vs. wetland and biodiversity 

protection. 

• MRC has an IWRM agenda, while other 

agencies—ASEAN, GMS Economic Cooperation 

Program, MWRAS—have hydropower agenda 

• Ecosystem services framework to potentially 

provide common ground for basin-wide 

management—detailed analysis of the services 

associated with the Sonle Tap wetlands of 

Cambodia probably most illustrative of synergies 

and tradeoffs with other basin development 

objectives 

Photographer: Dimple Roy

Danube River Basin Case Study 


• Basin countries: Austria, 

Albania, Bosnia and 

Herzegovina, Bulgaria, 

Croatia, Czech Republic, 

Germany, Hungary, Italy, 

Macedonia, Moldova, 

Poland, Romania, Serbia 

and Montenegro, Slovak 

Republic, Slovenia, 

Switzerland, and Ukraine 


issues: loss of 

biodiversity, NPS impacts 

from agriculture on water 

quality, 


Danube River Basin Case Study 

Key IWRM Agency: ICPDR 

• WFD provides strong guidance but its 

complexity and the EU/non-EU distinction and 

income gradient offer significant challenges to 

implementation. 

• Loss of ecosystem services include wetland 

losses, forest services, declines in water 

availability and quality and loss of recreational 

and aesthetic value. 

• Implementation challenges are magnified by 

the lack of agricultural and regional 

development representation on ICPDR as 

implementing agencies at national level. 

• WWF is working on promoting an ecosystem 

services approach in the basin from the topdown 

(at the EU level) as well as bottom-up 

(with regional pilot initiatives). 

Photographer: Alec Crawford

La Plata River Basin Case Study 

Source: Revenga , et al. 1998, 2-157 

• Basin area: 3,100,000 km 2 

• Basin countries: Paraguay, 

Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, 

Bolivia 


management: Water 

quality, flooding, 

deforestation, biodiversity, 

invasive species, fish losses, 

and climate change, aquifer 

depletion and 

contamination

La Plata River Basin Case Study 

Key IWRM Agency: CIC 

• Long history of bilateral and trilateral 

agreements among riparians generally for 

hydropower and navigation 

• Ecosystem services approach as a means of 

demonstrating the impacts of development 

schemes on upstream wetlands; Pantanal 

Wetland—modulates hydrology; retains 

nutrients, extremely biodiverse and threatened 

by the Hydrovia project. 

• Yacreta hydro project currently constrained by 

ecosystem impacts 

• Successful protection of Guarani aquifer 

demonstrates that co-operative management 

can protect key ecological assets. 

Photographer: Alec Crawford

Okavango River Basin Case Study 


• Basin countries: Angola, 

Botswana, Namibia and 

Zimbabwe 


management: Water 

quality, Soil erosion, urban 

development, tourism, 

biodiversity and the 

management of the 

Okavango Delta. 


Okavango River Basin Case Study 

Source: Cubango-Okavango River Basin Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis, 2011

Source: Cubango-Okavango River Basin Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis, 2011

Congo River Basin Case Study—extremely biodiverse; 

Key IWRM Agency: CICOS 

• Basin area: 3,680,000 

km 2 

• Basin countries: 

Angola, Cameroon, the 

Central African 

Republic, the Republic 

of Congo, and the 

Democratic Republic of 

Congo 


issues: Deforestation, 

navigation, water 

pollution, invasive 

species and water 

transfers 


Congo River Basin Case Study 

• As usual, interest for basin-scale IWRM comes from 

hydro and navigation—both of which are threatened 

by deforestation/biodiversity loss (loss of the water 

towers). 

• CICOS strategic action plan in development—refers to 

links with UNDP/GEF Strategic Program for SFM in 

Congo Basin and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership. 

• Links to Carbon and Biodiversity Markets obvious but 

undeveloped

Case Studies Synthesis 

• IWRM—while mainstreamed as framework, under-resourced and undermined 

in implementation. 

• Very early days for Ecosystem Approach-IWRM 

• Ecosystem Management and Climate Adaptation issues are asserting 

themselves as high priorities in all basins. 

• Only La Plata and Okavango had an ES valuation analysis—protection of 

Guarani aquifer and the Okavango Delta play important role. 

• Jordan—ES deemed essential for progress 

• Danube—WWF piloting PES schemes 

• Mekong and Congo – ES analysis would help highlight trade-offs and synergies 

between ecosystem protection and conventional development. 

• Basin-scale Ecosystem Service inventory and trend analysis can help basin 

analysts understand a whole new class of win-win opportunities. 

• Next-generation IWRM institutional capacity building will involve ES analysis 

and visualization, ES communication, ES market development.

ES Approach to IWRM

BioEconomy as a facilitator of IWRM 

$$ Localized bioenergy production 

$$ Habitat and biodiversity 

production 

$$ Public health benefits of nutrient 

and hydrologic management 

$$ Recreation 

$$ Biomass-based value chains 

$$ Nutrient management and 

recycling for fertilizers 

$$ Increased food security 

$$ Water storage for flood and 

drought mitigation

Evolution of IWRM using EGS and 

Bioeconomy as drivers 

Water 

Security 

Food 

Security 

Energy 

Security 

Bioeconomy 

benefits and 

value chains 

as potential 

drivers

Ecosystem Approaches in IWRM - International Institute for ...

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