African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

Box 16.9: Research Institutions in South AfricaEnvironmentek is the water-related institute within the CSIR umbrella. It undertakes a wide range of water-relatedresearch being funded mainly from contract research but also from own resources and government and othergrants. Other water and environment related research is located in various academic institutions, like:(a) The Institute for Water Research at Rhodes University in the fields of water quality, hydrological modellingand reserve determination;(b) The African Water Issues Research Unit at the University of Pretoria in the field of policy;(c) The School of Bio-resources Engineering and Environmental Hydrology at the University of Natal in thefields of hydrological modelling and environment;(d) The Institute for Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State in the field of groundwater;(e) The Freshwater Research Unit at University of Cape Town in the field of environmental flows;(f) The Centre for Waste and Wastewater Research at the Durban Institute of Technology in the field of wastemanagement;(g) The Water Systems Research Group at the University of the Witwatersrand; and(h) The National Institute for Water and Sanitation at the University of Limpopo in the fields of communitywater and sanitation issues.ENSURING THE KNOWLEDGE BASEBox 16.10: Bringing Research near the PeopleThe International Water Management Institute (IWMI)The IWMI is a non-profit scientific research organization which is engaged in knowledge base development throughapplied research and the subsequent transformation of the results into tools for the effective management of waterand land resources in agriculture and other uses in developing countries. IWMI’s research is coordinated throughregional offices located in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Thailand. The Institute has resident offices inChina, Nepal, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya and Uzbekistan and operates in a non-resident mode in some 20 countries,across Asia and Africa. The research activities are centred around five thematic areas which address crucial issuesin the water sector of developing countries, namely:(a) Integrated Water Management for Agriculture(b) Sustainable Smallholder Land and Water Management Systems(c) Sustainable Groundwater Management(d) Water Resources Institutions and Policies(e) Water, Health and Environment.The professional team, comprising economists, agronomists, hydrologists, engineers, sociologists, managementspecialists and health researchers, guarantees a multidisciplinary approach to water management research.The specific objectives of IWMI are:(a) To identify the larger issues related to water management and food security that need to be understood andaddressed by governments and policymakers;(b) To develop, test and promote management practices and tools that can be used by governments and institutionsto manage water and land resources more effectively, and address water scarcity issues;(c) To clarify the link between poverty and access to water and to help governments and the research communitybetter understand the specific water-related problems of poor people;(d) To help developing countries build their research capacities to deal with water scarcity and related foodsecurity issues.319