Adaptation of water resources management to climate change

AcknowledgementsIUCN actively supported the creation of the Dialogue of Water and Climate, and has been a strongpartner in implementing its work programme over the last year. With generous support from theDialogue on Water and Climate, IUCN convened five regional dialogues on water, wetlands andclimate in 2002. These regional dialogues – held in Central America, the Mediterranean, SoutheastAsia, Southern Africa, and West Africa – were convened jointly with the regional nodes of theGlobal Water Partnership in Central America, West Africa, and the Mediterranean, as well as theRegional Committee for Water Resources (CRRH) in Central America and the Inter-States Committeefor Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) in West Africa. We are thankful for our partnership withthese institutions.The dialogues attracted participants from different disciplines and institutions includingrepresentatives from ministries of environment and water, departments of meteorology, droughtand flood management, as well as national climate change units. Scientific institutes, river basinauthorities, hydropower operators, water sanitation companies, civil engineers, hydrologists,forecasting experts, representatives from community-based organizations, and national andinternational non-governmental organizations also participated. Rarely does such a diverse groupcome together, and we are grateful to these individuals for contributing their time and expertise,and for making the dialogues a success.In preparing this report, the authors benefited from background documents prepared by the IUCNRegional Offices in Central America, Asia, Southern Africa and West Africa, and the IUCN Officefor Mediterranean Cooperation. A special thanks to Jamie Skinner, Rocio Cordoba, Manrique Rojas,Madiodio Niasse, Francis Mkanda, Tabeth Chiuta, Hans Friederich and Chaminda Rajapakse fortheir efforts and dedication. The authors are indebted to Olga Pilifosova, Richard Klein, TerryJeggle, and Larry Haas for providing valuable comments on earlier versions of this report. Thefinancial contributions from the Dutch Government through the IUCN Water and Nature Initiative,the Dialogue on Water and Climate and from the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA) are gratefully acknowledged.xi