Objectives and logic - Integrated Water Resource Planning - page 136

6 Objectives and logic

Given the situational analysis, the objectives and logic step in water resource
planning is where decisions are made on what the plan should achieve and
broadly how it should do so. As discussed in chapter 3, we suggest a hierarchy
consisting of non-quantified objectives and outputs (outputs being in effect a
lower level of objective), with associated quantifiable performance indicators
and targets. We define objectives as the desired benefits and associated services
that derive from the water resource. We define outputs as the water regime
characteristics that are expected to deliver those benefits and associated
services, subject to key external assumptions. We define actions as the means
that the plan puts in place to achieve those water regime characteristics.
Performance indicators and associated targets are used to indicate quantita-
tively the extent that objectives and outputs are expected to be achieved and
thus the level of trade-off between competing objectives adopted in the plan
after consideration of different management options.
Objectives are the foundation of the water resource planning process,
guiding strategy development and achieving early agreement on common
ground, or foreshadowing the need for trade-offs. Objectives need to be
referred to throughout the process to keep priorities in perspective, and may
need to be revised depending on additional information uncovered along the
way.
In this chapter we look at processes for setting objectives and outputs
with their performance indicators. Actions are developed in the next step of
planning (chapters 7 and 8). Targets, which indicate the extent that objectives
and outputs are to be achieved, are defined once the actions to be adopted
are determined, and final monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are set
subsequently. We examine these in later chapters.

Purpose for setting objectives
Water resource plans are made to achieve certain objectives, whether those
objectives are clearly stated or not. Sometimes objectives are not stated in
the plan itself but are implicit in the reason for a plan being made, e.g. a
government decision to build a dam for irrigation or for hydropower, where