Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
by crops, 70 per cent of all abstracted water is used
in irrigation (UNESCO, 2006). This suggests
that the figures on water used for agriculture in
the United Kingdom are unusual and South Korea
and New Zealand are closer to the norm.
Water allocation demands do not normally stay
static. This is illustrated in Figure 8.4, showing
the amount of irrigated land in New Zealand from
1965 to 2002. There has been a doubling of irri-
gated land approximately every twenty years but
even within this period there has been irregular
development. Between 1985 and 2002 the major-
ity of irrigation development has occurred since
1995. The increase in irrigation has placed
significant stresses on the water system and water
allocation regime. Improvements in irrigation
500
450
400
350
300
Pasture
Arable
Horticulture
250
200
150
100
50
0
1965
1985
2002
Figure 8.4
Hectares of irrigation in New Zealand
from 1965 to 2002.
technology means that a doubling of the irrigated
area does not equate to a doubling in water
demand, but it still requires an additional quota
of either ground or surface water that is not
available for other users, especially instream use.
A key part of water resource management is
the involvement of many different sectors of the
community in decision-making. This has lead to a
different approach to water management that
stresses integration between different sectors. There
are two key concepts in this area: Integrated Water
Resource Management (IWRM) and Integrated
Catchment Management (ICM). These are both
described in more detail below.
1
Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource,
essential to sustain life, development and the
environment.
2
Water development and management should be
based on a participatory approach, involving
users, planners and policy makers at all levels.
3
Women play a central part in the provision,
management and safeguarding of water.
4
Water has an economic value in all its competing
uses and should be recognised as an economic
good.
Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM)
These four principles underlie IWRM, especially
the concepts of a participatory approach and that
water has an economic value (Solanes, 1998). An
economic good, as used in principle four, is defined
in economics as: a physical object or service that has
value to people and can be sold for a non-negative
price in the marketplace. A major implication
from principle four is that water is not a gift or a
free right to any water user, it needs to be recognised
that using water restricts the usage by others and
therefore there is a cost involved in the action.
The Global Water Partnership (www.gwpforum.
org) is a leading agency in promoting IWRM. It
defines IWRM as:
The concepts behind IWRM lie in the so-called
'Dublin Principles'. In January 1992, 500 partici-
pants, including government-designated experts
from 100 countries and representatives of 80 inter-
national, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organisations attended the International Conference
on Water and the Environment in Dublin, Ireland.
The conference adopted what has been termed
'the Dublin Statement' which was taken forward to
the Earth Summit Conference in Rio de Janiero later
that year.
The Dublin Statement established four guiding
principles for managing freshwater resources, namely:
