Lessons on local governments contributing to water for local needs
Updated - Monday 17 September 2007
• “Yet another unsupported mandate, says irate municipal manager”
• “Mayor says, dedicated department shows commitment to water resource management”
• “Water both a constraint and a resource for development, says catchment working group”
With these three “headlines for journalists” the facilitator summarized the conclusions at the symposium "Water for Local Needs - The Contribution of Local Governments to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)", in Benoni, Greater Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, from 9 to 10 July 2007.
The symposium was the final event of the LoGo Water project and built upon the earlier Workshop ‘Local Action for IWRM’ in Gaborone, Botswana, on 26 and 27 July 2006. LoGo water means “Local Governments and Integrated Water Resources Management in Southern Africa”. This EU funded project has since early 2005 supported local governments in South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe to actively engage in IWRM in the Limpopo river basin. IRC is one of the nine partners involved in LoGo Water.
Benefits, investments
Local governments have an important role to play in IWRM, participants agreed. They are important users (and polluters) of water resources. They are also the ultimate authority for development planning at local level. Engaging in IWRM can bring benefits, such as reduced spending on water, or more secure access to water. But, it also requires investments and sometimes making hard decisions on trade-offs.
There are two main ways in which local government can get involved in IWRM by:
- engaging in water resources management institutions at higher levels of scale, such as catchment authorities; or
- applying IWRM principles within their own mandate and area of jurisdiction.
Capacity limitations
The extent to which either or both of these approaches can be followed depends a lot on the existing capacity and institutional framework in a specific country. Often, these capacity gaps cannot easily be addressed, so it is suggested that one starts working from within the capacity limitations, and slowly addressing the gaps.
The event served also as a forum for local governments and relevant stakeholders in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region to identify the benefits of IWRM application for local governments as well as the ways and means to advance their involvement. The conclusions from the debates will form the basis for the development of a regional IWRM initiative aiming at encouraging local governments to adopt the principles of IWRM in their policies and actions.
Decentralization problems
As reported in March 2007 the European Commission research department pointed to a number of general problems around decentralization and definitions of roles in IWRM, which need to be addressed.
Although national governments acknowledge the role of local governments in implementing government policy at the local level, they often do not take them on board in operations, nor define a role for them in water institutions. Also vice versa, local government initiatives rarely take into account the contribution of IWRM institutions in their operations.
Reforms to foster decentralization have caused uncertainty and conflict over areas of jurisdiction (spatial and functional). Enforcement often remains paralyzed. The entire transition of responsibilities from higher to lower levels of government has not been effectively managed.
