Version 1
: Received: 10 March 2018 / Approved: 12 March 2018 / Online: 12 March 2018 (07:18:33 CET)
How to cite:
Hailu, R.; Tolossa, D.; Alemu, G. IWRM as a System Approach to Water Security: Evidence from the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Preprints2018, 2018030086 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201803.0086.v1).
Hailu, R.; Tolossa, D.; Alemu, G. IWRM as a System Approach to Water Security: Evidence from the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Preprints 2018, 2018030086 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201803.0086.v1).
Cite as:
Hailu, R.; Tolossa, D.; Alemu, G. IWRM as a System Approach to Water Security: Evidence from the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Preprints2018, 2018030086 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201803.0086.v1).
Hailu, R.; Tolossa, D.; Alemu, G. IWRM as a System Approach to Water Security: Evidence from the Awash River Basin of Ethiopia. Preprints 2018, 2018030086 (doi: 10.20944/preprints201803.0086.v1).
Abstract
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is one of the system thinking approaches emerged in the 1990s. Since then it has been applied in various countries and contexts. However, the implementation of the IWRM is contested. There are paucity of literature and guidelines as to how the concept can be operationalized. In Ethiopia, there is no evidence that IWRM is successfully instituted. Particularly, IWRM has never been implemented in the Awash River Basin. The study generated data from household and institutional surveys, in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, workshops, and secondary sources. Multiple sources of data were triangulated and thematically summarized. We found that pragmatic water resources management through system approach helps to recognize river basin as a bigger system in which the natural and human systems function. This resolves the problem of fragmentations among among various actors, sectors, interest and priorities. That it facilitates the coordination of various subsystems. The operationalization of IWRM as a system to secure water resources require the establishment and/or strengthening of the interactions of various systems, subsystems, and the elements within the entire basin system. Finally, enabling institutional environments should be considered as a medium of realizing IWRM.
Subject Areas
Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM); system thinking; water security; Awash basin; Ethiopia
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Reta Hailu