Some foci of integrated water resources management in the “South” which are oft-forgotten by the “North”: A perspective from southern Africa

Abstract

Following some definitions of IWRM within a context of integrated catchment management, and a summary of the major goals and strategies as well as scale considerations in IWRM, this paper highlights some differences between IWRM in Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs), i.e. the so-called “South”, and Developed Countries (DCs), i.e. the socalled “North”, by outlining characteristics of DCs and LDCs which shape their respective needs in IWRM. Thereafter inherent problems in regard to IWRM in LDCs are identified. This is followed by examples from four case studies in southern African catchments which focus on some of the uniquenesses of IWRM issues in LDCs which, in the author’s experiences, are often forgotten by theorists and practitioners from the “North”, viz. that

• while catchment studies tend to emphasise mainstem river discharge characteristics, these are not the sources of rural water supply problems in LDCs (a case study from the Thukela HELP catchment in South Africa);

• water poverty is acute in many meso-scale catchments and is likely to be exacerbated by global warming (again, a case study from the Thukela catchment);

• water quality problems for the rural poor, who are still without potable water supplies, frequently revolve around the biological health of rivers, rather than those related to chemical or physical water quality (a case study from the Mgeni catchment in South Africa); and

• climate change may have severe impacts on both within-country reservoir management and out-of-country outflow obligations to downstream countries on already stressed catchments dominated by high water demanding irrigated crops (a case study from the Mbuluzi catchment in Swaziland).

In each case study simulation modelling has been used as a tool in IWRM. A concluding section therefore focuses on some selected problems which have been identified by the author in regard to hydrological modelling in LDCs. These revolve around issues of governance, human resources and practicalities.