Integrated Water Resource Management at the watershed scale

The notion of integrated water resources management (IWRM) is understood in this article as "a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water and related resources within the boundaries of a watershed in order to optimize, in an equitable manner, the resulting economic and social well-being, without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems" (source GWP – http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/DOS_Gestion_integree_ressources_en_eau.pdf ) .

IWRM is based on the premise that a sectoral approach to water management tends to impose high economic, social and ecological costs. IWRM therefore emphasizes multi-sector, multi-scale decision-making.

Many consider that IWRM is the result of a paradigm shift.

Indeed, the 1980s and early 1990s were marked by the crisis of the sector-based approach to water management. The founding act that seems to have marked the beginning of the reflection that led to this change in approach was the Mar del Plata conference in 1977. This first conference of nations on water was guided by the fundamental perspective of access to drinking water and sanitation, and the means to achieve these goals.

At this event, many countries presented an assessment of the state of their water resources and embarked on a forward-looking approach to needs and resources.

This conference led to the approval of a plan of action and the launch of the "International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade" (IDWSD 1981-1990).

The declared objective of this decade was nothing less than that by the year 2000, all human beings should have access to drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality, as well as basic sanitation facilities.

25 years after the end of this decade, these objectives have still not been achieved, despite their reaffirmation in 2000 as part of the Millennium Goals. It should be noted that these goals are more modest than those of the DIEPA, since they aim to halve the number of people without access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015. The goal of universal access to drinking water and sanitation is still present, but only by 2025. Today, various IWRM and development players believe that it will be difficult to achieve these objectives in 10 years' time. It is more than likely that they will be impossible to achieve in developing countries without better control of...