From policy to practice - Delving into WRM on the ground

Abstract

Water resource management Supporting some 6,7 million people, the Crocodile (West)- Marico Water Management Area is one of the most populous water management areas in South Africa. This is also the study area selected by PhD researcher Janosch Förster, who is analysing the South African government’s integrated water resource management policy, its implementation means and impacts on the vulnerability of local livelihoods. “Integrated water resource management (IWRM) has become an internationally-renowned and dominant paradigm of water management, ” explains Förster. “It aims at a holistic way of managing water resources, trying to integrate economic, environmental, political and social factors. However, the sociopolitical side of water management is highly under-represented in IWRM literature and practical attempts to implement water governance based on this philosophy.

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