4
Integrated Water Resources
Management in Southern Africa
Two Decades After the Dublin
Conference: The Zimbabwean
Experience
Geoffrey Mukwada, Desmond Manatsa, and
Enock Makwara
Abstract
Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM) has increasingly become an important rallying theme for addressing the governance and management of water resources.
The objective of this chapter is to examine
how IWRM is perceived in southern Africa
and the challenges of applying this concept in
water resources governance and management
within the region, using the case study of
Zimbabwe. Due to mixed views among
researchers, there is an ongoing debate about
the extent to which the implementation of
IWRM has succeeded in the country. However, at grassroots community level, the
implementation of IWRM is constrained due
to the limited choices that these communities
have. Due to poverty, these communities
depend directly on land-based resources for
livelihood, many of which lead to environmental degradation, which in turn undermine
the availability of water in the environment.
Despite all these limitations, communitybased institutions are better placed to pursue
IWRM than state-sponsored institutions.
Keywords
IWRM Á Resource Á Governance Á
Management Á Southern Africa Á Zimbabwean
4.1 Introduction
In 2014, more than two decades after the Dublin
principles were proclaimed, the World Economic
Forum (WEF) ranked water crises as one of the
highest risks of concern (WEF 2014). While the
famous 1992 International Conference on Water
and the Environment, dubbed the Dublin Conference, had come and gone water problems
remained critical across the globe, and to this day
many human communities still do not have
access to clean water despite the noble promises
that were made at the conference. Since then
Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM) has increasingly become an important
rallying theme for addressing the governance and
management of water resources. The IWRM has
become the most preferred framework for
attaining
water
resources
management
(Manyanhaire and Nyaruwata 2014). IWRM is a
G. Mukwada (&) Á D. Manatsa Á E. Makwara
Geography Department and Afromontane Research
Unit, Free State University, Bloemfontein, South
Africa
e-mail: gmukwada@gmail.com
D. Manatsa Á E. Makwara
Geography Department, Bindura University of
Science, Bindura, Zimbabwe
D. Manatsa
International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste,
Italy
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
B. W. Pandey and S. Anand (eds.), Water Science and Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57488-8_4
23
Integrated Water Resources
Management in Southern Africa
Two Decades After the Dublin
Conference: The Zimbabwean
Experience
Geoffrey Mukwada, Desmond Manatsa, and
Enock Makwara
Abstract
Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM) has increasingly become an important rallying theme for addressing the governance and management of water resources.
The objective of this chapter is to examine
how IWRM is perceived in southern Africa
and the challenges of applying this concept in
water resources governance and management
within the region, using the case study of
Zimbabwe. Due to mixed views among
researchers, there is an ongoing debate about
the extent to which the implementation of
IWRM has succeeded in the country. However, at grassroots community level, the
implementation of IWRM is constrained due
to the limited choices that these communities
have. Due to poverty, these communities
depend directly on land-based resources for
livelihood, many of which lead to environmental degradation, which in turn undermine
the availability of water in the environment.
Despite all these limitations, communitybased institutions are better placed to pursue
IWRM than state-sponsored institutions.
Keywords
IWRM Á Resource Á Governance Á
Management Á Southern Africa Á Zimbabwean
4.1 Introduction
In 2014, more than two decades after the Dublin
principles were proclaimed, the World Economic
Forum (WEF) ranked water crises as one of the
highest risks of concern (WEF 2014). While the
famous 1992 International Conference on Water
and the Environment, dubbed the Dublin Conference, had come and gone water problems
remained critical across the globe, and to this day
many human communities still do not have
access to clean water despite the noble promises
that were made at the conference. Since then
Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM) has increasingly become an important
rallying theme for addressing the governance and
management of water resources. The IWRM has
become the most preferred framework for
attaining
water
resources
management
(Manyanhaire and Nyaruwata 2014). IWRM is a
G. Mukwada (&) Á D. Manatsa Á E. Makwara
Geography Department and Afromontane Research
Unit, Free State University, Bloemfontein, South
Africa
e-mail: gmukwada@gmail.com
D. Manatsa Á E. Makwara
Geography Department, Bindura University of
Science, Bindura, Zimbabwe
D. Manatsa
International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste,
Italy
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
B. W. Pandey and S. Anand (eds.), Water Science and Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57488-8_4
23