March 2008

New website

Our new website is now online to replace the old that had been given us major management headaches. Some of the data base sections are still being transferred but remain accessible.

We have been unable to send news or add materials to the site for 6 months so it is a welcome relief for us to be able to reach out to you again. We have transferred old subscribers to the new website but if you no longer wish to receive our news then please unsubscribe on our home page .

We are working with the new site now to improve presentation and update information.

Economic and Financial Instruments for IWRM.

Over the course of the last year we have been developing and testing new training materials on economic and financial instruments for implementation of IWRM.

Economic tools are a very important and neglected instrument for water resources management. Subject to political and social pressures they are often not applied very effectively with the result that water managers are much less effective. It is usually the poor that bear the consequences of bad water management as they do not get access to safe water, are impacted by pollution and suffer from competition with commercial water users.

Similarly financial tools are vitally important, not only for infrastructure development but most significantly to maintain the infrastructure once it has been put in place. Water pollution in many situations is a result of poor maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities. More attention to financial and economic tools will help countries implement their IWRM plans and also ensure the benefits are sustained.

The course on Economic and Financial Instruments has now been held in Mexico (LA-WETnet), Pretoria (WaterNet), Lome (WA-Net), Trinidad (Caribbean Water Network) and Malawi (GWPSA) with another one scheduled to be held in Thailand (AguaJaring) in June. Cap-Net partner networks have led these initiatives and usually in collaboration with the Global Water Partnership.

The materials were developed by Cap-Net with partner capacity building networks (LA-WETnet; Caribbean Water Network; WaterNet) the Global Water Partnership and the EU Water Initiative Water Financing Group. The english version is available on line by clicking here and translations are currently underway into French Spanish and Portuguese. The manual and supporting materials such as PowerPoint slides wil be available on CD in May.

River Basin Organisations

River Basin Organisations (RBOs) are being formed as a response to the implementation of IWRM and the desire to manage water at the river basin level. Cap-Net and partners felt that the scale of reform around the world was not being matched by adequate support to RBOs to assist in their capacity development and a programme of action was developed.

To assess the capacity needs and plan for action:

• Four case study basins representing different regions were identified with partners, these were: the Lerma-Chapala-Santiago river basin in Mexico, the Tana river basin in Kenya, the Mahaweli river basin in Sri Lanka, and the Sungai Langat river basin in Malaysia.
• The study objectives were formulated and case studies were carried out by Cap-Net partner networks.
• The results were compiled into one report and analysed by the team led by UNESCO-IHE.
• Cap-Net then held a small assessment and planning meeting with the team and a few additional key informants where the key problems were identified and a programme of action agreed.

This is being followed by the development of outcome oriented training materials for RBOs, based on a set of performance indicators addressing goals of water resource management at river basin level. The first training course is being piloted in April in Pretoria and will feature a mix of trainers and RBO managers as participants who will also assist with the development of the training materials.
There is already much interest in taking up this training in other regions.

The next Newsletter will contain news from the networks.

The Cap-Net Team

Mail: info@Cap-Net.org

Web: www.Cap-Net.org

Tel: +27 12 3309077

Fax: +27 12 3314860

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