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Prepared by: HOSNY KHORDAGUI, Ph.D. WATER & ENVIRONMENT TEAM LEADER, UN-ESCWA

NECESSITY OF DATA FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN GCC COUNTRIES. Prepared by: HOSNY KHORDAGUI, Ph.D. WATER & ENVIRONMENT TEAM LEADER, UN-ESCWA

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Prepared by: HOSNY KHORDAGUI, Ph.D. WATER & ENVIRONMENT TEAM LEADER, UN-ESCWA

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  1. NECESSITY OF DATA FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN GCC COUNTRIES Prepared by: HOSNY KHORDAGUI, Ph.D. WATER & ENVIRONMENT TEAM LEADER, UN-ESCWA TRAINING SESSION ON THE SYSTEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL-ECONOMIC ACCOUNTING FOR WATER FOR THE ARAB GULF COUNTRIES. 25-28 AUGUST, 2008, UN-ESCWA BEIRUT, LEBANON.

  2. WATER SITUATION IN GCC • GCC region is considered one of the most arid areas in the world relying mostly on non-conventional water resources (Desalination & wastewater reuse) & limited groundwater resources. • The severe water-related problems in the region have been compounded in recent years by a sharp increase in water demand due mainly to: • fast growing population, • unsustainable patterns of consumption, • accelerated economic development and • high urbanization & industrialization growth rates.

  3. WHAT IS IWRM? • IWRM is an approach to promote coordinated development & management of water, land & related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic & social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. • In order to apply IWRM, it is fundamental to integrate not only water data but also information from social, economic, health & environmental sectors. This integration challenge is rarely addressed by scientists in the GCC Region, yet it is a reality that decision makers & politicians must deal with.

  4. STATUS OF IWRM IN GCC COUNTRIES • Overall assessment indicated the following: • All GCC Countries (at various degrees) have initiated national water strategies in line with IWRM framework. Only few countries have completed these strategies; • Most GCC Countries are undertaking some institutional & legislative measures to implement IWRM strategies; • Very few GCC Countries have evaluated post-application of IWRM; • In few cases the bottom-up participatory approach was adopted & the expected roles of water stakeholders & the mechanisms of coordination among them remained blurred. • Economic instruments for demand control was found inadequate. • Environmental component in IWRM was inadequate.

  5. Main accomplishments & challenges in applying IWRM in GCC Countries • Major Accomplishments: • Framework for private sector participation; - Efficient consumer services; – Progress in institutional & Legal reform; Improved enforcement capacity ;- Improved water infrastructure & efficiency; Improved water reuse. • Challenges: • Dominance of supply management policies & lesser attention to demand management; • Heavy reliance on desalinated water without adequate considerations to associated externalities. • Lack of coordination & inadequate information generation & sharing among relevant sectors. • Inadequate public participation in water planning & management. • Areas in need of improvement to enhance IWRM application • Rationalization of water use & Water Demand management; • Reduce subsidies & apply more efficient cost recovery mechanisms; • Enhance partnership with civil society. • Improve water & environment monitoring for better decision making.

  6. CONSTRAINTS IN IMPLEMENTING IWRM IN GCC COUNTRIES • Fragmentation of institutions concerned with water resources & lack of horizontal coordination. • Ineffective stakeholders participation & inadequate bottom-up approach. • Inadequate monitoring, reporting, sharing & dissemination of water quality & quantity data. • Outdated water legislation & ineffective enforcement • Social & political debate on water services cost recovery • Supply management orientation & poor demand management policies.

  7. CONCLUSION • Implementation of IWRM requires the provision of reliable & continuous source of primary water & environment data derived from extensive monitoring & reporting programs to initiate the sequential build-up of correlations between water sector management & environmental-economic accounting. FACT • Most of the GCC countries have developed comprehensive environmental & water monitoring systems & improved their national statistical & reporting capacities. However, coordination among relevant sectors is inadequate.

  8. AVAILABILITY OF WATER DATA IN GCC COUNTRIES: • In GCC Region there has been a relativelyample supply of data on social & economic aspects of development. This can be attributed to the long tradition of monitoring & reporting on these two aspects. • In contrast, environmental & water indicators in GCC countries are not adequately and/or routinely & publicly reported by most governments of the region or even by most international & regional development organizations.

  9. WHY ?

  10. I- Primary water data is simply not available in the region in the same abundance or quality as economic performance data due to: • The generation of primary water data is a highly technical process involving well-trained field & laboratory technicians, scientists, engineers & biologists. • The institutions needed to generate the primary water data in its acceptable form (quality and quantity) are not regularly available in all governorates or localities. • The capital & operation costs for water testing laboratories as well as field automated monitoring stations are quite high. • The environmental management systems in some GCC Countries are not well developed yet to design & implement proper IWRM monitoring programs. • The existing environmental & water legislations & by-laws regulating different aspects of monitoring of water & environment are some cases either inadequate or out-dated. • The inadequate enforcement of water & environmental legislation in some GCC Countries diminished the response of a number of relevant sectors to meet their monitoring & reporting requirements.

  11. OTHER CHALLENGES & CONSTRAINTS

  12. II- Water Data is Often of Questionable Quality: • A large portion of water & environmental data suffer from significant quality uncertainty. Water & environmental date from some GCC States is lacking reliability & is unverifiable. This can be attributed to the lack of adequate QA/QC programs to cover sampling, analysis & reporting. • The number of certified and/or accredited water testing & environmental laboratories is limited in the GCC Region. National reference laboratories are also few in number. • Primary water & environmental data suffer from lack of comparability at the national, regional & global levels. The disregard of recognized uniform standard methods for water & environmental monitoring & analysis by some institutions in GCC contributed to this problem. • Discontinuous data monitoring, in terms of both temporal & spatial distributions, provides mostly snap shots only for hot spot areas. This lack of time series data prevents the detection of trends & patterns that can be used in environmental accounts. • Water & environmental monitoring programs are mostly designed to focus on the traditional aspects of environmental health rather than the general environmental aspects of socio-economic development.

  13. III- Water & Environment data is sometimes not disclosed, shared or reported: • Primary water & environment data is usually generated in the GCC Countries by a number of national & local government institutions. The lack of coordination among these institutions evidently resulted into the duplication, scattering & fragmentation of the generated primary water & environment data. • Few countries in the GCC Region also suffers from an underlying attitude & reluctance not to disclose or share water & environment data with other bodies or the public. This phenomenon is due to: • Political Reasons: Information on water security & environmental performance is considered as classified information not to be disclosed. This is attributed to the sensitivity of the data & to avoid any public pressure that might alter the development agenda of governments. Also disclosure of some data on water quality deterioration might cause unnecessary public concern & unrest. • Personal Reasons: In few cases government officials controlling water & environmental data feel that controlling information under their jurisdiction is giving them more leverage & authority.

  14. IV- Other Issues • Often water & environmental data is not properly reported, mostly raw data in thick volumes & tables full of technical jargons. • Most of the water & environmental data is poorly disseminated. So far, no regular data is available on electronic networks in most GCC countries. • Water & environmental data is not properly interpreted. This is due to severe shortage in certain technical expertise such as (environmental epidemiologists, environmental economists, biostatisticians, etc…) who are capable of correlating water & environmental data to health records, production, economic performance, social advancement, environmental valuation, etc. • Most water & environment data is sectoral in nature & are not used for IWRM integrated decision making.

  15. WHERE DOES THE DATA CHAIN BREAKS? • Water & environment data might not be available in some GCC due to inadequate monitoring & inspection systems. • If available, it might not be continuous (Snap shots – no time series) • If adequate, its might not be reliable (no QA/QC) • If reliable, it might not be comparable. • If comparable, it might not be properly reported. • If reported, it might not be disclosed. • If disclosed, it might be poorly disseminated. • If disseminated, it might not be interpreted. • If interpreted, it is not linked to health & socio-economic data. • If linked, it is not used for IWRM integrated decision making.

  16. RECOMMENDATIONS

  17. Undertake comprehensive regional knowledge mapping effort to assess water & environment monitoring systems that generates primary data in terms of achievements, gaps, constraints, challenges, opportunities, lessons learned, best practices & coordination instruments. • Identify capacity building needs to obtain reliable, continuous & harmonious primary water data. This entails capacity building needs for establishing & operating water monitoring facilities, strengthening national statistical bureaus, adapting standard monitoring procedures, applying QA/QC program, human resources development etc. • Support national efforts for establishing means of coordination among various sectors that generate primary data for water & environment accounting. • Provide technical support to GCC Countries on mechanisms for integrating components of environmental accounting (economic & environmental).

  18. THANK YOU

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