e-Journal – A platform for knowledge sharing on integrated water resources management

Manon Cassara

April 22, 2015

Short Communications

Abstract

The way we manage water resources has incrementally changed since the last decades. From a sectoral mindset tackling separately water disciplines, socioeconomic aspects, institutional and legal framework, we understood the importance of moving toward an integrated approach, providing a holistic view of water resources planning.This approach requires not only that disciplines and sectors work together, but also that institutions and stakeholders are reunited within a solid network, favorable to the participation of each and where all could have a voice. At the bottom of the edifice for efficient water resources management, we find the information and knowledge as a prerequisite for any action.Particularly in Central Asia and in the CIS, the challenge remains big in the transition to an integrated approach which is accentuated by decreasing technical, scientific and institutional capacities to manage the water. As for the knowledge part, the declining structural and human means impacted the collection, management and sharing of the information,creating knowledge gaps in the water resources situation and impacting the stakeholders’ interactions and mutual trust. Access to reliable, timeliness and qualitative information became a competitive environment although it is essential to the corpus of water actors, all sectors confounded.