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Home > Events > Water Sector Colloquium > 8 June 2005

Water Sector Colloquium, 8 june 2005

“Adapt or Die – Implementing adaptive approaches to water management”

by Kevin Rogers and Harry Biggs

The paper advocates a strategic, adaptive approach to policy implementation which equates to “learn-by-doing” to meet the challenge of maintaining sufficient forward momentum in policy implementation, while still making sound, participative decisions that take account of technical, environmental, social and political factors.

Questions that could be asked with reference to the theoretical framework and the case study on natural resources management in the Kruger National Park are:

• Whether this approach has relevance for the water sector;
• Whether the approach can be seen as feasible for the implementation of the National Water Act in terms of sharing and protecting the appropriate institutions for this purpose.
• What issues would be of particular concern in the water sector and what approaches could be used to overcome major bottlenecks.

There appears to be no alternative to an adaptive management approach also for water resources problems. The social issues are presently overwhelming and will have to be systematically addressed in the balancing of factors.

Sustainable development can only be achieved in a partnership approach of key stakeholders.

Joint Objective – setting from the beginning is crucial in this situation. The traditional DAD approach (Decide, Announce, Defend) has no place in this decision-making environment anymore.

The Parks example has considerable relevance for a water resource management situation. The lessons learnt on clearly defined and agreed end states and on environmental thresholds are equally applicable to rivers protection and utilization. The problem may even be simpler to manage than the complex elephant-culling problem.

There is concern in some quarters, that due to our historic situation, human rights issues predominate at this stage in South Africa and that this may be at the expense of adequate natural resources conservation.

A counter argument is that there is considerable environmental concern in South Africa, driven partly by a new emphasis on eco-tourism and that some statistics indicate an improving environmental status.

Disagreement and possibly misconception exist on the issue of education of stakeholders, especially civil society, on issues of resource conservation. Yes, awareness building and education is necessary regarding the need for conservation and approaches in this regard. But it is equally important that the service institutions educate themselves about the values and approaches of stakeholders in particular rural people, to be able to reach sustainable solutions.

There was a concern that the issue of a management approach may be an academic one, while the real strategic issue, i.e. the contribution of water to poverty eradication in Africa, need to get a high priority.

The Water Allocation Process Reform, presently initiated by DWAF, appears to have most of the elements of an adaptive management approach and needs to be discussed at future meetings.

The authors feel that adaptive management approaches re vital for sustainable management and should overall lead to new ways of thinking and developing relationships.