Twenty years of IWRM: Has the concept found a constituency?

Abstract

In 2006 I subtitled the introductory chapter to an edited volume on IWRM as ‘A concept looking for a constituency’.  In this seminar presentation I explore whether, where and how the IWRM concept has found constituencies or not – internationally as well as in India specifically.  I first look at IWRM as a policy concept, and assess its impact on water policy and governance, comparing and contrasting it with the Water Framework Directive experience in Europe. Secondly I look at how IWRM has functioned (or not) to inspire and trigger changes in the water knowledge system in the direction of integration and interdisciplinarity, by situating it in the ‘boom’ in water studies of the past decades. 

About the speaker

Peter Mollinga’s research interests are: 1) water and development; 2) the dynamics of agriculture and environmental resources management; 3) interdisciplinarity in efforts at ‘integrated’ natural resources management and governance. His geographical focus is Asia, particularly South Asia and Central Asia. He was trained as an irrigation engineer at Wageningen University, the Netherlands; his Masters dissertation was on small scale irrigation management in the Senegal river valley; his PhD is on irrigation water management in South India. He completed his Habilitation in Development Sociology at the University of Bonn, Germany. Since 2010 he is Professor of Development Studies at SOAS University of London, UK, where he also initiated the Centre for Water and Development.

He is the Principal Investigator of an EU H2020 research project on agriculture and migration (‘Leaving something behind’ - Migration governance and agricultural & rural change in ‘home’ communities: comparative experience from Europe, Asia and Africa), and researches, together with Indian colleagues, the ‘uses and meanings of water’ in the State of Gujarat, India downstream of the Sardar Sarovar dam.