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Evolving policy reforms and experiences for addressing downstream impacts in World Bank water resources projects
Author(s) -
Hirji Rafik,
Panella Thomas
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
river research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.679
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1535-1467
pISSN - 1535-1459
DOI - 10.1002/rra.754
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , water resources , downstream (manufacturing) , mainstream , resource (disambiguation) , environmental resource management , process (computing) , work (physics) , business , environmental planning , yield (engineering) , natural resource economics , economics , environmental science , computer science , political science , engineering , geography , ecology , mechanical engineering , computer network , materials science , archaeology , metallurgy , law , biology , marketing , operating system
The systematic integration of environmental flow requirements (EFR) in water resources management decision‐making and policy reforms is a complex task and still a developing field, on which agreement does not yet exist, even in industrialized countries. The complexity is compounded by lack of data and weak institutional capacity. In addition, environmental flow assessments, i.e. the process of determining EFR, can be costly and may yield uncertain results with limited utility to decision‐makers. This paper focuses on the evolving policy reforms and operational experiences within the World Bank to mainstream EFR into water resources management. It includes a brief discussion of the context of environmental flows in the World Bank's work, and looks at the evolution of the World Bank's policies related to the integration of environmental flow considerations in its activities. Five case studies illustrate the World Bank's varied involvement in environmental flow issues. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the integration of environmental flow considerations into water resource development and management. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.