Integrated Water Resources Management in The Netherlands: How Concepts Function

Abstract

S ince the early 1990s, the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been known throughout the world (Mitchell 1990, Dublin Statement 1992, Global Water Partnership 2000, 2005). IWRM calls for a holistic management of watersheds. It emphasizes the need to give full consideration to surface and ground water, to quantity and quality issues, to ecology, to the relation between land and water resources and to the different socio-economic functions of the watershed. IWRM has received a lot of attention, but important questions still remain. For instance, what should be the objectives of IWRM? Should IWRM promote nature conservation, economic development, or the interests of the poor? And how should IWRM be implemented; through top-down comprehensive planning or bottom-up adaptive management (Mitchell 2005, Jeffrey and Gearey 2006)? Should all water-related competencies be integrated in one organization (Biswas 2004a, b), or is improved co-operation the key to IWRM (Mostert et al. in press)? And what about large dams, privatization, and water pricing? This article aims to stimulate reflection on the IWRM concept using a country with a long IWRM history, The Netherlands, as an example. First, it introduces Dutch water management and then discusses the introduction of the IWRM concept in Dutch water management. Moreover, it discusses how IWRM was interpreted and the impact it has had on water management institutions, research and practice. In addition, the article concludes that IWRM is highly political. IWRM professionals have to decide whom and what they want to serve.