Delving into the Divisive Waters of River Basin Planning in Bolivia: A Case Study in the Cochabamba Valley

River basin planning in Bolivia is a relatively new endeavor that is primed for innovation and learning. One important learning opportunity relates to connecting watershed planning to processes within other planning units (e.g., municipalities) that have water management implications. A second opportunity relates to integrating watershed management, with a focus on land-based interventions, and water resources management, with a focus on the use and control of surface and groundwater resources. Bolivia’s River Basin Policy and its primary planning instrument, the River Basin Master Plan (PDC in Spanish), provide the relevant innovation and learning context. Official guidance related to PDC development lacks explicit instructions related to the use of analytical tools, the definition of spatially and temporally dis-aggregated indicators to evaluate specific watershed and water management interventions, and a description of the exact way stakeholders engage in the evaluation process. This paper describes an effort to adapt the tenets of a novel planning support practice, Robust Decision Support (RDS), to the official guidelines of PDC development. The work enabled stakeholders to discern positive and negative interactions among water management interventions related to overall system performance, hydrologic risk management, and ecosystem functions; use indicators across varying spatial and temporal reference frames; and identify management strategies to improve outcomes and mitigate cross-regional or inter-sectorial conflicts.

Critical area prioritization for river basin planning and management under future scenarios using SWAT model

<p>Suitable and practicable best management practices (BMPs) are needed to develop effective and efficient watershed management under future climate change scenarios. Tons river basin is an agricultural-based watershed having a great significance to the States of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Identification of critical erosion prone areas of the Tons River basin and implementation of BMPs for the future scenarios (2030-2050) using RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios is the main aim of this study. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated and validated for simulation of runoff and sediment yield using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) technique. The values of coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), percent bias (PBIAS) and RMSE-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR) were 0.71, 0.70, -8.3 and 0.54 respectively during the calibration period whereas in validation the values were 0.72, 0.71, -3.9 and 0.56 respectively. Thus, the SWAT model can be employed in the Tons river basin of India for critical area prioritization and river basin planning and management under future scenarios.</p>

Planning in Democratizing River Basins: The Case for a Co-Productive Model of Decision Making

We reflect on methodologies to support integrated river basin planning for the Ayeyarwady Basin in Myanmar, and the Kamala Basin in Nepal, to which we contributed from 2017 to 2019. The principles of Integrated Water Resources Management have been promoted across states and regions with markedly different biophysical and political economic conditions. IWRM-based river basin planning is complex, resource intensive, and aspirational. It deserves scrutiny to improve process and outcome legitimacy. We focus on the value of co-production and deliberation in IWRM. Among our findings: (i) multi-stakeholder participation can be complicated by competition between actors for resources and legitimacy; (ii) despite such challenges, multi-stakeholder deliberative approaches can empower actors and can be an effective means for co-producing knowledge; (iii) tensions between (rational choice and co-productive) models of decision complicate participatory deliberative planning. Our experience suggests that a commitment to co-productive decision-making fosters socially legitimate IWRM outcomes.

Coordination and Participation Boards under the European Water Framework Directive: Different Approaches Used in Some EU Countries

River basin planning under the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE, WFD) poses two major challenges to EU countries: coordination among administrative units for large-scale river basin planning and the inclusion of interested parties in decision-making processes. To face both challenges, many Member States have established Coordination and Participation Boards at the River Basin District or river basin level. These boards can be defined as multi-agency and multi-actor groups that support the development of inclusive and coordinated river basin planning to comply with the WFD requirements. The aim of this paper is to understand the functioning and effectiveness of the coordination and participation boards in promoting participatory river basin planning in seven EU countries. We built a conceptual framework, based on spatial fit, coordination capacity and participatory governance theories, to assess the scale at which these boards are established as well as the type of coordination and participation they support. The results indicate the relevance of the sub-River Basin District level to promote participatory decision-making. However, a clear linkage between participatory processes conducted at the sub-district level and decision-making processes at River Basin District should be established. Only if this link is well established are the outcomes achieved through the coordination and participation boards included in river basin plans. Moreover, we identified a lack of knowledge on how planning and implementation activities carried out at sub-River Basin District are aggregated and coordinated for the entire District. Research could contribute to this issue, by focusing on coordination mechanisms and problems that occur at the River Basin District level.