...years that IWM has attracted global attention, following its 'rediscovery' a key strategy for sustainable development and achievement of the millennium development goals (Young et al. 1994; United Nations Water 2007). Despite (or perhaps because of) this new-found status, IWM continues to generate a great deal of debate among academics, policymakers and resource managers (see, for example, Mitchell 1990; Newson 1997; Biswas 2004; Hooper 2005; Warner 2007). While most water researchers and managers appear to be comfortable with the general idea that IWM is concerned with balanced, equitable and sustainable

management of water, land and other natural resources, there is very little agreement regarding what this actually means in practice or how IWM initiatives should be designed, implemented and evaluated.

While previous research has shown quite clearly that IWM cannot be achieved through traditional top-down, fragmented and technocratic organisational and administrative arrangements, a great deal of uncertainty and disagreement still exists regarding the precise institutional processes and mechanisms that are needed. For example, most of the mainstream literature on the subject continues to promote the idea that IWM is essentially about improving the level of coordination among the various agencies, government departments and other organisations that share responsibilities for the management of water and related natural resources. To use an analogy, IWM is typically characterised as something similar to a simple jigsaw puzzle with just a few large pieces, requiring nothing more than competent hand-eye coordination to complete. However,...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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