Wednesday 21 December 2016
Monday 12 December 2016
IWRM – a model to be followed?
BLOG 9: IWRM – a model to be followed?
Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) has garnered a lot of interest, and popularity, in recent
history. The Global Water Partnership define it as:
'A process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems'. (Mehta, 2015).
Clearly, with such an entity
endorsing its use, it has become subject and found involvement with a number of
water policy strategies in countries such as Nigeria and Chad. As mentioned in
my second blog, bhe global rise in population places a dire importance in water
resource management. Freshwater, being a finite resource, requires an active
approach to conservation and increase in efficiency.
Success can be seen in Nigeria’s
Komadugu-YobeRiver Basin, where the construction of dams and large-scale
irrigation previously led to conflict. IWRM ensured that a water charter was
put in place whereby farmers, fishermen and herders were all part of the plans
to restore the river flow.
Whilst many have championed it, this has been
met with debate placing it as a source of contention. IWRM, owing to the fact
it is a major reform, could take decades before acceptable adherence to its
principles is observed. In addition, it is important to recognise water as an
economic good and changing allocation of water resources can have an adverse
impact on different countries or groups that will need to reduce usage of
water. Developing countries pose an additional barrier in that the monitoring
of progress can be difficult to measure – especially so in cases where the
water sector is significantly more informal and built on a local infrastructure
thereby making national goals harder to achieve.
There is certainly an argument to
be made that people have become more concerned with the acronym itself and that
IWRM has swayed from the objectives it primarily set out to achieve.
Here are some of the contentions:
Masks neoliberalism:
·
This views the paradigm as regulating water not
for the sake of its conservation of equitable allocation, but to favour the
TNCs and neoliberal model of governance (Mehta, 2015).
·
Does not take a participatory approach and as
such allows elites to control its implementation – this is seen in the case of
Mozambique
Being too idealistic:
·
It is difficult to find a quick-fix solution,
and a solution that will please everybody.
·
Therefore its emphasis on including all players
is argued to be unrealistic
I certainly see where some of these
concerns are coming from, but I do believe that if the core principles that IWRM
set out with are adhered to, then equitable solutions and good management can
be had. These concerns largely come about due to a departure from these very
principles, therefore does not necessarily reflect IWRM itself – rather what people purportedly perceive IWRM to be.
References:
UNESCO (2016) http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001818/181891E.pdf
Biswas, A.K.,
2004. Integrated Water Resources Management: A Reassessment. Water
International 29 (2), 248–256.
Mehta, L (2015)
Politics of Integrated Water Resources Management in southern Africa, (WWW)
Institute of Development Studies (ids.ac.uk; 12/11/16).
Van der Zaag,
P. 2005. Integrated Water Resources Management: Relevant concept or irrelevant
buzzword? A capacity building and research agenda for Southern
Africa, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 30, 867-871.
Saturday 3 December 2016
(Mis)representation of Water in Africa – justifying a means for an end?
BLOG 8: (Mis)representation of
Water in Africa – justifying a means for an end?
Having been
involved with a number of philanthropic charity initiatives myself, such as the
annual ‘Charity Week’ at UCL which raised over £131,000 last year (sorry for
the plug…), I have been not only exposed but also implicitly involved with publicity
and marketing strategies that use ‘shocking’ footage in a bid to strike a chord
in the audiences heart – all in the hope that it will motivate them to donate. That was quite a long sentence - so I’ll
gift you with a breather... and now back to work. Often I have found myself
at the tail-end of a number of heated discussions and debates, mainly
surrounding the overarching question of whether the use of such imagery is
conducive towards the greater good of fulfilling charity.
Here’s some
of the arguments that are presented:
Ramification number one: Purportedly paints Africa as being one
country
Ramification number two: suggests western powers are the only saviour
Ramification number three (in response to number 2): People in
Africa are both hapless and helpless.
Ramification number four: Desensitising people to the plight as it can
have the counter effect by ‘normalising’
Ramification number five: Disrespectful to the very subjects it seeks to represent.
Ramification number six: justifies the use of them
Ramification number seven: Commodifies their plight, as something to be
exploited
I’m not going to attempt to tackle these or debunk them as though they
are myths, for the simple reason that some of these arguments are mine (or at
least shared by me) and valid (the two aren’t dependant – I’m not that arrogant).
I argue that these tools such as poverty porn are not conducive towards
alleviating the situation in a sustainable way. Rather, they are both a subject
and product of a perpetuating distortion of truth – and the many ramifications
mentioned above. This is inherently political given the dynamics at play. Poverty porn paints a picture of misrepresentation –
portraying individual stories and cases as the problem, thereby undermining the
systems in place both causing and perpetuating poverty. The issues it portrays
are overwhelmingly visual such as lack of suitable clothing, denying attention
to other factors such as mental health and psychological suffering. Often, the
stereotypes portrayed are false leading to only extreme cases shown and lack of
focus on those who still require the help of charities but could be deemed ‘not
extreme enough’.I have come to realise that these methods seek to only offer a disservice
to the groups it seeks to represent, and by doing so, they are guilty of
perpetuating and giving justification to the very issues it seeks to avoid. It
is interesting that the passive recipient here is presented as the hapless and
needy subject compared to the active giver (here being the charities). This
fortifies the post-colonial discourse through exposing the power dynamics at
play here.
In a TED Talk watched nearly 5 million times,
author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says:
“The consequence of the single story is this: it
robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity
difficult. It emphasises how we are different rather than how we are similar….
Stories
have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to
empower and humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories
can also repair that broken dignity.”
The only counter one can really present, to explain (but not justify –
which is an important distinction to make) is that indeed, these charities as
reputable as they be, are in essence businesses. With recent scandals exposing
just how big the bonus pay packages can be, the humiliation this brought the
CEO’s, I’m sure, are not a pinch of salt compared to what the recipients may
feel.
References:
AquaAid
(2012) A continent of thirsty children. Available at:
http://aquaidwatercoolers.co.uk/a-continent-of-thirsty-children (Accessed: 23
December 2016).
Schaffer,
J. (2016) Poverty Porn - Do the means justify the ends? Available at:
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/06/10/poverty-porn-do-the-means-justify-the-ends/
(Accessed: 23 December 2016).
Water.
Org (2016) Water.Org Safe water & sanitation Charity. Available at:
http://www.water.org (Accessed: 23 December 2016).
WaterAid
(2015) Big Pipe Project. Available at:
http://www.bigpipeproject.wateraid.org (Accessed: 23 December 2016).
WhiteFuseMedia
(2016) https://whitefusemedia.com/blog/poverty-porn-should-fundraising-override-dignity
Websites (all accessed 20th
November 2016)
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