Combining skills

Until recently, changing climate was a peripheral issue for water managers. Their attention had rightly been focused on the challenge of managing available water resources in the optimum way, to satisfy the growing demands of people, agriculture, industry and nature. Integrated water resources management (IWRM) was recognised as the primary tool for achieving water use efficiency and sustainability. But, effective IWRM needs up-to-date information. In the past, hydrological calculations have been based on historic records of rainfall and river flows. From these records, different kinds of hydrographs allowed water engineers to compute reservoir sizes to balance seasonal supply and demand, the height of embankments and the sizes of designated flood plains to handle floods with an acceptable return period, and urban drainage systems to contain design storms without flooding city streets with sewage. 

The battery of extreme floods and droughts in recent years brought a new sense of urgency among water managers to consider changing rainfall and runoff patterns in their design calculations. In 2001, the Dialogue on Water and Climate (DWC) was created, with a mandate to foster co-operation and collaboration among climate and water specialists. The specific goal was to address the problem of managing water resources in a world of increasing hydrological variability.

Eighteen multi-stakeholder "Dialogues" were established, to assess and prepare responses to the climate/water situation at river basin (eight Dialogues), national (two) and regional (eight) levels. As well as bridging the divide between water and climate specialists, the Dialogues brought together representatives of the community, local and national government, NGOs, the private sector, and international knowledge institutions in the climate field. The results, summarised in the "Yellow Pages" of Chapter 4 in Climate changes the water rules, have amply demonstrated the power of partnership. They have shown too that committed and empowered dialogues can develop impressive self-help ideas for adapting to climatic variability and change. Among the main report recommendations is one to continue initiating dialogues at national, basin and regional levels, and to prepare knowledge-based guidelines on how to conduct these multi-stakeholder dialogues. Alongside the Dialogues, DWC sponsored some 25 Thematic Papers by recognised experts, to produce a broad analysis of all the key issues that might affect strategies to cope with the influences of climate on water resources management. The outcome is the first ever "Coping Compendium".

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