Integrated water resources management: new water & economic evaluation tools - application to Spain

Abstract

The concept of integrated water resources management (IWRM) has gradually gained recognition over the last decades. This is largely because IWRM advocates a coordinated approach in a way that balances social and economic needs with care for nature. This is in good agreement with the current interest for sustainable and green growth. Nevertheless, IWRM is both controversial and elusive in practice because of different motives such as lack of good data. Not the least of its shortcomings is the fact that many decisions affecting water are made outside the sphere of conventional water planning. Based on the Spanish experience of more than ten years, this paper examines briefly the role of the different values used in IWRM such as water accounting, food trade, environmental externalities, and some 'intangible' issues such as the cultural and socio-political background of the region. A major emphasis is placed on the economic aspects.