Resource information
Water is everyone's business.
Beside a necessity for living, water has implications on
public health and, most importantly, can cause social
conflicts. This is because water is limited, is difficult to
control, and can easily be polluted. The Integrated Water
Resource Management (IWRM) process is considered worldwide
as a means to reduce social conflicts from competing water
needs as well as to facilitate effective and sustainable
development of water resources. Effective implementation of
IWRM however will require appropriate policy, regulation,
and institutional frameworks which could facilitate
cross-sectoral dialogue and cooperation among water users. A
good example of IWRM is in the Lower Mekong River Basin.
IWRM has been adopted by the Mekong River Commission (MRC)
as a means to management water resources through the 1995
agreement, where as MRC countries are fully committed to
manage water resources. In Thailand, IWRM has been
technically recognized as a means to achieve sustainable
water resources management and the concept has been
incorporated in the national policy for more than 15 years,
however clear institutional responsibility and introduction
of the IWRM concept to local communities are relatively new.
To address the challenges on water resource management in
Thailand, particularly at the local level, stronger
leadership and commitment of the key government agencies and
effective cooperation of the water users will be important.
