Roles and perspectives of the policy‐maker, affected water sector and scientist in integrated water resources management: a case study from South Africa

Abstract

Following a definition of integrated water resources management (IWRM) and who the various stakeholders are in IWRM, the roles and views of three different stakeholders are discussed from a South African perspective. The role of national policy‐maker is that of enabling/facilitating IWRM in light of principles and provisions enshrined in South Africa's National Water Act of 1998. Commercial agriculture is selected as one sector markedly affected by new legislation related to IWRM. Positives of the legislation are first outlined, but perceived ‘threats’ by the commercial agriculture sector of legislation then come under the spotlight. These are categorized into questions on water allocation, water conservation and water management. The role of the scientist, more specifically the hydrologist, in enabling/facilitating IWRM is viewed from perspectives of the scientist's being the ‘objective broker’ between stakeholders with their own agendas, to information provider, of being model developer, of pre‐empting future questions on IWRM, as communicator and as a capacity builder.