Sustainability of Integrated Water Resources Management ― Water Governance, Climate and Ecohydrology

The main focus of this book is sustainable management of water resources in a changing climate. The book also addresses the question of how to define and measure the sustainability of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The sustainability of IWRM is an important issue when planning and/or developing policies that consider the impact of climate change, water governance and ecohydrology in the context of a more holistic approach to ensure sustainable management of water resources. Sustainable IWRM is more about processes, and relatively little systematic or rigorous work has been done to articulate what components are the most essential to ensure the ongoing sustainability of IWRM efforts. The chapters cover topics including global prospective of IWRM; allocation of environmental flows in IWRM; echohydrology, water resources and environmental sustainability; climate change and IWRM; IWRM and water governance including social, economic, public health and cultural aspects; climate change resiliency actions related to water resources management sustainability and tools in support of sustainability for IWRM.

This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, water resources mangers, policy and decision makers, donors, international institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, educators, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. It is a useful reference for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), ecohydrology, climate change impact and adaptations, water governance, environmental flows, geographic information system and modeling tools, water and energy nexus and related topics.

Dr. Shimelis Gebriye Setegn earned his Ph.D. in land and water resources engineering and M.Sc. in soil and water conservation engineering. Currently, he is a Program Executive Officer at the Global Water for Sustainability Program (GLOWS) and Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Setegn has an interdisciplinary background and experience in environmental, hydrological and hydrodynamic modeling; watershed dynamics, ecohydrology, predicting the impact of climate and land-use changes on water resources, agriculture and public health; GIS and remote sensing applications in the environment and water resources. Dr. Setegn has more than 19 years of teaching, research and development experience in Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico and Central and South America. His work on different international projects has led to several peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters. He has also given several scientific presentations at international conferences and symposiums. Dr. Setegn has conducted many short and long courses in hydrological modeling, climate change, integrated water resources management, GIS and remote sensing in the United States, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras, Chile, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda and Sweden.

Dr. Maria Concepcion Donoso is the Director of Global Water for Sustainability Program (GLOWS). Previously, Dr. Donoso was the Regional Hydrologist of UNESCO for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), where she was in charge of the entire portfolio of water projects implemented by UNESCO in the LAC region. Dr. Donoso's research and professional interests are in integrated water resources management, air-sea-land interaction processes, and in climate change and variability impacts on the natural environment and society. Ms. Donoso has acted as director of various projects and studies on water sciences. Similarly, she has served as Technical Adviser to national and regional organizations, and to private consulting firms. In this context, she served as the Coordinator of the Regional Consultation of the Caribbean and Central America Vision on Water, Life and the Environment for the 21st Century (1999 - 2000). Furthermore, Ms. Donoso was a member of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Overall Performance Study International Team of Experts (2001-2002) and of the UNEP Scientific Advisory Group on Water (2011), as well as the Coordinator of the Task Force of Experts in charge of the development of the Strategy for the VIII Phase (to be implement for the period 2014-2021) of the International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO (2009-2013).