Programs and Priorities
ICBA has three main programs:
 The Programs are impacting three main issues:
Integrated Water Resource System
The Integrated Water Resource System (IWRS) approach examines the system flows,
balances, impacts, tradeoff, trends and dynamics in different water resources.
It considers all the different uses of a unit of water as it flows from river to
farm and from city to sea. IWRS values water resources from multiple
perspectives: the cost of extraction versus the value of crops, and the
reconciliation of human and societal needs with environmental concerns.
The IWRS Program includes five priorities:
- Assessment of trends in water resources
- Water allocation optimization
- Improvement of system/off-farm water use efficiency
- Environmental protection, sustainability and policy
- The sharing of water resources information and knowledge.
Many extensive projects will satisfy multiple priorities.
Marginal Quality Water Resources
Driven by increasing demand and concomitant diminishing
supply of water resources, the region, and elsewhere in the world, is focusing
on finding solutions. The second ICBA program, the Marginal Quality Water
Resources (MQ) Program, revolves around a major solution: the use of marginal
quality water. A resource formerly scorned, marginal quality water, which
includes municipal and industrial wastewater as well as saline water, is seen as
a key strategy to deal with the severe freshwater shortage. If research could
find sustainable new uses for it, marginal quality water could be transformed
into a valuable resource. ICBA will help the region gain knowledge in marginal
quality water science and policy by connecting to global expertise and
conducting research and development, discovering more effective ways to manage
marginal quality water, and devising monitoring protocols and usage guidelines.
The MQ Program comprises the following six priorities:
- Assessment of marginal quality water resources quantity and quality
- On-farm integrated resource management of marginal quality waters
- The use of marginal quality water sources for production of specialty products, methods/techniques for improving marginal quality water and its by-products for agriculture.
- Socio-economic aspects of marginal quality water
- the environmental impact assessment
Capacity building and Knowledge-sharing Program
The program, Communications, Networking and Information
Management, has been replaced in the ICBA Strategic Plan 2008-2012 by the
Capacity building and Knowledge-sharing Program. The driver behind this program
– to ensure that project participants and beneficiaries acquire knowledge and
skills from any project – remains the same. This Program comprises the following
priorities: the building of skills in integrated water resource systems science
and technology, the building of skills in marginal water quality science and
technology, the management of institutional change to achieve integrated water
resource systems approaches, governance and policy capacity-building, media, and
communications and public awareness-raising skills. ICBA will develop these
capacities in the region by organizing training courses, workshops, seminars,
graduate programs, and enhancing the communication and sharing of knowledge.
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