UNDP / GWP
Project for a National Plan Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Efficiency Plan
Second Working Paper on the Establishment of River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan
December 2004
Table of Contents
1 Summary of Main Points 1
2 Introduction 1
2.1 Project Description 1
2.2 Background on River Basin Councils 2
3 Establishing the River Basin Councils 3
3.1 Basic Procedures in RBC Establishment 3
3.2 Proposed Steps in Establishing RBCs in Kazakhstan 4
3.3 Public Awareness on RBCs in Kazakhstan 4
4 Current Work in Progress 5
4.1 Initial Meetings 5
4.2 Working Groups 5
4.3 Training 6
5 Schedule for the Establishment of RBCs 6
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SecondWorkingPaperonRBCs/ 15/06/2009
UNDP / GWP
Project for a National Plan Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Water Efficiency Plan
Second Working Paper on Establishment of River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan
1 Summary of Main Points
· Readers are referred to the First Working Paper on the Establishment of River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan (July, 2004, available on our website, www.caresd.net/iwrm) which contains further background information
· The River Basin Council (RBC) is an advisory body on water resources management issues, advising the River Basin Organisations (RBOs).
· River Basin Councils are instituted in Article 43 of the 2003 Water Code.
· The RBCs represent the water user stakeholders in the basin and contribute to the implementation of IWRM in Kazakhstan as stakeholder participation is a principle of IWRM.
· Information is a key requirement of the RBCs in order to advise the RBOs effectively. The chronic lack of water and environment related information is therefore a major concern.
· The Balkash-Alakol RBO will pilot the establishment of the RBCs but the Nura-Sarysu RBO will follow closely
· All River Basin Councils will be established by mid-2006
· The Project will continue to support RBC activities after initial establishment to ensure the RBCs are firmly entrenched in the water resources management process
2 Introduction
2.1 Project Description
This Working Paper on the Establishment of River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan is prepared through the UNDP Project for a National Integrated Water Resources Management Plan. The Project is funded mainly by the Government of Norway with assistance from the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the UNDP. The Kazakhstan project partner is the Committee for Water Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Project began in June 2004 and will be completed in June 2007.
The Project has four primary outputs:
- National IWRM and Efficiency Plans and River Basin IWRM and Efficiency Plans
- Establishment of River Basin Councils (RBCs)
- Strategy for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS)
- Improvement of cooperation and partnerships at regional and country levels.
The four Project outputs are closely interlinked. For example:
· the National IWRM Plan will cross reference the Strategy for Achievement of the MDGs for WSS because there are common elements such as the need for effective water resources management if the MDGs are to be met and the mutual benefit between achieving the MDGs and improving the water environment
· the establishment of RBCs is a means of improving stakeholder involvement in water management, one of the principals of IWRM as well as being crucial to the success of achieving the MDGs.
· to achieve any of the project outputs, improving cooperation and developing partnerships among the various organisations involved is both a necessary activity and an important consequence of the work
The establishment of the RBCs is crucial to the implementation of the National IWRM Plan and successfully achieving the MDGs for WSS. The Committee for Water Resources links the three components as their responsibilities as the national water managers cut across these key water initiatives.
The Project will support and assist the CWR and the River Basin Organisations (RBOs) in establishing RBCs in all eight river basins of Kazakhstan.
This Second Working Paper is an update of the First Working Paper on the Establishment of River Basin Councils in Kazakhstan which was prepared in July 2004. This Second Working Paper provides an outline of work that has progressed since July and reiterates some of the more important aspects. The reader should also refer back to the First Working Paper which contains much of the background information on RBCs (available on www.caresd.net/iwrm). The First Working Paper was discussed at several events and meetings and the contents of this, the Second Working Paper reflect the outcomes of those discussions.
2.2 Background on River Basin Councils
Two key principles of IWRM are those of managing water resources at the river basin level and the active involvement of water stakeholders in the management of water resources. Stakeholders can be included and represented in a number of ways but it is generally accepted that a River Basin Council or its equivalent is the most efficient organisation to act as the face of the water users.
The need for RBCs has been acknowledged in Kazakhstan through the 2003 Water Code, Article 43, which states:
- The order of the Committee for Water Resources of April 21 2004 states that River Basin Organisations shall report on their activity on establishment of the River Basin Councils.
- The River Basin Council shall be chaired by the head of the relevant River Basin Organisation and comprise heads of local representative and executive bodies and territorial bodies of state authorities and representatives of water users. A River Basin Council can also include representatives of non-government organizations. Organization of the activities of the basin council shall be a responsibility of the River Basin Organisation.
- The River Basin Council shall examine topical issues of use and protection of the water resource and make suggestions and recommendations for participants of the basin agreement.
Accomplishing this task requires a large degree of involvement from the CWR and the RBOs. Under the Code, it is the responsibility of the RBOs to establish the RBCs, which means mobilising stakeholders to ensure their involvement in water resources management decision making. The Project will assist the RBOs through this process and beyond the initial meetings. The Balkash-Alakol river basin is acting as the pilot basin. The Nura-Sarysu River Basin will also act as a pilot because of the Nura RBOs relative lead in working with NGOs. Establishing RBCs in all other basins will follow closely behind.
3 Establishing the River Basin Councils
3.1 Basic Procedures in RBC Establishment
Establishing the RBCs is a totally new concept in Kazakhstan. Indeed, there are very few sectors of society in which there is significant public or stakeholder participation. Organisations similar to RBCs, or at least with similar purposes, have been set up in various countries. However in terms of the process of establishing them there is no particular model that may be relied on from which to develop a process for Kazakhstan. Therefore the process of establishing RBCs must take a ‘learn by doing’ sort of approach.
However, two basic tenets drawn from experience in other countries are fully applicable to Kazakhstan:
- RBCs tend to evolve into the best working arrangement within a few years of their establishment. Therefore it is not necessary to have a set-in-stone RBC structure that is expected to be perfect from the start. To be functional it must be allowed to take its own shape.
2. It is unnecessary for all eight RBCs to have the same structure or the same number or type of membership. The size, shape and structure of RBCs should depend on the needs of the river basin and the ideas of the participants and members of the RBC.
The ‘best’ procedure would certainly be to start to build public participation from the bottom, such as through water user associations (WUAs) or similar organisations. However, there is insufficient time to do so, especially given the poor record to date of establishing WUAs in Kazakhstan. Therefore it will be necessary to select members as representatives of civil society and then begin work on building up WUAs and other civil society organisations in parallel. Eventually they will elect representatives or otherwise select them as they choose. Work will be supported by the project in building the grassroots level organisations.
3.2 Proposed Steps in Establishing RBCs in Kazakhstan
The proposed approach includes the following steps:
· determination of a preliminary list of potential RBC participants (government and non-government organisations), water users, etc.
· dissemination of basic information materials on RBCs to potential participants
· organisation of area visits and meetings for consultations on the role, status and importance of RBCs
· determination of local needs in basin councils and local persons who can help with establishment and further strengthening of a RBC
· consultations and selection of potential RBC members
· preparation and implementation of the initial meeting for establishing the RBC with potential members
· follow-up discussions of founding documents for the RBC with members
· first full meeting of RBC
· continuing training and consultation for RBC members through the period of the Project
Most people involved in the process at this time are government and there is a significant bias toward RBCs being full of representatives of government, whether Oblast departments of ministries or of Akimats. This problem will need to be solved through working from both the government side and from the public or grassroots side simultaneously.
The list above is expected to follow the same procedure in all river basins, following on from Balkash-Alakol, but will change as required to improve the process.
3.3 Public Awareness on RBCs in Kazakhstan
As stated above, there is only limited understanding of the purpose, the roles and responsibilities of RBCs in Kazakhstan. This is true of water management professionals and certainly of the public and other water users. Water users who understand RBCs will make the establishment of RBCs, and their transition to fully functioning bodies, much easier.
A public awareness programme is currently being developed by the project with the intention of running it in the first part of 2005, simultaneously with the start of the first meetings for establishing RBCs. The campaign will cover such topics as:
· What River Basin Councils are and why we have them
· How they work in other countries
· Objectives of RBCs
· RBC functions in Kazakhstan
· RBC Members
· The process of establishing RBCs
· Working procedures
· Accountability
· Information needs and availability
· Means of public awareness and information dissemination
· Financing RBCs
4 Current Work in Progress
4.1 Initial Meetings
Initial discussions on the preparation of the establishment of RBCs were held at Roundtable Meeting on 15 September, with participants from a fairly broad range of experts. The Roundtable covered all three major outputs of the project which necessitated that discussion specific to the RBC could not be very detailed. However, a general approach to the work plan was presented and agreed.
The working plan was developed further at the First RBO Workshop on 22 & 23 September. The participants were primarily staff from the RBOs, as they have the primary responsibility for establishing RBCs. The workshop covered the whole of the project including the Strategy for the Achievement of MDGs for WSS and the preparation of the National IWRM and Water Efficiency Plan. However, much of the time was spent discussing the RBCs because there is currently little understanding about what RBCs are, what their functions will be and how they will interact with the RBOs.
4.2 Working Groups
The Working Group on the establishment RBCs was formed and the first meeting was held on 19 November 2004. The discussion at the meeting made it apparent that forming RBCs may face real difficulties. First, it was apparent that RBO staff and many others are not fully aware of the concept of RBCs as a component of public participation. There is still a need for more information on the purpose of RBCs, who will be their membership, how they will interact with RBOs, etc. Second, there is a definite bias toward the membership being almost entirely representatives of government. This problem will need to be solved through working from both the government side and from the public or grassroots side simultaneously.
There is considerable debate on whether the Basin Agreements come before or after the formation of RBCs. ‘Before’ is how the procedure is presented in the Water Code. However, it is relatively easy to solve. The suggestion from the Project legal expert is to form a ‘framework agreement’ (essentially an “agreement to make an agreement”) very quickly and proceed with the formation of the RBCs. After that, a more detailed Basin Agreement can be made after the RBC is in place. It will be far easier to develop these agreements as a Council as they will be similar for all partners making these agreements.
It was recommended that a Core Group be formed of four or five people who are actually contributing directly to the Plan. They will lead future meetings of the larger Working Group.
It was agreed that a higher level, inter-ministerial meeting is necessary to bring in people from finance, economics, etc. May was considered a good time to have such a meeting, as there will be the beginning of some concrete results to present as a foundation for discussion. The RBC topic will likely be discussed as part of the meeting for the National IWRM Plans.
The next meeting is scheduled for early February 2005.
4.3 Training
Nine staff members from RBOs and CWR were supported by the project to attend a one-week IWRM Training Course at the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination Training Centre in Tashkent (December 13 to 18). This will be the first IWRM training programme with two further sessions run by the project in February and May 2005. It should help RBO staff understand what stakeholder participation is about.
The first IWRM Workshop dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding or RBCs is now scheduled for early February. A second will be held in May.
5 Schedule for the Establishment of RBCs
Figure 1 below shows the schedule for establishing the RBCs as it stands in December 2004. This will be updated as work progresses.
Many of the RBCs will be established during 2005 so this will be a busy year. All of them will be established by mid-2006.
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Figure 1: Schedule for the Establishment of River Basin Councils
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