Following the completion of the Guidelines on Strategic Planning and Management of Water Resources, which has been posted on UNESCAP Website for water resources at www.unescap.org/esd/water/spm/, since May 2002, preparation was made to hold five sub-regional workshops to promote the application of the Guidelines and to establish core groups of experts in each sub-region to sustain the process of technology transfer.  During the third quarter of 2002, UNESCAP in cooperation with other interested international organizations, organized four sub-regional workshops on application of the Guidelines on Strategic Planning and Management of Water Resources for the four sub-regions: South-East Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and South Asia:

          1.  Sub-regional Workshop for South-East Asia was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 16 to 19 July 2002 in cooperation with the Mekong River Commission Secretariat. The Workshop was attended by 21 participants from 8 members of UNESCAP, comprising the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, Lao PDR, and Cambodia.  Participants from international organizations included three experts from UNESCAP, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and South-East Asia Technical Advisory Committee (SEATAC-GWP) and 15 MRCS staff members and consultants.

          2.  Sub-regional Workshop for the Pacific was held in Sigatoka, Fiji from 5 to 8 August 2002 in cooperation with the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). The Workshop was held back-to-back with the ADB-SOPAC Consultation Meeting on Water: “From Vision to Action” to synergize regional efforts on the promotion of integrated water resources management. The Sub-regional Workshop was attended by 22 participants, including 18 officials from 12 countries of the Pacific, namely Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu, three experts from SOPAC and an UNESCAP Consultant. The Sub-regional Workshop on water resources was also held jointly with the Sub-regional Workshop for the energy sector.

          3.  Sub-regional Workshop for Central Asia was held in Cholpan-Ata, Kyrgyzstan from 27 to 30 August 2002 in cooperation with the Inter-State Commission for Water Management Coordination (ICWC).  The Workshop was organized back-to-back with the 34thsession of ICWC to enable the ICWC Members (Vice Ministers in charge of water management in the five Central Asian countries) to take part in the Workshop.  The Workshop was attended by totally 49 participants, including 25 ICWC officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Turmenishtan, and Uzbekishtan; 13 officials representing the local organizers and the Scientific Information Centre of ICWC; and 12 international experts representing six international organizations working in the sub-region, namely Canada, SDC, USAID, World Bank, ADB and IWMI.  The opening session of the Workshop was presided over by His Excellency Mr. A.V. Kostyuk, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Kyrgyzstan (see photo.)

          4.  Sub-regional Workshop for South Asia was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 10 to 13 September 2002 in cooperation with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). H.E. Mr. Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Minister of Irrigation and Water Management, Sri Lanka and Prof. Frank Rijbersman, Director General of IWMI addressed the Workshop participants at the opening ceremony. The Workshop was attended by totally 25 participants, including 20 officials from eight countries of South Asia, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; two participants representing the local NGOs, one international expert provided by DFID of UK and two officials of IWMI.

          All the participants in the above four sub-regional workshops recognized the common trend emerging on water resources management in most countries in the region towards strategic planning and management.  They also recognized the need to ensure practicability in the application of SPM to water resources at different levels and endorsed the concept of the two basic SPM models proposed by  UNESCAP for water resources management: the collaborative strategic planning model and functional strategic planning model.  They also encouraged UNESCAP to develop case studies for each sub-region to use the related experiences and lessons learned from the training materials to supplement the Guidelines and support national efforts in capacity building on SPM.  They also expressed interest in undertaking case studies in their countries in cooperation with UNESCAP as part of the implementation of this project.