Based on the findings and recommendation of the five subregional workshops on application of strategic planning and management to water resources organized as part of phase 2 of the Project on Capacity-building in strategic planning and management of natural resources in Asia and the Pacific, the Guidelines on Straegic Planning and Management of Water Resources developed in phase 1, was updated to include a new chapter on “Monitoring Outcomes of Strategic Planning in Water Management: Using Indicators Effectively” and other improvements using relevant experiences collected during phase 2.  The updated version of the Guidelines has been posted on UNESCAP Website for water resources at http://www.unescap.org/esd/Energy-Security-and-Water-Resources/water/spm/, since June 2003.

In connection with the implementation of phase 3, arrangements have been made to conduct case studies in 17 countries in the five subregions.  Up to date, nine case studies with corresponding workshops have been completed for Malaysia, Thailand, Lao PDR, Pakistan and five countries in Central Asia.  The most recent workshops were held in February 2004 in cooperation with the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources and in April 2004 with the Scientific Information Centre of the Inter-state Commission for Water Management Coordination respectively.  Apart from the organization of workshops, preparatory seminars have also been held to assist the related authorities in preparing the case study reports, such as for the Central Asia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam.  Draft strategic plan reports have also been submitted to UNESCAP for the case studies in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, for which the respective national workshops are scheduled to be held at the beginning and middle July 2004. 

In addition to the case studies on preparation of strategic plans towards integrated water resources management, the guidelines were also adapted for training in the Central Asia, using the experiences of the case studies.  The training seminar is now scheduled to be held in trainers in October 2004.

All the findings from the case studies will be synthesized and presented at the Concluding Regional Workshop of the project, now scheduled to be held in Bangkok from 23 to 26 November 2004.