1. WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE , FOOD AND WATER SECURITY:
IDENTIFYING CRITICAL ISSUES AND EXPLORING COOPERATIVE STRATEGIES
IN AN AGE OF INCREASED RISK AND UNCERTAINTY FOR SOUTH ASIA.
GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP (GWP) – INTERNATIONAL WATER
MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (IWMI)
IWRM AND SOCIAL EQUITY
Humberto Peña
Technical Committee Member, GWP
February 24 – 25, 2011. Colombo – Sri Lanka

2. WHAT IS SOCIAL EQUITY IN THE WATER CONTEXT?
EQUITY IS:
 one of the three pillars of IWRM
 a critical issue in debates about water reforms (used
to promote and to block)
 high on the agenda in fight against poverty (MDG’s)
and in international and national water forums
BUT
 the content and scope of social equity in the context
of water remains very fuzzy

3. PURPOSE OF TEC BACKGROUND PAPER
 Flesh out the concept of social equity in the context
of water
 Provide a framework for analyzing equity in the
context of water management
 Support better policy making
 Encourage reflection and discussion

4. CONSIDERATIONS FOR ASSESSING EQUITY IN WATER
MANAGEMENT
1. People
2. The totality of benefits derived from water (direct and
indirect)
3. Equity in processes, e.g., equal opportunities,
maintaining fair play and, procedural justice
4. The needs and ethical principles that are recognized as
basic by Society
5. Tradeoffs with economic efficiency

5. 1. SOCIAL EQUITY IS ABOUT PEOPLE NOT WATER
Focus on people implies:
 Recognizing that people have different needs,
preferences and capacities
 Water management must be understood as a means
to advance social equity goals (not an end)
 Social equity is judged by the final situation of people,
so we must assess the cumulative effect of different
policies (water sector + other sector policies + general
policies)

6. 2. TOTALITY OF BENEFITS
 The result of interactions in natural + human systems &
complex processes, externalities, feedbacks, etc.
 Thus, determining benefits and beneficiaries is difficult
USE VALUES Private
• direct goods
•indirect (markets) B1
• social goals • STATE
•option values Common- B2 • ECONOMIC
Pool SYSTEM
resources (Employment,
NON USE B3 payments,
VALUES productive
• existence (Pure) chains)
•legacy Public B4
goods
Benefits/ damages Access/ rivalry Beneficiaries Environment
(examples)

7. 3. EQUITY IN PROCESSES
 The process can be as important as the results
 What influences the perception of equity?
 Ability to participate in the process, express
opinions, and raise issues
 Impartiality and credibility of decision-making
authorities
 Access to proper information
 Being treated with respect

8. OBSTACLES TO EQUITABLE PROCESSES
 Nominal or practical absence of normative
framework
 Asymmetry problems due to lack of:
 Communication
 Training stakeholders in the proper use for the valid
legal and institutional system and its guarantees
 Specialized technical knowledge
 Corruption and lack of transparency in procedures
 Discrimination (due gender, social, racial, and
political differences)
 Problems of collective action and agency

9. 4. BASIC NEEDS AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Basic needs and minimum requirements:
 Basic human needs – drinking, domestic use, water for
food security and other production at a family level
 Customary uses – immemorial uses
 Minimum environmental requirements – flows, water
levels, water quality, habitat integrity and biotic integrity
Other ethical principles:
 The requirement of rational & beneficial use: ‘a use
that is generally recognized as an economic and socially
valuable use’

10. 5. TRADEOFFS BETWEEN SOCIAL EQUITY & ECONOMIC
EFFICIENCY
In water resources management, the space where
tradeoffs are considered should be small
It does not include:
 Uses associated with basic human demands and minimum
requirements
 Uses that are not beneficial (these should be eliminated)
 When losses in equity do not contribute to greater economic
benefits (lose-lose)
 When gains for different groups also benefit the poorest (win-
win)

11. 5. TRADEOFFS BETWEEN SOCIAL EQUITY & ECONOMIC
EFFICIENCY
And our goal for public policies should be to promote
integrated policies with win-win solutions
a) Developing programs oriented toward leveling the
economic efficiency in the weakest sectors
b)Using the public instruments that are oriented toward
the redistribution of income (taxes and subsidies) with
the purpose of transferring benefits toward the weaker
sectors without diminishing the economic productivity
of water resources

12. FINAL REMARKS: IWRM AND SOCIAL EQUITY
Why we need an integrated view:
 Social equity in relation to water must be viewed in
the larger context of society’s goals
 Social equity must be considered within processes, as
well as in the distribution of the final benefits
associated with water.
 It is necessary to consider all benefits and all users
associated with the water resource (regardless of
whether they are direct or indirect beneficiaries) and
all forms of accessing benefits

13. FINAL REMARKS: IWRM AND SOCIAL EQUITY
 Water policies should be assessed based on their final
outcomes, and thus must be considered along with
other sector policies, that impact water and benefits
from water, and general State policies
 Although tradeoffs are sometimes needed between
the goals of social equity and economic efficiency,
these goals often reinforce each other

14. THANK YOU