The Birth of IWRM

IWRM has emerged as a dominant paradigm in recent years (Conca 2006; Gyawali, Allan et al. 2006). Conca argues that IWRM has “become the discursive framework of international water policy – the reference point to which all other arguments end up appealing… IWRM combines intuitive reasonableness, an appeal to technical authority, and an all- encompassing character of such great flexibility that it approaches vagueness” (Conca 2006: 126-127, emphasis in original). It is now widely known how European based networks such as the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the World Water Council (WWC) and European bilateral aid agencies have been significant in assisting countries in the south to reform their water laws and to implement IWRM (Varady, Meehan et al. 2008). However, not much research has been done on the birth of the concept. This paper aims to begin to fill this gap by examining how the intersections between experts, science and politics provided the impetus for IWRM creation and dissemination. In line with the objective of the panel, we will seek to address how multi-level decision-analysis, and scale was designed and envisaged during the birth and emergence of IWRM.