River Basin Planning in the Philippines

Rolling out the IWRM planning guidelines to strengthen river basin plans in practice

Over the preceding decade, a number of river basin plans had been prepared in the Philippines, but their detail and quality varied considerably, and most plans consisted of a wish list of infrastructure developments that were largely uncoordinated and did not take into account the water actually available in each basin. With competing water uses and climate change placing increasing stress on water availability across many of the country’s river basins, it was no longer appropriate to plan water developments on a sector by sector basis. A shift toward river basin level, integrated water resources management (IWRM) planning and development was needed.

The technical assistance, Developing the River Basin Planning Framework through IWRM Approach, built on the IWRM guidelines developed the previous year for the preparation of river basin plans in line with good international practice, and rolled out those guidelines in practice. The need to test how the guidelines worked on the ground had been highlighted at the Third International River Basin Conference held in Cagayan de Oro in November 2016, and this project responded directly to that call, working with the agencies responsible for river basin planning and with those involved in major water developments.

The assignment reviewed three updated river basin plans for their compliance with the guidelines and selected one basin for closer analysis. A workshop was held to discuss the practical application of the guidelines with the agencies involved, followed by field engagement with regional staff to introduce the guidelines and the selected case, including its objectives and indicators. A simple quantitative water allocation model was developed for the selected basin through interactive sessions, supporting the analysis and selection of promising investments. The typical terms of reference used for engaging local consultants to update river basin plans were also enhanced, using the updated sample basin as a working example, and a good practice framework was finalized to guide future river basin plan updates.