Learning Repository

Valuing Water: The Australian Perspective. Lessons from the Murray-Darling Basin

Publication

This is one in a series of four reports that examine how the diverse values placed on water have shaped the development and management of water resources in the Murray Darling River Basin.

The report synthesises and elicits generalisable lessons from three case studies that tell the story of valuing water in the Basin through the primary lenses of economics, environment and Australia’s First Nations cultural values of water. The insights and generalisable lessons presented in this report are primarily intended for policy makers, practitioners, water managers, water engineers, civil society organisations and academics to inform and improve water management in other country contexts. These lessons are provided not as a roadmap for direct transfer elsewhere, but rather as framing and guidance that should be viewed through the lens of the hydrological, ecological, socioeconomic and political context of a specific basin or country.

This series of reports is the result of a collaborative effort between the World Bank and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with support from the Australian Water Partnership, to promote more equitable, transparent and effective management of water resources development. The report is also available to download from the World Bank.

WASH FINANCE: Accessing Commercial Finance for Water and Sanitation Service Providers in Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal

Publication

This paper presents three case studies from the USAID Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASHFIN) Program, which illustrate different approaches to leveraging commercial finance in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector. The Program implemented activities in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America since 2016 and helped raise over US$118.8 million from a mix of public and private financing sources. These three examples from Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal are representative of the Program’s efforts to help close financing gaps utilizing both public and commercial funding sources.

Water Accounting Plus: ADB irrigation case studies

Publication

IHE Delft, in partnership with International Water Management Institute (IWMI), implemented various studies under the ADB assignment “Expanding support to Water Accounting in River Basins and Water Productivity Measurements in Irrigated projects” (42384-012). The studies aim to support (a) ADB’s lending and non-lending assistance in the water sector, and (b) the design of irrigation projects at an early stage at selected candidate projects. The main focus is on making the best use of remote sensing data and information to inform decision making. The analyses contributed to various ADB funded projects in six countries (Cambodia, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Philippines and Sri Lanka).