Science-Based IWRM Implementation in a Data-Scarce Central Asian Region: Experiences from a Research and Development Project in the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia

Water

Daniel Karthe⁴  Jürgen Hofmann²  Ralf Ibisch⁴  Sonja Heldt¹  Katja Westphal⁴  Lucas Menzel⁶  Saulyegul Avlyush³  Marcus Malsy⁵ 

[1] Department of Urban Water and Waste Management, Duisburg-Essen University, Essen 45141, Germany; E-Mail:;Department Ecohydrology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin 12587, Germany; E-Mail:;Institute of Geography-Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 15170, Mongolia; E-Mail:;Department Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis and Management, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Magdeburg 39114, Germany; E-Mails:;Center for Environmental Systems Research, Kassel University, Kassel 34109, Germany; E-Mail:;Department of Geography, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg 69120, Germany; E-Mail:

关键词: IWRM;    data scarcity;    Mongolia;    Central Asia;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w7073486

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Mongolia is not only a water-scarce but also a data-scarce country with regard to environmental information. At the same time, regional effects of global climate change, major land use changes, a booming mining sector, and growing cities with insufficient and decaying water and wastewater infrastructures result in an increasingly unsustainable exploitation and contamination of ground and surface water resources putting at risk both aquatic ecosystems and human health. For the mesoscale (≈15,000 km²) model region of the Kharaa River Basin (KRB), we investigated (1) the current state of aquatic ecosystems, water availability and quality; (2) past and expected future trends in these fields and their drivers; (3) water governance structures and their recent reforms; and (4) technical and non-technical interventions as potential components of an integrated water resources management (IWRM). By now, the KRB is recognized as one of the most intensively studied river basins of the country, and considered a model region for science-based water resources management by the Mongolian government which recently adopted the IWRM concept in its National Water Program. Based on the scientific results and practical experiences from a six-year project in the KRB, the potentials and limitations of IWRM implementation under the conditions of data-scarcity are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.