Integrated water resources management in Peru through shared vision planning

Water is Peru’s new gold. In the past decade, Peru has been going through a dramatic transformation with high economic growth and a growing prosperous population. However, water is in the wrong place and the country recognizes the need to develop sustainable solutions for water management. With more than 80 per cent of its water falling in the Andes, hundreds of miles from the growing population centres along the arid coast, and hydrology already being radically altered by melting glaciers, Peru needed to act. In 2009 the country passed a new water law and set out on an ambitious plan to develop locally-driven solutions for water sustainability. In effect, the law states that water is both an economic and social good, and that integrated water resources management (IWRM) incorporates social, cultural and environmental values with the goal to maximize social and economic well-being without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Easier said than done.