Drainage for Gain : Integrated Solutions to Drainage in Land and Water Management

In its drive to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the World Bank issued, in October 2002, new strategies for agricultural and rural development, and water resources management. These strategies both identified more and better drainage investments as important to achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals, notably poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. The Bank subsequently conducted a thorough review of all Bank projects having drainage as the main intervention or as a component of irrigation or flood control. In addition, analysis was undertaken of the drainage situation and historical development in six countries with large drainage portfolios. This effort culminated in a technical study to develop a new approach to drainage planning and management. The approach identifies the role of all stakeholders in decisionmaking, the institutional and management requirements, and options for financing investment, operation, and maintenance of drainage projects. This report is intended to set the stage for movement toward integrated agricultural drainage management through operationalization of the findings of the following studies: 1) review of completed and active drainage projects or components of projects in the Bank's portfolio in the 1973-2002; 2) analysis of drainage in six country case studies (Bangladesh, Egypt, the Netherlands, Mexico, Pakistan, and Indonesia-appendix; and 3) a technical report, based mainly on the case studies, that formulates a framework and tool for analysis and planning of drainage interventions, within an integrated and participatory approach.