This work package focused on the provision of planning criteria on the sub-basin level and the integration of results from other work packages into combined IWRM approaches. Nation- and region-wide scenarios resulting from several international research projects were used as starting points for prognoses concerning the water sector development in the research areas of SMART.

The scenarios as well as the experience from SMART working groups in different sub-regions showed that the most suitable approach to an IWRM strategy for the LJRV is a modular development of local IWRM concepts, which align the developed technical solutions with site-specific particularities as well as with the guidelines of the respective national water sector strategies.

The technical solutions developed and examined by SMART have the potential to provide a solid backbone of such local strategy modules. Particular advantages are not only their direct contribution to the alleviation of stress on water resources and to the sustainable functionality of hydrological cycles, but also their comparatively low political profile. The mobilization of additional water is a central issue of IWRM strategies in all examined areas, but its acceptance and success is intimately linked with acceptable responses to the question of its distribution within and outside of the respective basins.

Experience of the SMART working groups showed that IWRM solutions affect a number of areas, which are not always obvious in the beginning. Such areas range from constraints by existing – or currently missing – stakeholder representation and participation, to land tenure and building laws, to politically sensitive decisions. Obstacles encountered during the implementation of SMART activities as well as proposals for overcoming them in future IWRM implementation processes were documented. (Klinger et al. 2014, Klinger et al. 2015)