ABSTRACT
Mzingwane Catchment? Answers to these questions can help clarify whether river basin planning is conceptualised as development planning (which involves the prioritisation of the developmental goals of a society), or as a resource plan that promotes efficient water use. How river basin planning is conceptualised and executed potentially impacts on livelihood. In the global water resource management discourse there has been a resurgence of river basin planning (Molle, 2009; Warner et al., 2008). The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) of 2002, for example, called on countries to develop IWRM and Water Efficiency Plans46
. It is this implied connection between the IWRM framework and sustainable development, in terms of whether river basin planning can and does contribute towards socio-economic development, especially among the rural poor, which interests this chapter.
