origins=<b>Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) can trace its origins to two key events in 1992 Ð the International Conference on Water and the Environment and the UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED).</b>

<li>Freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment;</li><li>Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels;</li><li>Women play a central part in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water;</li><li>Water has an economic value in all its competing uses, and should be recognized as an economic good;</li>
The development of the Dublin Principles came in the same year as Agenda 21, the result of another pivotal conference, the UN Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janerio in June 1992.  The Dublin Principles significantly influenced the water aspects of Agenda 21, with both documents continuing to remain central to Integrated Water Resource Management <a href="asfunction:gotoAndStop,_root.values"><font color="#00adef"><u> (IWRM) </u> </font></a>and the role of water in the sustainable development debate.  Even though these principles and documents are legally non-binding, they set examples for best practice and standards for good governance (Greiber and Iza, 2008).