The paper presents the research concept for the development of a Geographical Information System
(GIS) based support tools for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Namibia. It
reflects on preliminary findings and experience gained about how IWRM should be managed using
holistic approaches based on participatory methods and computer systems.
The paper suggests the need to apply a combination of holistic approaches to consider all kinds of
data in the findings. Specific approaches such as consultative meetings, Focus Group Discussions
(FGD), participatory mapping, GIS and remote sensing are suggested in order to contribute to the
research‟s findings. Both positive and negative impacts of participatory approaches and computer
systems in IWRM were preliminary studied. The impacts measured were based on consultation
meetings with experts and local communities, with the support of the scientific literature.
The preliminary study established that Namibia has taken a good step in preparation for the
implementation of IWRM, but there is still lack of involvements at local level and poor integration of
computer systems in the processes. The preliminary findings further revealed that there is still lack of
spatial data, pitiable spatial data management, lowly spatial data processing and poor spatial data
representation techniques to support the implementation of IWRM in Namibia.
Key recommendations include comprehensive research on the development of a GIS based support
tools for IWRM in Namibia. The study is proposed to be carried-out in the respective water basins in
order to gather detailed information and develop specific computer systems that are tailor-made for
each basin.