Jerome delli priscoli biography definition

Public Involvement Techniques: A Reader of Ten Years Experience at the Institute for Water Resource

by Jerry Dellipriscoli and James Creighton

This collection of articles documents, in a general way, that IWR contribution. While comprehensi... more This collection of articles documents, in a general way, that IWR contribution. While comprehensive, it is not definitive. We are still learning. However, the materials reflect the types and ways the Corps, as an organization, has attempted to meet new public involvement demands. As such, it is as important for what is absent as whit is included. We have tried to synthesize, by topic, the contributions of IWR staff and consultants. Throughout, further original source material is referenced for those desiring more "indepth" discussion. Prior to 1970, the participation of the public had been limited largely :. to formal public hearings on water resources studies. However, as early as July 1968, the Corps had initiated a research study by a University of Michigan research team consisting of Tho"as E. Borton, Katherine P. Warner and J. William Wenrich to explore techniques for improvlng conmunication between the public and the govrnmental agencies involved in comprehensive river basin planning. This study, titled "The Susqueha'na Communication-Ptrlctpation Study," was published as an IWR Report in December, 1e pages 38-395.) Reflecting the increased interest * technical aid. The IWR professional staff also continues to publish professional papers related to public involvement. Papers by Dr. Delli Priscoli and by C. M. Dunning are included in this reader to illustrate the issues dealt with by IWR staff. In addition there are numerous studies carried out by IWR on Social Impact Assessment end future studies which relate to public involvemen'%. Recently IWR has begun two major studies of hydroelectric power and the future of American waterways which themselves require pu

GlobalIWRM

Dr Jerome Delli Priscoli is the new Chair of the GWP Technical Committee. However, his history with the network goes back to 1996 at a meeting in Stockholm where GWP was conceived. “The work of GWP is born from a philosophy that is central to my own philosophy, which is a multi-stakeholder, participatory approach,” he says.

Over the years Dr Delli Priscoli has been involved with GWP in a number of assessment roles, and he says it’s fascinating to be back in the network that has grown and developed.

“In 1996 when GWP was founded, I was asked by various governments and the World Bank to design and facilitate a process for about a hundred donors, NGOs, and others. The point was to find a way to negotiate and come up with methods to better coordinate water assistance to help people with water issues all over the world. At the time the resources for water were dwindling,” explains Dr Delli Priscoli.

He still believes in the fundamental idea behind the network, which is about how to make water management work in a complicated world of many stakeholders, lots of technical issues, and political powers in the game.

“How do you bring these things together in ways that produces implementable policies? This is what GWP is about.”

Where to now?

While GWP has a well-documented history in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Dr Delli Priscoli says it’s important to work on the lessons learned in the past 20 years, and it's time for the network to take this idea further in order to achieve water security worldwide.

“GWP has to put some more substance on what IWRM means. This will be valuable for the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It’s important for us talk about this process, about what it means. However, the central notion of water management is there, and it’s extremely important to have a world voice on that, and one that is decentralized.”

He says there is also a

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In a citation giving an overview of Priscoli’s career, he was recognized as “a world leader in conflict management, water resources policy and governance, and water security. He always advised the continued use of alternative dispute resolution in solving high-level disputes.”

The citation noted that he worked as a mediator and facilitator with ministers of water around the world, including time with the U.S. delegation to the Middle East Peace talks on water. 

Priscoli served as Senior Advisor at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources for more than forty years. He had long-term engagements with Global Water Partnership, the World Water Council, the Inter American Water Resources Network, and the International Association for Public Participation, among other organisations.

As part of the event, Priscoli delivered a lecture on the historical and cultural aspects of water management, including ethics, civic culture, conflict management, and water governance rhetoric.

In the context of water access and participation, he said, “humans will not increase access to water without some system of water entitlements to set stable social expectations,” but noted that “much of the world lives in situations of arbitrary power delegation of water entitlements/rights.”

He added, “The principle of participation means that individuals, especially the poor, must not be shut out from participation in those institutions that are necessary for human fulfillment…. Our challenge is not willingness or ability to pay [for water] as much as it is how to align access of resources and capital to the poor.”

He concluded with the observation that “water resources management has been the catalys