Person:
Wishart, Marcus
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
WATER RESOURCES,
DAMS AND DEVELOPMENT,
TRANSBOUNDARY WATERWAY GOVERNANCE
Degrees
Departments
Water Global Practice of the World Bank
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Dr. Marcus Wishart is a Lead Water Resource Specialist with the World Bank Group. He has over 25 years of experience working in more than 20 countries across Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Marcus co-leads the World Bank’s global program on enhancing the safety and resilience of dams and downstream communities and specializes in innovative solutions to complex problems relating to the development of large hydraulic infrastructure and risk informed approaches to decision making under uncertainty. He has led a number of diverse, multi-disciplinary teams through complex infrastructure projects and advises on institutional and policy issues relating to the management and sustainable development of water resources. Marcus holds a PhD from Griffith University in Australia, an MSc from the University of Cape Town in South Africa and a BSc with Honours from the University of Adelaide, and has published over 100 academic papers, books and reports on a range of infrastructure and water related topics.
Publication Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
Publication
Laying the Foundations: Essential Elements for Assuring the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07-16)Assuring the safety of dams is central to protecting downstream communities, infrastructure, and the environment. Dam safety is also important for securing water for productive purposes and sustaining economic development. With a global portfolio of more than 58,000 large dams, issues associated with the safety of dams and downstream communities are becoming increasingly important, particularly given aging infrastructure, increasing downstream populations, shifting demographics, and changes in climate and weather patterns. The foundation for effective dam safety assurance is an appropriate and well-designed regulatory framework that captures the legal, institutional, technical, and financial elements in the reality of a particular jurisdiction. Establishing and maintaining a regulatory framework that is fit for purpose is, therefore, necessary for ensuring the quality of dam design, construction, and operation and maintenance. The framework also ensures that safety measures are reflective of the risks inherent in managing these structures and the context in which they are developed. Such frameworks need to be developed as part of a holistic strategy for water management that is integrated in basin and regional planning processes. The objective of this policy note is to provide guidance to policy makers and practitioners on the essential elements for establishing regulatory regimes for assuring the safety of dams and downstream communities. -
Publication
Appropriate Groundwater Management Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa: In Face of Demographic Pressure and Climatic Variability
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011)This paper provides an overview of major groundwater issues for Sub-Saharan Africa, with an assessment of their policy implications in terms of potential development and appropriate management. In terms of construction time, capital outlay and drought resilience, groundwater is the preferred source to meet most water-supply demands, despite hydro geological complexity, natural constraints on water well yields and quality, and institutional weaknesses. The 'new developmental agenda' relates to improving urban water-supply security and expanding irrigated agriculture to meet these challenges many countries need to undertake strategic assessment of their groundwater and prioritize investment on institutional strengthening so as to facilitate appropriately-managed groundwater development. Without effective use of available groundwater resources, improved livelihoods and climate-change adaptation will prove much more difficult to achieve.