Integrated management of land and water resources based on a collective approach to fragmented international conventions

Interlinked crises of land degradation, food security, ecosystem decline, water quality and water flow depletion stand in the way of poverty reduction and sustainable development. These crises are made worse by increased fluctuations in climatic regimes. Single-purpose international conventions addr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2003-12, Vol.358 (1440), p.2051-2062
Main Author: Duda, Alfred M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Basins
Biodiversity
Climate
Ecological sustainability
Ecosystem
Environment
Fresh Water
Global Environment Facility
Groundwater
Integrated Land And Water Management
International Agencies - trends
International Cooperation - legislation & jurisprudence
Land management
Stakeholder Participation
Sustainable development
Sustainable land management
Sustainable water management
Transboundary Basins
Treaties
United Nations
Water Governance
Water management
Water resources
Water Security
Water Supply
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Summary:Interlinked crises of land degradation, food security, ecosystem decline, water quality and water flow depletion stand in the way of poverty reduction and sustainable development. These crises are made worse by increased fluctuations in climatic regimes. Single-purpose international conventions address these crises in a piecemeal, sectoral fashion and may not meet their objectives without greater attention to policy, legal, and institutional reforms related to: (i) balancing competing uses of land and water resources within hydrologic units; (ii) adopting integrated approaches to management; and (iii) establishing effective governance institutions for adaptive management within transboundary basins. This paper describes this global challenge and argues that peace, stability and security are all at stake when integrated approaches are not used. The paper presents encouraging results from a decade of transboundary water projects supported by the Global Environment Facility in developing countries that test practical applications of processes for facilitating reforms related to land and water that are underpinned by science-based approaches. Case studies of using these participative processes are described that collectively assist in the transition to integrated management. A new imperative for incorporatiing interlinkages among food, water, and environment security at the basin level is identified.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2003.1410