Water Figures is the quarterly newsletter of the International Water Management Institute. Previously known as the Research Update, Water Figures reports on recent research, projects, activities and changes within the institute, highlighting IWMI’s research as it affects change.

The choice of Water Figures as the new name of the newsletter arises from its ability to communicate more than one meaning: ‘Water Figures in the scheme of things..’; Water Figures as a reference to the science of water management; Water Figures as a visual representation of the spaces the resource occupies and the shapes it takes.

Agriculture and water resources development are seen as major drivers of environmental degradation, reducing the capacity of the ecosystems they alter to deliver services to people. At the same time, our reliance on ecosystems services to secure food and livelihoods, increasingly comes at a price.
IWMI’s research on the theme Water Management and Environment is focused on integrated approaches to address the multifunctionality of ecosystems in order to promote sustainable development, support livelihoods and reduce poverty. By taking a closer look at agroecosystems, the theme examines ways to address the water requirements of beneficial ecosystem services in basin water resource development and management.

“A fifth of the world’s people, more than 1.2 billion, live in areas of physical water scarcity, lacking enough water for everyone’s demands. About 1.6 billion people live in water scarce basins, where human capacity or financial resources are likely to be insufficient to develop adequate water resources” (Water for Food Water for Life, Summary, Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture).
The understanding of what constitutes water scarcity has changed over the past years. Water scarcity is exemplified by problems related to access, resource scarcity, environmental degradation and health problems. They include the need to carry heavy pots of water several kilometers every day to meet household needs, poverty caused by farmers losing their land or the landless losing their jobs because of lack of irrigation water, the loss of wetlands or estuaries because of upstream water depletion, and water pollution giving rise to the incidence of water-borne diseases, particularly in cities.