Water Management and Environment

Goal

Identifying and testing interventions that safeguard the environment and delivery of ecosystem services vital to human well-being, while enhancing land and water resources management for agriculture.

Overview

Healthy and resilient ecosystems provide a range of services to humans that are essential for securing food and alleviating poverty. Yet the importance of ecosystems remains poorly integrated at a policy and practical level within land and water resources management. As a consequence, many ecosystems, inland and coastal wetlands in particular, are subject to increasing degradation, with serious implications for agriculture and fisheries and poverty alleviation. Agriculture and irrigation have been singled out as major drivers of wetland degradation and loss of ecosystem services to an extent that can undermine agriculture or fisheries activities themselves. Inevitably, continued degradation will threaten the sustainability of agricultural systems and the ability to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The development of IWMI’s research interests in the ecological aspects of water resources development and agricultural management in river (as well as aquifer or lake) basins arose out of the realization that water and its uses had

This theme research focuses on integrating ecosystems and their water requirements in basin water resources development and management; enhanced integration of policies and practices of the water resource, agriculture and environmental sectors; and improved recognition of the economic value of ecosystem services and their contribution to land and water productivity, and hence, food and livelihoods security.

Research is aligned with opportunities available through the Ramsar Wetlands Convention’s initiatives to address the sustainable development of wetlands globally, including contributing to policy outcomes that address the importance of wetlands for agriculture.

Key Research Areas

		Addressing environmental water requirements in basins
		To develop and test best practice frameworks that include the environment in water resources and agricultural management, and within these frameworks develop and apply methods and polices to determine and implement the water requirements of aquatic ecosystems.
		Enhancing benefits in agriculture-wetlands interactions
		To identify and promote the application of policies and practices for water management in agriculture to enhance agricultural production and poverty reduction while minimizing wetland degradation.
		Valuing contributions of ecosystem services to livelihoods
		To assess and demonstrate the economic value of ecosystem services provided by wetlands and to promote sustainable development and the maintenance of benefits for people and ecosystems.