Neil Palmer/CIAT

Trade-offs and synergies

Assess, balance and manage

The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, set out to guide development of integrated solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Decision- and policy makers everywhere are increasingly becoming aware that investments and development interventions in one area may have unintended effects in another: food, water and energy demands are interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. The tools and approaches below can support decision makers to assess and manage trade-offs—balancing development and environmental preservation. This is an important prerequisite for transitioning to sustainable agricultural systems and meeting the SDGs. 

  • River within the Blue Nile Basin.

    Mapping the world's wetlands

  • Canal off the Hau River in Can Tho Province, Vietnam

    Map of hydropower dams in the Greater Mekong region

  • River in Luang Prabang Province, Lao PDR. Photo Credit: Ian Taylor/CPWF Mekong.

    Water Accounting +

  • WaterWorld: Assessing Water-Related Policies

  • Co$ting Nature to Improve Ecosystem Management

  • Lao waterfall in the wet season

    Power-law models for streamflow prediction in the Mekong Basin