Water Management and Environment - Balancing Water for Food and Ecosystems

Home > Research Themes > Theme 4 - Water Management and Environment

Theme Four identifies and tests interventions that safeguard the environment and associated delivery of ecosystem services vital to human well-being, while enhancing land and water resources management for agriculture.

Healthy and resilient aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems provide a range of services to people. They are essential in securing food and livelihoods security, for the rural and peri-urban poor. Yet, such ecosystems typically remain poorly integrated within land and water resources management systems. Many ecosystems, especially inland and coastal wetlands, are subject to increasing degradation—with serious implications for human well-being. Agriculture and irrigation are seen as major drivers of degradation, reducing the capacity of the ecosystems they alter to deliver services to people.

IWMI’s Water Management and Environment 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.

FOCAL POINTS

• Addressing environmental water requirements in basins
  
  
• Enhancing assessment of agriculture-wetlands interactions
  
  
• Valuing contributions of ecosystem services to livelihoods

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Home > Research Themes > Theme 4 - Water Management and Environment