Taking such an approach can result in water productivity gains in a single sector – usually agriculture – that are out of balance with landscape ecosystem services. Still, that has been the centre piece of water management efforts over the last decades, especially in agriculture.
There has been a focus on producing more ‘crop per drop’ or more ‘crop per $’, with little regard for the water needed to sustain non-agricultural ecosystem services in landscapes. This has been detrimental to the production of ecosystem services in all types of landscapes.
This policy brief, based on a report produced for the United Nations Environment Programme, explains key concepts, and suggests ways to build these insights into integrated water resource management (IWRM) practices:
- By recognising the water requirements of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem services;
- By connecting with the entire basin, which allows for local win-win synergies of increased agro-ecosystem output and
landscape output to be amplified with regional coordination and planning; and - By improving overall water productivity for ecosystems services, thus increasing the resilience of local and regional livelihoods.
Download the policy brief (PDF, 637kb)
