Systems approach needed
The World Water Week’s 20 year retrospective was a reminder of progress made in conceptualizing and understanding the competing demands on water resources and of advances in technical, social, and economic approaches and tools for better governance and management. But while thinking has advanced, progress on the ground remains incremental and slow. Conceptually, it has been clear for some time that a systems approach is necessary, and strides have been made, for instance with River Basin and Integrated Water Resources Management, but practical application is lagging behind the growing challenges of sustainable water use, particularly when it comes to understanding and dealing with economic signals and market forces that drive behaviour and decision-making. Successful experience with systems approaches exist and need to be scaled up. The Moreton Bay Waterways and Catchments Partnership (MBWCP), S.E. Queensland, Australia, is one example of an integrated catchment and whole-of-water cycle approach to address point and non-point pollution of coastal waters and water supplies. The partnership brought together scientific experts, industries, communities, and local governments to address upstream-downstream demands and concerns between agriculture, urban use, coastal tourism, aquaculture, and ecosystems. An Ecosystem Health Report Card improves accountability and transparency and has attracted wider stakeholder involvement and investments in environmental management. Approaches similar to the MBWCP are being rolled out in China and India, strengthening local government capacity through partnerships and stakeholder driven implementation plans. Market-based tools such as payment for watershed services
and water quality trading programmes have been growing, but wider implementation requires facilitating policies and improvements in transparency, accounting and impact monitoring. In general, integrated systems-based approaches benefit from the existence of management frameworks, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, to provide an enabling environment.
and water quality trading programmes have been growing, but wider implementation requires facilitating policies and improvements in transparency, accounting and impact monitoring. In general, integrated systems-based approaches benefit from the existence of management frameworks, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, to provide an enabling environment.
