Your search found 4 records
1 van der Kwast, J.; Yalew, S.; Dickens, C.; Quayle, L.; Reinhardt, J.; Liersch, S.; Mul, Marloes; Hamdard, M.; Douven, W.. 2013. A framework for coupling land use and hydrological modelling for management of ecosystem services. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, 1(5):230-236. [doi: https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20130105.18]
Land use ; Hydrology ; Simulation models ; Ecosystem services ; Water management ; Water resources ; Indicators / South Africa / KwaZulu-Natal Province / uThukela Catchment
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046237)
http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijema.20130105.18.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046237.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046237.pdf
(0.51 MB) (525.01KB)
It is well known that land-use changes influence the hydrological cycle and that those changes in the hydrological cycle influence land use. The sophisticated spatial dynamic planning tools that have been developed in the last decades to support policy makers in the decision making process do not take into account the mutual feedbacks between land use and hydrology. In this study a framework for an integrated spatial decision support system is presented where the feedbacks between land use and hydrology are taken into account by coupling the SITE (Simulation of Terrestrial Environments) land-use model to the SWIM hydrological model. This framework enables policy makers to assess the impact of their planning scenarios on ecosystem services using a web-based tool that interactively presents trends in space and time of spatial indicators derived from both models. This approach is tested for the uThukela area, which is located along the northern areas of the Drakensberg Mountains which form the border between Lesotho and South Africa. The region is extremely important for its catchment-services as water derived from it is pumped into the Vaal River supplying water to the city of Johannesburg. Because of poor management of ecosystem services, less water is produced by the catchment more erratically, siltation levels are increasing and less carbon is retained in the soil. Biodiversity is threatened by grazing livestock, alien plants and other poor land management practices. In addition, overstocking, frequent burning and lack of soil protection measures have caused rill and gully erosion in areas of communal ownership where an overall management policy is lacking. The presented framework for a spatial integrated decision support system is currently being implemented and will be used by policy makers to assess policies developed for an Environmental Management Framework (EMF). Scenarios will be defined during stakeholder workshops. A prototype of the decision support system has been developed, but not all data necessary for modelling and calibration is yet available. From the analysis of land-use maps of 2005 and 2008 it was observed that forest and bush decreased, while settlements, subsistence farming, commercial farming and grassland increased.
2 Cools, J.; Johnston, Robyn; Hattermann, F. F.; Douven, W.; Zsuffa, I. 2013. Tools for wetland management: lessons learnt from a comparative assessment. Environmental Science and Policy, 34:138-145. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.01.013]
Wetlands ; River basin management ; Ecosystem services ; Assessment ; Stakeholders ; Decision making ; Case studies / Europe / Latin America / South Africa / Austria / Hungary / Uganda / Mali / Ecuador
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046247)
(0.62 MB)
This paper provides the synthesis of the special issue on the ‘‘role of wetlands in river basin management’’ and reviews lessons learnt from a comparative assessment of the presented case studies in Europe, Africa and Latin-America. Although wetlands are important for local communities and biodiversity, the services and products they deliver for local livelihoods and river basins are insufficiently known, and inadequately valued and understood by authorities. Wetlands are too often perceived as standalone elements and poorly integrated into river basin management plans. In this volume, an analytical framework is developed to formulate and compare wetland management options, also in data-poor contexts and to bridge the gap between science and policy. The framework is a set of tools and processes to structure the information flows needed to identify and score management options in terms of their impact, feasibility, vulnerability to future changes and trade-offs. In practice, it was found that the framework provided a useful set of tools to promote understanding and underpin negotiations. The major barrier for a better integration of wetlands in river basin management was found to be the lack of understanding of what the important issues were and the institutional capacity to organise cooperation and consequent implementation of the agreed plans. This paper presents the following conclusions. Firstly, rapid assessment tools and simplified scoring methods were used and proved useful in explaining issues across sectors and scales, and were important in creating mutual understanding, even though they did not necessarily present new insights for local or disciplinary experts. Secondly, in order to improve the knowledge base, an integrated database is developed, especially with regard to water quantity simulation at the river basin scale and wetland scale, potential habitat availability and the quantification of adaptive and institutional capacity, including the impact of future changes. Data has been compiled from various, scattered sources, including global data sets, sectoral wetland and/or river basin-specific quantitative and qualitative data sets. Thirdly, in case of limited data availability, rather than improving the accuracy of available quantitative data, it is proposed to better use alternative qualitative sources of data, from local experts, authority representatives and wetland users.
3 Douven, W.; Mul, Marloes L.; Son, L.; Bakker, N.; Radosevich, G.; Hendriks, A. 2014. Games to create awareness and design policies for transboundary cooperation in river basins: lessons from the Shariva Game of the Mekong River Commission. Water Resources Management, 28(5):1431-1447. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0562-x]
River basins ; International waters ; Conflict ; Environmental effects ; International cooperation ; Stakeholders ; Technical aid ; Teaching methods ; Policy / South East Asia / Myanmar / Lao People's Democratic Republic / Thailand / Cambodia / Vietnam / Mekong River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046357)
(1.18 MB)
International river basins cover a vast majority of the land surface, international cooperation is therefore important for the proper management, and to assure equitable and effective use in the basins. Key elements to improve international cooperation are common understanding of the issues in the basin, understanding upstream-downstream impacts and sharing a common vision for the future. This article focuses on the role of games in international basin cooperation to create awareness and to support policy development. The paper analysed the effects of the game in creating awareness and upgrading knowledge amongst water and related professionals and in designing procedures for cooperation in transboundary river basins. This was analysed during the implementation of the game with 28 participants from the four Lower Mekong countries. The impact on creating awareness and upgrading knowledge was evaluated through the use of questionnaires and pre- and post evaluation questions and for the design of policies, a SWOT analysis was used to evaluate the usefulness of the policies and frameworks as well as to identify possible improvements to the framework. The game implementation proved to be an appropriate tool to provide a practical way for stakeholders to become acquainted with the administrative and technical tools available in the Lower Mekong Basin. Pre- and post test shows that participants gained substantial knowledge on transboundary cooperation and use of tools. The game was part of a longer training programme addressing all the issues, however, the participants gained additional knowledge and insight by playing the game, well above what they had learned during the earlier training workshops. Playing the game proved an important aspect in training and education of such complex systems. The study also shows the role games can play in policy analysis, in particular the way the game provided insight in the design of the policy and the development of procedures, and their function to review and update policies and procedures. A number of recommendations have been made to strengthen the role in both training and education as well as in design of procedures.
4 Seijge, C.; Datta, D. K.; Douven, W.; van Halsema, G.; Khan, M. F. 2018. Rethinking sediments, tidal rivers and delta livelihoods: tidal river management as a strategic innovation in Bangladesh. Water Policy, 21(1):108-126. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2018.212]
Rivers ; Tides ; Deltas ; Sediment ; Water management ; Living standards ; Strategies ; Innovation ; Planning ; Sustainability ; Waterlogging ; Markets / Bangladesh / Lower Bengal Delta
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049283)
(0.38 MB)
Many urbanised deltas face development challenges due to growing economies, populations and climate change. Changes in land–water strategies are often required, as ‘business-as-usual’ solutions are no longer sufficient. The aim of this paper was to study tidal river management (TRM) as a strategic innovation, and trace how it is appreciated by people and used in master plans to address congested rivers and waterlogging in Bangladesh. In this context, a strategic innovation can be categorised as having four features: (i) it is a fundamental reconceptualisation of business as usual strategies; (ii) it is rule breaking and reshapes markets; (iii) it offers value improvement for livelihoods; (iv) it is sustainable. The case study analysis was built from 17 interviews, a focus group discussion and numerous documents. The case analysis revealed that tidal river management is very different (local, natural, complex) from mainstream engineering strategies for tidal rivers and polder systems, and is strongly supported by local people for its potential livelihood improvement. The paper concludes that tidal river management has strategic potential, though is hardly recognised in master plans. To advance practice, reconceptualisations are needed that focus on the diverse benefits of TRM, such as restored tidal rivers, flora and fauna. Further research could elaborate livelihood models that thrive on these benefits, and evaluate their costs and benefits accordingly.
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