Ecosystem Management in Transboundary River Basins: Opportunities and Challenges
Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment conducted in 2005 analyzed 24 ecosystem services and found that 15 of these were being degraded or used unsustainably. Globally, this decline affects quality of life and economic well-being, and impedes sustainable development. The decline in services affects the world's disadvantaged people most strongly due to their heavier reliance on these services for basic needs and represents a considerable barrier to achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and hunger and achieving environmental sustainability.
Integrated water resources management (IWRM) can be described as the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare benefits in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. The concept, popularized by the Dublin Principles, promotes a participatory approach to integrated management of resources on a watershed basis and promotes the recognition of the economic benefits of management of water and related resources.
This research, in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme-DHI, includes a review of selected transboundary basins representative of UNEP regions to ascertain the application of ecosystem-based approaches and provide recommendations to forward the development and implementation of IWRM planning. Recommendations will enable the use of specific tools such as ecosystem services valuation, and assist in the realization of co-benefits through transboundary basin organizations.
