Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects

Hirji, Rafik; Davis, R. J.

doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-7940-0

Cited by 107 publications

(75 citation statements)

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“…This requires the development, acceptance, implementation and governance of water sharing plans. The inclusion of environmental flows in IWRM will result in increased effectiveness of environmental outcomes along with many benefits to social well-being and economic return (Hirji and Davis 2009). "Water for nature" is needed for the ecosystem service benefits that we get from healthy ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental flows for multiple outcomes have been implemented in a number of basins worldwide (Hirji andDavis 2009, Sanz andSchmidt 2012), and they have been used to set water allocation shares for energy production, mining, agriculture, urban use, society and the environment. Environmental flows should be promoted not just for improved ecosystem condition, but to provide ecosystem services that result in improved benefits beyond economic and critical human needs alone (Dyson et al 2003).…”

Section: Environmental Flows For Multiple Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Implementing environmental flows in integrated water resources management and the ecosystem approach

Overton

Smith

Dalton

et al. 2014

Hydrological Sciences Journal

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In many of the world's river basins, the water resources are over-allocated and/or highly modified, access to good quality water is limited or competitive and aquatic ecosystems are degraded. The decline in aquatic ecosystems can impact on human well-being by reducing the ecosystem services provided by healthy rivers, wetlands and floodplains. Basin water resources management requires the determination of water allocation among competing stakeholders including the environment, social needs and economic development. Traditionally, this determination occurred on a volumetric basis to meet basin productivity goals. However, it is difficult to address environmental goals in such a framework, because environmental condition is rarely considered in productivity goals, and short-term variations in river flow may be the most important driver of aquatic ecosystem health. Manipulation of flows to achieve desired outcomes for public supply, food and energy has been implemented for many years. More recently, manipulating flows to achieve ecological outcomes has been proposed. However, the complexity of determining the required flow regimes and the interdependencies between stakeholder outcomes has restricted the implementation of environmental flows as a core component of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). We demonstrate through case studies of the Rhône and Thames river basins in Europe, the Colorado River basin in North America and the Murray-Darling basin in Australia the limitations of traditional environmental flow strategies in integrated water resources management. An alternative ecosystem approach can provide a framework for implementation of environmental flows in basin water resources management, as demonstrated by management of the Pangani River basin in Africa. An ecosystem approach in IWRM leads to management for agreed triple-bottom-line outcomes, rather than productivity or ecological outcomes alone. We recommend that environmental flow management should take on the principles of an ecosystem approach and form an integral part of IWRM.Key words IWRM; ecosystem approach; environmental flows; implementation Approche écosystémique et mise en oeuvre de débits environnementaux dans la gestion intégrée des ressources en eau Résumé Dans de nombreux bassins du monde les ressources en eau sont surexploitées et / ou profondément modifiées, l'accès à une eau de bonne qualité est limité ou concurrentiel, et les écosystèmes aquatiques sont dégradés. Le déclin des écosystèmes aquatiques peut avoir un impact sur le bien-être humain en réduisant les services fournis par des rivières, des zones humides et des plaines d'inondation saines . La gestion des ressources en eau d'un bassin nécessite de répartir l'eau entre des acteurs concurrents, dont notamment l'environnement, des besoins sociaux et le développement économique. Traditionnellement, cette répartition a été pratiquée sur une base volumétrique pour atteindre des objectifs de productivité sur le bassin. Il est cependant difficile de répondre à des o...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Flows For Multiple Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing environmental flows in integrated water resources management and the ecosystem approach

Overton

Smith

Dalton

et al. 2014

Hydrological Sciences Journal

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“…As one of the legitimate users of water (Hirji & Davis, 2009), the environment should be allotted sufficient amount of water for its sustainability, based on seasonal variability in water demand. Whenever there are competing needs of water resources, maximization of benefits and minimization of costs would largely depend on a water allocation decision-making procedure which incorporates views of different stakeholder, perspectives and is based on informed assessments of the trade-offs Awulachew 2006 cited in McCartney, et al, 2010).…”

Section: Impact Assessment Of Water Resources Development and Integramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was highlighted in the declaration from the Second World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000. Integrated water resources management considers the environment to be a legitimate user of water and integrates environmental flows into the implementation of IWRM (Hirji & Davis, 2009). Conversely, the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development reinforced the role of environmental protection as a key pillar of sustainable development (Acreman and Dunbar, 2004).…”

Section: Impact Assessment Of Water Resources Development and Integramentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Impact Assessment in Sustainable Water Resources Development: Major Issues of Consideration

Adgolign¹,

Rao²

2014

Sci. Technol. Arts Res. J.

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Article InformationThe sustainable development of water resources is a multi-dimensional way of thinking about the connections or interdependencies among natural, social, and economic systems in the use of water. The purpose of environmental impact assessment is to guarantee a sustainable development that is in harmony with human welfare and the conservation of ecosystems and hence it should be clearly understood by all concerned. The main purpose of this paper is to review the current level of understanding of environmental impact assessment of water resources development; to assess the major challenges to sustainable environmental systems from water resources development perspectives, and to identify major environmental issues that need to be considered in sustainable water resources planning and development. During project study and design, major environmental impacts of water resources development should be identified and made available for decision makers and the public. In the arena of Integrated Water Resources Management, the environment should be considered as one of the legitimate users of water, and allotted reasonable amount of water for its sustainability. Hence, environmental flows assessment should be a mandatory condition for granting permission for project construction. Besides, as catastrophic flood events resulting from dam breaches are enormous, performing dam breach flood wave propagation and inundation mapping during the design phase of the project would support timely decision on the fate of the project or identifying mitigating measures to be taken. In the instances of shortage of geographic data, remotely sensed data can be analysed in GIS environment to generate data and map the information. Simulation models, coupled to GIS, would add GIS layers to provide clarity of impacts. To bring about environmental integrity of water resources development, the major challenges like population pressure, climate change, lack of proper planning and integration, policies and institutional arrangements should be properly addressed.

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“…UN Consortium -ITC/ILO IP : 193.239.220.249 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:24:49 through their impacts on the volume, pattern, and quality of flow (Hirji and Davis 2009). Instead, in Argentina and Ecuador, flood control projects use the natural storage and recharge properties of critical forests and wetlands by integrating them into "living with floods" strategies that incorporate forest protected areas and riparian corridors (see box 3.10).…”

Section: Delivered By the World Bank E-library Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Convenient Solutions for an Inconvenient Truth

2009

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Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects

Cited by 107 publications

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Implementing environmental flows in integrated water resources management and the ecosystem approach

Implementing environmental flows in integrated water resources management and the ecosystem approach

Environmental Impact Assessment in Sustainable Water Resources Development: Major Issues of Consideration

Convenient Solutions for an Inconvenient Truth

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