Background

Sustainable development requires a balance to be found between the competing demands made of freshwater, recognising that streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater require sufficient water of good quality if they are to continue to provide essential ecosystem services. The condition of the water environment is intimately linked to the way catchments (watersheds) are managed, with agricultural practices, flood control, urban areas, water supply and waste water disposal all have direct effects. It is essential that an integrated approach is taken to these linked pressures on land and water, hence the discipline of integrated river basin management is becoming increasing important. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) will usher in such a new approach.
Achieving sustainability through integrated river basin management will involve fundamental changes in the fields of river management and the supporting research. As we move towards the vision of river catchments as integrated social-ecological systems that are inter-connected, the implications of management interventions in any one area will need to be considered more holistically. This change will require different ways of thinking, managing and responding to those which have been in vogue over the past 20 years. A stronger emphasis on science to support a more transparent decision-making process will be needed as well as a more participatory, adaptive management approach.