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Water and People in Catchments

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Introduction

Water catchments—areas in which rainfall collects and eventually flows into creeks, rivers, lakes, oceans, or groundwater—are integrated systems where the complex relationship between people, land and water are played out.

How water is collected and harnessed in upper catchments affects people living downstream. Water quality and availability depend on how other resources such as cropland, pastures or forests are managed. In many catchments, people find it difficult to appropriately organize their water and land use. The result is inequitable distribution and inefficient use of these precious resources, leading to degradation of the catchment, loss of livelihood support and, inevitably, the escalation of conflict.

Theme 2 is developing strategies that can effectively address the threats to water catchment systems through four sub-themes:

• Examining water and poverty in upper catchments

• Identifying the basis for increasing the provision of water

• Enabling change

• Generating knowledge

Research Questions

What is the nature of water-related poverty in primary catchments? To what extent can it be alleviated through better water management?

Where are the poor? What is their relationship with environmental degradation?

How can aid and policies be targeted more effectively? How can water be shared and its use improved simultaneously? How can complex interactions between individuals, communities and catchments be used for overall benefit?

How can the impacts of land-use changes be assessed and desires for change accommodated? What technological and institutional objectives are available? How can people decide which ones will work in their specific situation?

How can social learning processes be enhanced for sustainable improvement?

What research products do people need to progress? What types of partnerships are needed to deliver them? How can effective land and water management practices and technologies be implemented for specific situations?

Impacts and Outputs

Theme 2 aims to enhance the capacity of communities to improve their collective use of water resources in support of rural livelihoods through a series of research outputs:

• Explicit definition of the link between water and poverty in primary catchments, and identification of people traditionally left behind when water resources are developed

• Methods to identify how people can benefit more from water in specific localities within catchments

• Guidelines for adaptive and participatory decision-making processes among diverse stakeholders

• Institutional and organizational intelligence to support collective water management