Water Management

Access to water which is sufficient in quantity and quality for domestic, agricultural, economic and cultural requirements is a sine qua non for development. Water is the factor that determines agricultural productivity in many of the world's most densely populated regions, that directly influences the energy sector via hydropower generation and power demand for pumping; and that protects and promotes ecosystem health and biodiversity. Trans-disciplinary research on water in its physical, ecological, socio-economic, political, and legal contexts is thus integral to ZEF's research agenda. The broad objective of ZEF's water management research agenda is to arrive at integrated approaches, in partnership and collaboration with actors in the "problem sheds" that are the subject of our investigations. The role of water in contributing to sustainable livelihoods cannot be evaluated without considering the environmental and social conditions. As the hydrological cycle itself imposes a fundamental set of physical constraints to the management, allocation and governance of water resources, the river basin is being increasingly identified as the appropriate spatial framework within which water resources research is conducted. The current GLOWA Volta Project in West Africa and the Khorezm Project in Central Asia are examples of this approach.