Environmental Flows; Managing Water Allocation and Trade-offs.
Topics: River continuity, Hydropower, Economics, Social benefits,
Regions: Global, Published: 01-03-2022 , Authors: IUCN
An environmental flow is the water provided within a river, wetland or coastal zone to maintain ecosystems
and their benefits where there are competing water uses and where flows are regulated. ‘Environmental
flows’ is a tool for allocating water among multiple, competing uses in a watershed or river basin and building consensus on allocation decisions. Adoption and implementation requires that environmental flows are incorporated into water policies and laws. These should include the need for a negotiated consensus on flow allocation among all stakeholders.
Applying environmental flows in practice, policy and law allows a society to build the knowledge, capacities and insititutions needed to implement integrated water resource management (IWRM), and to adapt to climate change. Integrating environmental flows into water management policy and practice requires communication, stakeholder participation, awareness raising, adaptive management and demonstration of the benefits of flows for people and nature.