4. Water management futures

Geographic inquiry: Future possibilities for management intervention in drainage basins

• The importance of strengthening participation of local communities to improve water management in different economic development contexts, including sustainable water use and efficiency, and ensuring access to clean, safe and affordable water
• Increased dam building for multipurpose water schemes, and their costs and benefits
  • Case study of contemporary dam building expansion in one major drainage basin
• The growing importance of integrated drainage basin management (IDBM) plans, and the costs and benefits they bring
  • Case study of one recent IDBM plan
• Growing pressures on major wetlands and efforts to protect them, such as the Ramsar Convention
  • Case study of the future possibilities for one wetland area