Central to the Wageningen UR approach is that water is not only seen as a key natural resource, but also as a key agent in providing and sustaining critical functions and services to the environment and to human life.


 

Technical solutions alone do not suffice to address the intricate problems faced in today’s water management. Equally important are issues of good governance to identify promising technical options, means of fair and equitable distribution and optimal management of water resources.  As identified during the FAO/Netherlands Conference on Water for Food and Ecosystems, this also requires focusing on awareness raising, stakeholder engagement, know-how for action and capacity building of individuals and key organisations and institutions.

In implementation coalitions, the scientific insights leading to innovative solutions (resulting from science networks) together with comprehensive analyses of the windows of opportunity for allocation of water within watersheds (resulting from consultative platforms) may lead to transition in water management for more effective and equitable use of water. Wageningen UR with its network partners will develop and apply methods and approaches for more effective operations of stakeholder platforms and contributions to processes of social change for enhanced water management.

In the consultative platforms of actors, strategic choices are made that can influence the process of water allocation. Science can disclose trade-offs through scenario’s informing such stakeholder platforms. Wageningen UR participates in various platforms (World Water Forum, CSD, WSSD, World Water Council). Together with its partners Wageningen UR will contribute to capacity building in scenario learning, to the development of interactive tools, policy support on strategy development and international negotiations, to capacity building on river basin planning and contributions to global reporting (IPCC, CSD, MEA).

In the science network configuration Wageningen-UR builds on a solid international reputation in the fields of water for food and ecosystems, water and climate and associated fields. Wageningen-UR’s contribution to the Partners for Water programme on Water for Food and Ecosystems underlines that major gains in water use efficiency can be attained by adopting an integrated approach, such as including plant and animal science in search for solutions to water problems. To advance knowledge and insight in integral solutions, Wageningen-UR operates in various science networks such as the CGIAR Challenge Programme on Water for Food; FAO-IPTRID; the Global Water System Project and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The activities of Wageningen-UR, often developed in partnership with bilateral and international partners, will result in a range of products such as increased capacity and awareness in integrated water resource management, optimized irrigation designs, improved water and feed management practices for aquaculture, drought and salt resistant varieties, design of farming systems with enhance water use efficiency, enhanced quantitative insight in the necessity and size of environmental flows for environmental services, methods to assess the financial sustainability of irrigation services and an improved knowledgebase through the development of databases, GIS and decision support tools.