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More than a third of humanity lives in regions with less than 1 million liters of fresh water per person per year. Population growth will increase water demand while climate change in arid and semi-arid areas may reduce water availability. The Murray-Darling Basin in Australia is a region where water reform and planning have been used to reduce consumptive extraction to better sustain river ecosystems under climate variability. Using actual data and previously published models that account for climate variability and climate change, the trade-off between water extractions and water essential to the long-term ecological function of river systems is analysed. The findings indicate that better water planning and a more complete understanding of the effects of irrigation on regional climate evapotranspiration could: (1) increase the overall benefits of consumptive and non-consumptive water use; (2) improve riparian environments under climate variability; and (3) be achieved with only small effects on the profits and gross value of food and fiber production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies and influential agencies propose a shift to sustainability thinking and regard it as an important means of coordinating economic, social and environmental development. However, much less research focusses on conflicts over resources, the issue of asymmetrical power, and value-and-cultural conflicts behind the trajectories of sustainable development. For countries speeding up transitions such as China, it can be asked how and why might accelerating sustainability transitions through resettlement become a new utopia or a poverty trap? To examine the significance of this question for sustainability, we explore three development-induced displacement and resettlement (DIDR) programs in China: dam-induced resettlement, poverty-alleviation oriented relocation (including ecological migration) and agglomeration of villages. This research examines normative issues of Chinese policies for sustainability. We find that building sustainability via DIDR will not be as easy as projected and could lead to new poverty traps that disadvantage some groups of people, such as resettlees. We highlight three themes, the change of resettlees' financial conditions, land access and local governance, to explore how competition is skewed between resettlees and local governments while speeding up to pursue more ambitious goals. We find that with the increased pace of implementation of quick sustainability policies that power lies with local governments to the detriment of resettlees. DIDR can become a just governance tool to build sustainability, but only if there is sufficient agreement among all stakeholders on a transparent, accountable and collaborative approach. Without inclusion and equality in transitions, potential risks and challenges can eclipse sustainable development. [Display omitted] • Adopting resettlement to accelerate sustainability transitions is again in policy agenda of many countries and regions to advance social goals and modernity. • Resettlement can break up hierarchical social structures and could benefit previously disadvantaged people, such as women and the disabled. • In China, the increased pace of implementation of quick sustainability policies that power lies with local governments to the detriment of resettlees. • Building sustainability often requires trade-offs rather than win-win solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Murray–Darling Basin Plan, a major initiative to return water from irrigators to the environment, has been lauded as world-class water reform. The enabling legislation for the Basin Plan, the Water Act, gains its constitutional legitimacy from international treaties such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This Act mandated that water be returned from consumptive uses to the environment. An allocation of 2,750 GL/yr was set but has been reduced by the 'Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism' (SDLAM), intended to achieve equivalent environmental benefits with less water. We present a synthesis of changes in decision contexts that have led to water reforms being 'watered down'. We analysed the policy discourse of water reform to assess whether SDLAM projects will achieve outcomes congruent with Australia's international treaty obligations. We found little or no alignment between the purpose of the SDLAM projects and the principles of the treaties and the Water Act. As water scarcity increases under climate change, attempting to conserve wetlands (including rivers) with less water while maintaining or increasing irrigation diversions is likely to prove maladaptive. A major reframing of environmental water policy and management is required to enable meaningful and effective adaptation to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The threats of climate change and the trade-offs between extractions and flows are examined for the Colorado, the Murray, the Orange and the Yellow Rivers. In all four basins, and over a long period of time, outflows have greatly reduced as a direct result of increased water extractions. Although climate change will aggravate hydrological impacts on river systems, currently high levels of water extractions remain the principal contributor to reduced system flows. Changes in governance, including sharing the variability between the environment and consumers, are urgently required if the health of these rivers is to be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River flows in the Murray–Darling Basin, as in many regions in the world, are vulnerable to climate change, anticipated to exacerbate current, substantial losses of freshwater biodiversity. Additional declines in water quantity and quality will have an adverse impact on existing freshwater ecosystems. We critique current river-management programs, including the proposed 2011 Basin Plan for Australia’s Murray–Darling Basin, focusing primarily on implementing environmental flows. River management programs generally ignore other important conservation and adaptation measures, such as strategically located freshwater-protected areas. Whereas most river-basin restoration techniques help build resilience of freshwater ecosystems to climate change impacts, different measures to enhance resilience and reoperate water infrastructure are also required, depending on the degree of disturbance of particular rivers on a spectrum from free-flowing to highly regulated. A crucial step is the conservation of free-flowing river ecosystems where maintenance of ecological processes enhances their capacity to resist climate change impacts, and where adaptation may be maximised. Systematic alteration of the operation of existing water infrastructure may also counter major climate impacts on regulated rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten years ago the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report established new standards for the sustainable development of water infrastructure, but the hopes many of us had then for a new era of more thoughtful development have been attenuated by the resilience of the hydraulic bureaucracy and the emergence of new influences on the hydropower debate. Particularly important is the impact of climate change as a driver of government policies in favour of hydropower, water storage and inter-basin water transfers. As a former Director of Freshwater for WWF International and now as a researcher on the water-energy nexus, I spent much of the past decade seeking to influence the direction of water infrastructure development, and in this viewpoint I have been asked to reflect on the changes that have occurred, and the opportunities in an era of climate change to reduce the environmental and social impacts of hydropower development while maximising the benefits. Better outcomes are more likely with a renewed focus on limiting the perverse impacts of climate change policies, implementing standards for certification of more sustainable hydropower, building capacities within developing countries, and enhancing management of existing dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze is the largest river basin in China and home to over 400 million people. In recent history, and especially during 1950s-1970s, extensive lakes and floodplains were reclaimed as polders for agriculture and rural development. Consequently, the flood retention capacity was decreased, many lakes were disconnected from the main channel of the Yangtze by embankments and sluice gates, and eutrophication was common. It is anticipated that there will be a greater frequency of extreme floods and droughts in the basin according to climate change scenarios. WWF commenced a programme in 2002 in partnership with government agencies and local communities to reconnect three lakes (Zhangdu, Hong and Tian-e-zhou) in Hubei Province to the river by opening sluice gates seasonally and improving lake management. The resilience of the lake environment to climate change and the livelihoods of local people were enhanced. The measures assessed here highlight: (a) the need for adaptation programmes to concurrently improve livelihoods and reduce exposure to physical risks; (b) the need to build the capacity of people and institutions; and (c) the value of decentralized adaptation as compared with new infrastructure investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Irrigation efficiency is more than a performance indicator or water-savings panacea. • Managing irrigation efficiency supports water, food and energy goals. • Insufficient understanding of irrigation efficiency may impede policy goals. • The meanings and use of irrigation efficiency depend on spatial scale and viewpoint. • A matrix of scales and dimensions is proposed to explore irrigation efficiency. An effective placement of irrigation efficiency in water management will contribute towards meeting the pre-eminent global water challenges of our time such as addressing water scarcity, boosting crop water productivity and reconciling competing water needs between sectors. However, although irrigation efficiency may appear to be a simple measure of performance and imply dramatic positive benefits, it is not straightforward to understand, measure or apply. For example, hydrological understanding that irrigation losses recycle back to surface and groundwater in river basins attempts to account for scale, but this generalisation cannot be readily translated from one location to another or be considered neutral for farmers sharing local irrigation networks. Because irrigation efficiency (IE) motives, measures, effects and technologies play out at different scales for different people, organisations and purposes, and losses differ from place to place and over time, IE is a contested term, highly changeable and subjective. This makes generalisations for science, management and policy difficult. Accordingly, we propose new definitions for IE and irrigation hydrology and introduce a framework, termed an 'irrigation efficiency matrix', comprising five spatial scales and ten dimensions to understand and critique the promises, pitfalls and paradoxes of IE and to unlock its utility for addressing contemporary water challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep water floating rice (DW-FR) production has declined substantially across Asia, despite being a source of nutritious, culturally-important and flood-adapted food. Low perceived commercial value, and the desire for increased rice exports, has led to intensified farming of high yielding variety (HYV) rice. We used a commodity-value-chain analysis to investigate the values of DW-FR in Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Poor communication and value-transference along the supply chain lead to farmers receiving poor returns for DW-FR despite its high ecological, cultural and commercial value in downstream markets. With minor adjustments, DW-FR systems could provide more sustainable livelihoods for farmers and greater food system security. For better returns we suggest implementation of improvements to breeding, farming, transport, processing, better access to finance, improved communication and development of other rice products. • Deep water floating rice being replaced by high yielding varieties in Asia. • Commodity-value-chain analysis shows real food system outputs of SE Asian floating rice systems. • Rice, processed foods, stock feed, wild foods, dry season crops, animal production. • Dismal farmer returns versus high value downstream products - poor signals, poor value-transfer. • Commodity-value-chain changes can realise sustainable food and income for floating rice systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article which was recently published contained a minor error in Figure 2a. The author incorrectly provided the image during production process. The correct figure is given in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine spatial planning (MSP) has been put forward as a way to more comprehensively manage marine environments by balancing human demands and protecting areas that support ecosystem function. Given the recent motivations for countries to adopt large-scale marine spatial planning approaches, ensuring these plans are grounded in social-ecological resilience theories is essential for long-term success. Drawing upon recent academic attention from a range of disciplinary areas, this review explores current practices and applied examples of published case studies from around the world that have integrated social and ecological spatial information using GIS techniques. This review intended to use these case studies to guide directions of future MSP research that considers social-ecological resilience theories. Five overall themes were uncovered. First, extractive uses, such as fisheries, were often given priority in MSP processes, which even though important, may undermine the social resilience of coastal communities by not supporting the diversity of non-extractive economies. Second, the quality of ecological spatial data used in the studies varied greatly, often with little consideration of how ongoing human demands may influence long-term ecological resilience. Thrid, many GIS techniques were used to integrate social and ecological data including: descriptive maps, site prioritisation techniques, and predictive modelling. Lastly, only a small number of studies considered cross-ecosystem influences and only two incorporated potential climate change impacts on social institutions and marine ecosystems. Overall, there is a need for progressing GIS predictive modelling techniques to assess and link the responses of social and ecological systems to MSP solutions in order to support long-term social-ecological resilience. • Marine spatial planning (MSP) needs to consider social and ecological resilience. • Social resilience is supported by spatially representing a diversity of economies. • Ecological resilience is spatially protecting areas based on ecological principles. • Using GIS predictive modelling can assess spatial linkages that maintain resilience. • MSP needs to consider forecasting climate change impacts on a proposed spatial plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]