The food security crisis, international "land grabs,? and new markets for environmental services have drawn renewed attention to the role of natural resource competition in the livelihoods of the rural poor. While significant empirical research has focused on diagnosing the links between natural resource competition and (violent) conflict, much less has focused on the dynamics of whether and how resource competition can be transformed to strengthen social-ecological resilience and mitigate conflict.

Regional study implemented by IWMI with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (RETA 5812)

Volume 1 of the study on Hydro-Institutional Mapping of the Olifants River Basin. This study aims to give an overview of water users and influences on water use by institutions in the Steelpoort river basin, a sub-basin of the Olifants. Describes a general methodology and framework for setting out the HIM for a river basin and presents findings from case studies in the basin. The hydro-institutional interactions among all types of water users in a South African river basin are also described.