Het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving streeft in haar duurzaamheidsagenda (2006) naar meer samenhang tussen tussen people, planet en profit, zowel temporeel (nu en later) als ruimtelijk (hier en elders). Omdat het gaat om een schaarstevraagstuk betekent dit streven keuzes maken. Er bestaat echter geen algemeen afwegingskader voor duurzaamheid dat ingezet kan worden in de besluitvorming over ruimtelijke vraagstukken. Wat duurzaam is hangt af van de specifieke context. Algemene duurzaamheidsprincipes worden regionaal en lokaal uitgewerkt.

Kern van een waterpark is een rietmoeras, ook wel helofytenfilter genoemd. Daarmee wordt het water gezuiverd, maar er zijn ook andere functies. Met het gezuiverde water wordt de kwaliteit van de omliggende natuur verbeterd zodat er meer verscheidenheid komt in flora en fauna. Een waterpark draagt bij aan een aantrekkelijk landschap voor recreatie en het biedt ook nog de mogelijkheid voor het bergen van piekwater om wateroverlast te voorkomen.

Steeds vaker worden burgers actief betrokken bij het waterbeheer. Toch is participatie niet per definitie een garantie voor succes. Het slagen van burgerparticipatie hangt onder andere samen met het gestelde doel, het vinden van de juiste vorm en de mogelijkheid om het doel aan te laten sluiten bij bredere vormen van gebiedsontwikkeling. Alterra maakte drie praktijkhandelingen voor participatie, belevingsonderzoek en communicatie in het waterbeheer. Dit deel gaat over ‘beleefd praten over water’, oftewel het met respect communiceren over de belangen van alle betrokkenen.

This Synthesis Paper is based on an Expert Meeting held in Rome 26 to 28 February 2008 as a preparation for the FAO High Level Conference (HLC) on World Food Security and the Challengesof Climate Change and Bioenergy in June 2008. The paper contains appraisal of the implications of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4-IPCC) for agricultural water management and, based on that evidence, offers a more operationally focused diagnosis.

The Masscote application presented here has been initialized through a training workshop in Karnataka for engineers and managers from the KNNL focussing on Ghataprabha Left Bank Canal [GBLC] from 6 to 20 October 2006. The contributions of the working group sessions at this workshop (RAP–MASSCOTE) have been largely included in this report.

The Masscote application presented here has been initialized through a training workshop in Karnataka for engineers and managers from the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) focussing on ALMATTI irrigation systems from 13th to 21st May 2008. The contributions of the working group sessions at this workshop (RAP–MASSCOTE) have been largely included in this report.

As this book shows, farmer field schools have proven to be a very useful approach for helping African farmers to improve how they manage their land and water. Numerous projects throughout Africa have shown that they result in improved soils, better yields and higher incomes for farmers. The document summarizes some of these experiences, points out successes, and – equally important – shows constraints and gaps that need to be addressed.

This paper explains the operation methods in canal irrigation delivery systems using the MASSCOTE approach. It argues that on-farm irrigation scheduling is only possible when the delivery system provides the irrigation water at the expected time, rate and duration.

The availability and quality of clean water in many regions of the world is more and more threatened by overuse, misuse and pollution. In this context, the relationship between forests and water must be accorded high priority. Forested catchments supply a high proportion of the water for domestic, agricultural, industrial and ecological needs in both upstream and downstream areas. A key challenge faced by land, forest and water managers is to maximize the benefits that forests provide without detriment to water resources and ecosystem function.

This note has been prepared for the plenary session of the European Forest Week on “Forests and Water” taking place on Thursday, 23 October 2008 1 . Its objective is to stimulate a lively and well informed discussion by providing the reader with background information and proposing questions which participants in the session may wish to address during the discussion. The note presents linkages between the forest and water sectors, discusses collaboration between the communities and presents international legal and policy frameworks.

A FAO mission visited Uttar Pradesh India to carry out a MASSCOTE training workshop in Sultanpur Uttar Pradesh from 7th to 19 December 2007 as part of a collaborative program between the Government of Uttar Pradesh and FAO. This mission is the first MASSCOTE exercise organised by FAO for GOUP, other two studies are planned as part of the FAO-GOUP collaborative activities aiming at developing the capacity in modernization of irrigation management.

Attainment of MDG-7 (environmental sustainability) requires the realization of sustainable agriculture systems. There is now inexorable pressure on world agriculture to play a much wider range of roles than ever before.