Coordinated management of land and water resources; regionalization and institutions.

Abstract

At the background of an overview of some basic interrelationships between land and water, the paper addresses two related issues of regionalization and institutional arrangements. Based on few examples it is shown that administrative regionalization that almost follow the watershed boundaries does not necessarily lead to better planning, more effective management and coordinated use of land and water resources. Even the best planning schemes often fail if there are no adequate institutional arrangements governing land and water use. The difficulties in interaction among many entities and rules concerned are examined. To achieve coordinated management of land and water resources, the river basins, which are coherent hydrological units relevant to water control, should be seen in the broader societal contexts. (A)