More than the Fish: Environmental Flows for Good Policy and Governance, Poverty Alleviation and Climate Adaptation

Abstract

Environmental flows continue to shift conceptually from a utilitarian means of protecting ‘environmental’ needs – often equated with specific fish species of economic and/or conservation value – within the water resources planning and management cycle to a process underpinning the adaptive, sustainable management of social-ecological aquatic systems for multiple benefits and at multiple scales. We explore some of the ways in which environmental flows are clearly transitioning from a discipline designed mainly to conserve aquatic species, through improved site-level water resources infrastructure operations, to a more sophisticated vehicle for achieving the ever challenging goals for sustainable water management and human well-being. These goals are achieved through good governance and policy, and by setting targets for socioeconomic development and climate-resilient resource management. As these dimensions of the policy and practice evolve, the need grows to engage with and draw upon the expertise of a broader community of stakeholders, from the public and private sectors, the social sciences and civil society.