Major issues in Large River Basin Management

摘要

Major issues in Large River Basin Management occur from the watershed to local scale. Integrated river research and management is needed in order to unify the so-far existing isolated analysis of specific topics, such as floods, droughts or sediments. Rivers are the lifelines in the landscape and have a central function in the water-energy-food-nexus as well as the UN SDGs, supplying people with drinking water, renewable energy or transport means but are as well of central importance related to flood risk and droughts. They form the hotspots of biodiversity and reflect immediately climate and land-use changes. At the same time, they are endangered by overuse, interruption of sediment continuity or spatial restriction, as well as water quality issues. Integrated river research should focus on the fundamental processes in river hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport and morphodynamics, water quality and river management (focusing on usage), as well as socioeconomics while maintaining the health of the river ecological environment. The outcome of such research should be a global overview of the status and future of rivers as a contribution to an improved water management.