Science and Practice of Integrated River Basin Management : Lessons from North and Central American UNESCO-HELP Basins

摘要

The Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) program, a cross-cutting component of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP), has as its goal to facilitate dialogue among hydrologists, social and economic scientists, water resource managers, water lawyers, policy experts, and river basin stakeholder communities in setting a research agenda driven by local management and policy issues. HELP seeks to improve the benefits to society by applying the principals of integrated water-resources management to complex, interdisciplinary issues within catchments.This Monograph is the culmination of a workshop held in 2010 in which the managers from the six North American basins (San Pedro, Willamette, Upper Washita, Lake Champlain, Iowa-Cedar, Luquillo) and a Central American basin (Panama Canal), see Figure 1, met to exchange ideas and “lessons learned” in various applications of IWRM within the HELP philosophy. Three major themes were examined:1. Climate change: Creating watershed resilience2. Use of social learning in IWRM3. Knowledge and information management for IWRMEach of these themes is explored in detail and enhanced with case studies of IWRM applications from the participating North and Central American HELP basins.