This document is meant to present a framework for analyzing the institutions related to water management in a river basin context. The design of the five-country regional study undertaken by IWMI on “Development of Effective Water Management Institutions” provided a new methodology and a framework for river basin studies. It consists of four key components of diagnostic investigations related to water resources management in a river basin, which are interrelated. These key components are the physical system, water accounting, socioeconomic situation and performance. This study design is given in the Study’s Inception Report of 15 June 1999, and the Methodological Guidelines of 1 October 1999. This document takes one step further, and provides a conceptual framework for analyzing the institutional framework for water resources management in a river basin. The major thrust of this framework for institutional analysis is that the four key areas of diagnostic studies in a river basin are shown to be closely linked to the institutional frame work for integrated water resources management in the context of a river basin.

This book reconciles competing and sometimes contradictory forms of land use, while also promoting sustainable land use options. It highlights land use planning, spatial planning, territorial (or regional) planning, and ecosystem-based or environmental land use planning as tools that strengthen land governance. Further, it demonstrates how to use these types of land-use planning to improve economic opportunities based on sustainable management of land resources, and to develop land use options that strike a balance between conservation and development objectives. Competition for land is increasing as demand for multiple land uses and ecosystem services rises. Food security issues, renewable energy and emerging carbon markets are creating pressures for the conversion of agricultural land to other uses such as reforestation and biofuels. At the same time, there is a growing demand for land in connection with urbanization and recreation, mining, food production, and biodiversity conservation. Managing the increasing competition between these services, and balancing different stakeholders’ interests, requires efficient allocation of land resources.