MUFS at agro-ecological landscape level

Setting strategic functional priorities and fostering multiple uses

Gerardo E. van Halsema

Centre for Water and Climate Wageningen University

based on GAWI & Netherlands-Vietnam WFE Partnership

Multiple ecosystem services

MUFS are defined in terms of ecosystem services (MA): provisioning services (agriculture / food provision) regulating services (flood protection, water

retention, water purification, carbon sequestration etc)

cultural services (tourism, recreational, spiritual) supporting services (nutrient cycles, pest control) biodiversity

IWRM & MUFS Supply management focus of IWRM distracts from

MUSF: focus on meeting multiple demands from multiple sectors,

uses & functions polemicizes distribution among single uses Multiple uses of water are fact of life when considering

the resources base: water is shared and passed on along the ‘water chain’

and depleted, polluted, retained or diverted by various uses eg forest & wetland ecosystems, hydropower & industry, inland

& coastal fisheries, rangeland, floodplains, (irrigated) agriculture, urban waste water etc.

one use affects & interacts with the other use – negatively or positively

focus on water use, and specifically on interactions of water use with other uses

Enhancing multiple ecosystem services Sustainable water use = assuring a balance in

ecosystem services diminishing/mitigating negative water interactions

of agriculture fostering non—provisioning services and focus on

positive water interactions for agricultural uses Functional & strategic approach to ecosystem

services at the landscape level assign primary functions to ecosystem services

(agriculture, flood control, biodiversity) devise criteria for multiple use of “secondary”

ecosystem services (within ecological boundary of primary function)

Agro-ecosystems in Coastal Vietnam

Setting the scene:

Sectoral (mono) water uses have been intensified:

irrigated rice boom in shrimp cultivation in brackish water

zone severe pollution degradation of aquatic ecosystem production declines in mono shrimp culture

degradation of coastal (mangrove) forest loss of biodiversity

Agro-ecosystems in Coastal Vietnam

Future challenges of Climate Change (Vietnam in top 5): rising see levels typhoon storm surges higher intensity rainfall higher peak river flows

=> Increasing demands for regulating services/functions: coastal defense water retention & flood protection (brackish &

fresh)

Agro-ecosystems in Coastal Vietnam

I Fresh Rice/Aquaculture

II Fresh Flood Rice/Aquaculture

III Brackish Aquaculture/fisheries

IV Saline/Brackish Forest/Aquaculture/fisheries

MUFS in Coastal Vietnam

Four strategic functional sub-systems with multiple use: Irrigated rice:

1st: food (rice & fresh fish culture) 2nd: fresh water supply brackish zone (salt & circulation) 3rd: rainwater retention

Fresh floodplains: 1st: flood protection 2nd: food (rice & fresh fish culture)

Brackish zone: 1st : food (aquaculture through poly-culture and mangrove filters) 2nd : salt water retention 3rd : biodiversity

Coastal forest: 1st : coastal protection 2nd : biodiversity 3rd : food (fishery and polyculture)

MUFS in Coastal Vietnam

Focus on the water interactions between the uses/functions manage as a whole;

BUT: innovate multiple water use techniques & practices that support the water interactions

MUFS in Malawi wetlands

R.J. Bakema, G.W. Howard and A. P. WoodR.J. Bakema, G.W. Howard and A. P. Wood