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