Turn Policies into Practice

UN Conventions

WWF calls on governments to take actions to promote and accelerate UN Conventions to protect many of the world's river basins, which cross international borders and sustain millions of people and support vast ecosystems. » Learn more

WWF wants government and industry to adopt policies and techniques that conserve life in rivers and wetlands, and reduce poverty for dependent communities.

Public policy

Public policy provides the basis for most decisions that affect natural resources.

Conferences are meant to advance water policy and practice that benefit those most in need. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development targets for water were set with respect to water supply and sanitation and integrated water resources management and efficiency plans. These are the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Other crucial policies that affect us all are European Union policy and the World Trade Organisation.

Water infrastructure

Itezhi-tezhi Dam, water flowing out of retention basin. Kafue National Park boundary, Zambia.
© WWF-Canon / Sarah BLACK

Pouring more concrete is not the answer to worsening water problems.

Indeed history shows us that water infrastructure has caused problems just as complex as those it has purported to solve:

blocking migratory fish routes
changing underground water levels
trapping sediments and pollutants
providing breeding grounds for insects

There are cost-effective alternatives to damming rivers for power generation or irrigation water supply, to erecting dykes to protect against floods, or canalising river beds for ship passage.

Better assessment of all the options and all the impacts is needed – environmental, social and economic (by following the guidelines of the World Commission on Dams).

Agriculture

Irrigation of a strawberry field in Spain - an example of the subsidy programme undermining southern markets, and negatively impacting the environment
© WWF-Canon / Michel GUNTHER

Better Management Practices (BMPs) can reduce many of agriculture's direct environmental impacts.

BMP's can also provide more income for farmers by saving money on water or on pesticides or fertilisers, or increasing output.

If part of the water saved is used for more production and part is returned to maintain river flows, BMPs for irrigation can deliver benefits for downstream ecosystems and communities as well.

Perverse subsidies and market barriers enable EU and US farmers to grow crops, such as sugar or cotton, and to dump them cheaply on the world market; these must be reduced drastically.

Programmes are needed instead to help developing countries improve and expand their production sustainably, without severe environmental or social impacts.