Land use policy in headwater catchments

Josef Křeček and Martin Haigh

Land Use Policy, 2019, vol. 80, issue C, 410-414

Abstract: Headwaters are the low order catchments found on the upper margins of river basins. Designing effective land use policies for headwater areas is challenged by uncertainties related to changes in environmental, political and socio-economic circumstances, and by extreme events. This special headwater issue explores the changing relationships between the endogenous and external drivers of land use change and how inappropriate policy frameworks contribute to deficient land use management. Case studies highlight how headwater services, notably water supply, when overexploited or mismanaged become major sources of social, political and environmental stress, leading to conflict and land abandonment and also how land abandonment may positively affect ecosystem services. Case studies also highlight how present short-termism and ‘tunnel vision’ lead to inaccurate research results and poor environmental management and also how the mind-set driving such problems might be resolved by the conative education of future generations. Effective headwater management and the sustainable utilisation of headwater services is a long term, whole system, whole landscape process.

Keywords: Headwater catchments; Ecosystem services; Water resources control; Land use transition; Environmental management; Land use policy formulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718302370
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:80:y:2019:i:c:p:410-414

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.03.043

Access Statistics for this article

Land Use Policy is currently edited by Jaap Zevenbergen

More articles in Land Use Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joice Jiang ().