Managing Water
Potential Contributions of Investments in Watershed Services and Linkages to Poverty Reduction
View PublicationWe are facing a growing number, and increasing range, of water issues. As with climate change, when it comes to water, we are on an inevitable collision course with global disaster. So what is the answer?
One suite of tools that, in certain situations, could help to address water problems are watershed payments. Watershed payments provide financial or in-kind incentives to land managers and land stewards to adopt practices that can be linked to improvements in watershed services and and may also be considered as investments in watershed services (IWS), or more commonly referred to as payments for watershed services (PWS). Programs are driven both by private interests (although their number is few) and government entities focused on influencing land-use practices that affect water quality and flow.