Theme

Short Title

Theme

A

Irrigation

• Irrigation and Water Use Efficiency (WUE): WUE at various scales; technology and agronomy for WUE improvement; management of interlinked surface and groundwater.

B

Landscape systems and integrity

• Biophysical impacts of large-scale land-use changes (either natural or anthropogenic) and climate change on catchments and riverine ecosystems.

• Biodiversity.

C

River health and integrity

• Biophysical impacts of level and variability in water quantity, quality and flow regimes; impacts on conditions of aquatic ecosystems.

• Methods for assessing alternatives and trade-offs within and between catchments (includes groundwater-dependent ecosystems).

• Biodiversity.

D

Human perceptions, values and behaviour

• Role of values and attitudes in shaping behaviour; uptake and assessment of information; attitudes towards uncertainty, risk and complexity; individual and collective change factors; fairness and justice.

E

Resource governance, institutions and policy mechanisms

• Alternative approaches to regional governance and accountability. Institutional design.
Appropriate roles for government, role of stakeholder participation, fairness and justice (include indigenous communities and values).

• Public policy in developing new enterprises, incentives and opportunities for investment.

• Water sharing.

• Environmental valuation.

• Socio-economic impact assessment.

F

Nature and use of knowledge and information

• Historical and anthropological perspectives, political and social analysis, gender analysis.

• Mechanisms for access to scientific and other information by decision- makers, land and water managers, and the general community (environmental consulting, farmer first, role of agronomists, mapping, GIS, decision support, expert panels, agent based systems e-publishing, e-sharing)

• Development of appropriate educational curricula and training at undergraduate, postgraduate and research higher degree level.

• Community engagement-representation and conceptualisation of regional natural resource management.

• Engagement of the general public in natural resource management through the arts and the media

G

Reflective practice on integration

• Approaches to incorporate social, economic, cultural and biophysical factors into decision-making; biophysical and socio-economic indicators.

• Complex systems

• National and international benchmarking