Welcome to Policy and Regulations

Regulations and policies relating to the hydrology, biology and socio-economic aspects of water are designed to provide means for a sustainable future use of vital natural resources. Despite this, water is a resource that is under continuous and increasing stress and demand from a growing human population and industry. Poor understanding of the complex interactions within catchments and lack of political will contribute to little being done in many countries to protect water resources. Exploitation and sustainable use of freshwater resources have thus become subject to a wide range of environmental regulations, treatises and conventions.

The challenge for freshwater ecology is to design policies that promote the development of a variety of viable water utilisation institutions that are client oriented, mobilise resources efficiently and provide access to freshwater for a broad spectrum of users whilst protecting biodiversity and long term sustainability of freshwater ecosystems.

Regulations and implementation - why do we need legislation?

Plants and animals in freshwater are not influenced by the policies of just one sector or ministry but rather by the interactions of several policies and regulations, particularly those of the environmental, agricultural and supply sectors. Tensions and contradictions do occur between each of these policy areas, which need to be debated and addressed through effective and continuous policy dialogue.

This Policies and Regulations topic in FreshwaterLife is intended to function as a comprehensive collection of documents, tools and current issues on freshwater management. It is also a gateway to the existing information on current issues, directives and guidelines that affect decision makers, watershed managers and anyone who is involved in the regulation of water usage. By navigating the subtopics, you will find information e.g. on the aquatic habitat guidelines for water users and managers, freshwater and anadromous fishing regulations, pollution control and other regulations. Through the general topics containing background information on the development and function of these regulations and policies, you can navigate to find information on the policies concerning specific species, catchments and geographic localities.

This topic also provides you with extensive links to the other areas of FreshwaterLife, making it easy to find further biological and ecological information on the species and habitats you are interested in.

Why not contribute to this topic?

If you are interested in contributing to this Topic, you can submit your own relevant sub-topics and knowledge items. To become a FreshwaterLife member is easy, just click on the Join Now button, and after filling in a short registration form, you can start submitting your own material and take part in discussions. For the Policies and Regulations topic, suitable material could be information on programmes, projectsm initiatives or publications that deal with the general trends and developments in freshwater legislation and formulation.