Community-Based Conservation in Water-Scarce Areas

Summary

Water scarcity poses an existential threat to people and nature. Climate variability coupled with changes in water demand are fueling the increasing prevalence and severity of water scarcity. Over 70% of irrigated areas in the world experience at least periodic water shortages and nearly one half of the global population—roughly 3.6 billion people—live in areas that suffer water scarcity at least one month each year.

To help address this problem, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) embarked on a global program focused on freshwater community-based conservation (fCBC). This work engages with IPLC to support the conservation and sustainable management of freshwater resources for both nature and the communities that depend on it. To date, TNC has engaged in over 50 fCBC projects around the world.

This paper looks specifically at five case studies where TNC is working alongside IPLC to transform how communities and governments address water scarcity through advocating for IPLC water rights, involvement in decision-making around water, and/or integrating traditional knowledge and cultural needs into water resource management. The intended audience is internal practitioners working on water scarcity projects and leaders who are funding and directing this work. This paper builds on foundational work at TNC including the Voice, Choice, Action Framework (VCA Framework); Practitioners Guide to Applying TNC’s VCA Framework for Freshwater Resources; and the Freshwater Community-Based Conservation Project Inventory. The objective of this report is to share insights from case studies working with communities on water scarcity.

Key questions we attempted to answer were:

• What makes water scarcity a particularly unique and difficult problem to address?
• What challenges did communities and practitioners face when working to secure water for people and nature?
• What are the entry points for communities to manage their own water resources?

We start the report by exploring some of the unique attributes of water scarcity. We then dive into the five case studies: India, United States, Peru, and two in Australia. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of the lessons learned across the case studies and key considerations for practitioners.

Citation

Doughty, C., Vora, S., Hawkins, C., Cardenas Panduro, A., Limo, A., Woods, R., Fitzsimons, J., Hinchley, D., and Kang, S. 2021. Community-based Conservation in Water-scarce Areas. Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy.

Keywords: water scarcity; community-based conservation; water resource management