South America: River Basin Management in the Arid Americas

The document identifies population growth, economic development, and global climate change as three interrelated drivers creating management challenges for water resources. While integrated water resources management and integrated river basin management have been implemented, the authors argue these are insufficient. They propose complementary approaches that prioritize social, ecological, and hydroclimatic interactions, the dual nature of water as both a risk and a resource, and the use of adaptive management to build river basin resilience. These arguments are supported by case evidence from arid and semiarid regions across South and North America.

• Three primary interrelated drivers—population growth, economic development, and global climate change—have created unaddressed policy and management challenges for water managers, which often worsen existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities or create new ones.
• Existing frameworks like integrated water resources management and integrated river basin management are insufficient on their own; they must be complemented by approaches that emphasize hydroclimatic, social, and ecological interactions, the dual productive and destructive nature of water, and adaptive management for resilience.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). South America: River Basin Management in the Arid Americas. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/south-america-river-basin-management-in-the-arid-americas/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. South America: River Basin Management in the Arid Americas. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/south-america-river-basin-management-in-the-arid-americas/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=South America: River Basin Management in the Arid Americas |date=15 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/south-america-river-basin-management-in-the-arid-americas/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025south, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{South America: River Basin Management in the Arid Americas}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/south-america-river-basin-management-in-the-arid-americas/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }