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FREE FLOWImage: © Alexander Otte/UNESCOImage: © Alexander Otte/UNESCOWater is a cross-cutting issue which demands attention at all levels and involvesmany stakeholders across sectorsCooperative processes offer stakeholders an opportunity to build ashared vision for the future management of their water resourcesmanagement professionals, researchers and students in engineering,economics, geography, geology and political science in their workon transboundary water management.PCCP also supports cooperative processes related to the managementof transboundary waters. Through the inception of joint researchon selected water bodies, the initiative promotes cooperation amongthe riparian states concerned with the water resources in question.This is achieved by involving high-level players, governmental advisers,experts and stakeholders who participate in the preparation ofconsensus documents reflecting the status of conflict and cooperationin the transboundary water body. This joint research process providesa venue in which to discuss sensitive issues related to the transboundarywater body, in addition to supporting cooperation, exchange ofdata and information, and development of the shared resource. Lastly,the process offers stakeholders an opportunity to build a shared visionfor the future management of their water resources.Ecohydrology for sustainabilityHuman activities interact with the delicate balance between waterresources and environmental sustainability. Therefore we need to betterunderstand water as both an abiotic resource and an integral part ofecosystems; not only to identify and quantify the critical linkages thatregulate the interrelationships of hydrology and biota, but also to seehow the controlled interaction with these linkages may contribute toenvironmental sustainability. The management approach has to gobeyond protection and restoration. It has to recognize the carryingcapacity of ecosystems in the face of increasing human impact and findways to improve and transfer solutions across a variety of environments.Under this theme, IHP is filling existing knowledge gaps byaddressing issues related to critical water systems, such as in aridand semi-arid zones, coastal areas, estuaries and urbanized areaswhere ecohydrological processes have not yet been sufficientlyaddressed. IHP also works to show how better knowledge of theinterrelationships between the hydrological cycle andbiota can contribute to more cost-effective, sociallyacceptable and environmental-friendly management offreshwater. Advancing the integration of social, ecologicaland hydrological research is key to a sound scientificbasis in this domain. The Ecohydrology programmealso aims at providing system solutions and facilitatingtechnology exchange. IHP set up interdisciplinaryworking groups to serve the initiative’s objectives:• The Education and Capacity Building WorkingGroup is developing a curriculum of academiccourses and practitioner trainings• The Demonstration Working Group is workingon criteria to recognize sites where sustainable,innovative and transdisciplinary water managementpractices based on ecohydrology principles areimplemented. Demonstration projects have appliedthe ecohydrology approach since 2005.• The Integration and Upscaling Working Group isinvestigating the key intersections between socialand economic sciences and those studying thehydrological/ecological cycles.• The Gender and Social Cultural BiodiversityGroup aims to bridge the gap between thehydrological, social and ecological/environmentalsciences by exploring community cultural values.It endeavours to reframe the policy discourse andlanguage to engage the grass-roots community inplanning processes for empowerment and socialchange, based on free, prior and informed consent.• The Ecohydrology Modelling and Visualization Groupis working on tools, such as modelling software, toinform and support water managers and planners inachieving integrated water resource management.[ 16 ]