ABSTRACT
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has long advocated a holistic approach to the management of fresh water resources. This comprehensive water resources planning approach to the management of both water quantity and water quality in international river and lake basins was formalized by UNEP as the environmentally sound management of inland waters (EMINWA) process. By definition, the inventory and analysis of fresh water resources, water needs and water management in these international water systems extends also to the national rivers and lakes that form an integral part of international water systems. In effect, the EMINWA process incorporates an explicit recognition of the hydrological cycle (and of the modifying effects of human activities, use and misuse on that hydrological cycle) into a structured systematic approach to data collection and analysis, diagnosis, and corrective action/management planning that can provide a comprehensive and agreed basis for the environmentally sustainable and equitable sharing of finite common natural resources.
