Integrated Water Resources Management in Peru

Peru is a country with a strategic location for water resources, however, like many other countries, it is facing water supply and demand problems due to demographic densification growth, and pollution problems due to agricultural and industrial usage. In order to address these problems, integrated water resource management approach has been introduced. It includes the coordinated development, management and policies of water resource usage towards environmental protection, conservation and sustainability. However, this approach has not been fully developed within the Peruvian water management and policies structure. Due to Peru's complex social, economic, geographic and multicultural aspects, there are many things to consider when managing water resources and making effective policies. This paper shows how integrated water resources management approach should be developed and implemented in Peru, the importance of a holistic coordinated framework, and how environmental technologies and informatics are needed for addressing environmental problems in the Peruvian aquatic ecosystem. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.