Building a mosaic of values to support local water resources management

Water valuation is needed to enable sound and well-informed decisions on the allocation and management of water resources. The existing methods for water valuation have an important potential and need to be further developed. Practical tools are especially urgently needed to aid implementation on the ground. There is a need to expand the scope of existing water valuation methods beyond the focus on economic values to also include social and environmental values. Also, water valuation needs to fit the constraints of data availability and expertise that are typically found in practice and should be stakeholder driven, addressing values that are of relevance to local stakeholders. This paper proposes a stakeholder-driven approach to water valuation, based on the use of different indicators to produce a mosaic of values that support water resources management by local stakeholders. The use of this approach is illustrated by a case study in Tanzania.