The spatial component of integrative water resources management: differentiating integration of land and water governance

Contemporary water-governance approaches lack an understanding of the differences revealed when land and water governance interact. Conflicts arise because the spatial component is less regarded in water-governance approaches. This explorative paper introduces an analytical framework for the common management of land and water along three frontiers: theverticalfrontier concerns the interaction between subsurface groundwater and land uses on the surface; thehorizontalfrontier refers to coastlines or riverfronts; and thefluentfrontier is about inundations and flood events. Rather than a panacea for all governance issues, this paper proposes a more differentiated perspective on integrative water-governance approaches.