The quantity, quality and timing of water flows required to sustain ecosystems and the valuable services they provide are referred to as Environmental Flows. To preserve and benefit from these services, water managers must ensure that an Environmental Flow regime is maintained in rivers and wetlands.
This report highlights the connection between flows, ecosystem services and human well-being and concludes that environmental flows and the ecosystem services they support are critical to improve human well-being and achieving all eight of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.